We haven’t seen the last of Andrew Yang. This week, the former presidential candidate sent strong signals that he might throw his hat into the ring in New York City’s already extremely crowded mayoral race. On Tuesday, a New York Post headline proclaimed: “Stringer weak, Yang could be 2021 NYC mayoral contender, poll shows.” The poll in question had Yang at 20 percent, with Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams at 14 percent, Comptroller Scott Stringer at 11 percent, and everyone else in the race below 10 percent.

Polls, of course, are sometimes employed for specific political purposes, to affect public perception and influence the course of a race. The Yang bombshell is a prime example — it’s an internal poll, conducted by the political consulting firm Slingshot Strategies. In other words, this is far from an independent measure providing a potentially accurate snapshot of the race; it’s something more akin to a press release.

But regardless of his chances of winning, or even his chances of running, both of which are at this point very unclear, Yang is a relatively big name in politics, and his potential entry into the NYC mayoral race should be taken seriously by the city’s growing socialist left. Like it or not, we may have to contend with Yang’s presence. So it’s about time we contend with his politics.