Politics

Weiner asks for ‘second chance,’ announces bid for NYC mayor

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Nearly two years after resigning from Congress in disgrace over a Twitter scandal, Anthony Weiner announced his bid for New York City mayor in a two minute YouTube video.

“Look, I’ve made some big mistakes and I know I’ve let a lot of people down but I’ve also learned some tough lessons,” Weiner says in the video. “I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it for my entire life and I hope I get a second chance to work for you.”

Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after he publically tweeted an inappropriate picture of himself, lied about his account being hacked and details surfaced about his lewd behavior online.

Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, an aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appears by Weiner’s side in his mayoral video announcement.

“We love this city, and nobody will work harder to make it better than Anthony,” Abedin says in the video.

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Weiner’s first mayoral campaign video focuses on the middle class and his personal history as a New Yorker. Weiner’s mother, he says, was a school teacher, and his father was a lawyer who went to school on the G.I. Bill.

“Theirs is a classic New York story,” Weiner says, “You work hard, you make it into the middle class, and you make life a little bit better for your kids. That’s how this city was built, but its getting harder and harder everyday.”

Weiner’s campaign’s website is already up and taking contributions.

The New York Daily News reports Weiner has $4.3 million in campaign funds that he had amassed planning before his abrupt resignation. Weiner’s war chest is second only to that of Christine Quinn, the Democratic frontrunner.

A Wednesday Quinnipiac University poll found that Weiner is trailing Quinn, pulling in 15 percent of Democratic votes to Quinn’s 25 percent, according to NBC New York. Neither garners the 40 percent support to avoid a run off, the publication noted.

Last month, Weiner admitted that there are probably more lewd pictures of himself floating around.

“If reporters want to go try to find more, I can’t say that they’re not going to be able to find another picture, or find another … person who may want to come out on their own, but I’m not going to contribute to that. The basics of the story are not gonna change,” Weiner said in an interview with RNN-TV’s Dominic Carter.

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