Is There A Market In New York City For A Black Republican Mayoral Candidate?

Mega-church pastor A.R. Bernard may run for mayor

From Capital New York: "'How does a Republican win for mayor? How does a black Republican run and win, for mayor?' That was New York 1 News host Errol Louis' question to Rev. A.R. Bernard last night, as the pastor of the Brooklyn-based mega-church spoke on television for the first time about his potential mayoral bid. 'Fine, I'm a Republican,' Bernard said, before talking about leadership and the need to reach out beyond just Republican voters in New York. When asked, Bernard said he would not personally perform a same-sex marriage ceremony if he were elected mayor."

More: "Would Bernard bring significant numbers of black voters to the Republican Party, if he somehow did get the nomination over the more buzzed-about Joe Lhota, better-funded John Catsimatidis or better-established [Adolpho] Carrion? City Councilwoman Inez Dickens of Harlem, a Democrat, told me it was 'not likely.' Bill Thompson, the former City Comptroller and the only black mayoral candidate in the Democratic primary, said it was too early to speculate on Bernard's candidacy. Voter-demographics expert Jerry Skurnik estimated there are about 40,000 black voters registered in the Republican Party in New York City, compared to about 900,000 black voters enrolled in the Democratic Party."