86 minutes with … Kathryn Garcia

The bureaucrat enters a new phase of life: political celebrity.

- By Clare Malone

BUT FOR 7,197 votes—less than one percentage point— Kathryn Garcia would be the next mayor of New York City.

As it stood, Garcia had plenty of time to meet me for a morning coffee in Park Slope 12 days after she conceded to Eric Adams in the topsyturvy Democratic primary. Adams had spent the intervening days going to the White House and considering his Gracie Mansion move-in. Garcia, meanwhile, had gotten her first post-pandemic manicure (a subtle buff-pink), seen Springsteen on Broadway, spent some quality time with HGTV, made a triumphant return to the gym, and dealt with a “major plumbing issue.” Despite her recent life of leisure, she came to coffee dressed for work in a gnarled-tweed dress, wedges, and a red lip. A gold kathryn nameplate hung around her neck. “I don’t tend to wander around in sweat clothes now that I am recognized more often,” she said.

Garcia, the 51-year-old former head of the Department of Sanitation, was pretty much unknown back in December. Now, people stop her on the street to talk about stop signs they want to be installed and Open Streets they want kept open. And when you run for office as a woman, you experience the grand tradition of backhanded compliments. “People would tell me, ‘You look much thinner in person,’” Garcia said.