In a stunning move, Rick McCabe — a onetime Republican City Council candidate — is now looking to buck the party establishment with an independent run for mayor.
McCabe, 52, was thought to be preparing for another council run on the GOP ticket, but instead is seeking the city’s top elected seat on his own, he told The Record this month before officially launching his campaign.
That decision, he said, was finalized in mid-February. He will look to play spoiler in a three-way race against Democrat Josh Nathan and Republican Bill Henderson.
“I know it’s a long shot, but I think it’s a shot worth taking,” he said.
He told The Record he’s also been having conversations with residents about potentially forming an independent City Council ticket for the November ballot. Those talks, McCabe said, remain ongoing.
“If a slate comes together that would send a powerful message,” he added.
McCabe recognizes the challenge of running without local party backing, and said he plans to offset that disadvantage by speaking with as many voters as possible to explain what he says are the benefits of a candidate unencumbered by party politics.
“I know it’s time for a fresh perspective, and I think there are plenty of people in town who want to see the council operate outside of party politics and outside of personality conflicts,” he said. “This is not a popularity contest; this is going to be about who people in Rye think is the best person to sit in the middle of that dais.”
The registered independent serves as the city Recreation Commission chairman, where he has been vocal about his support for the Nursery Field turf project, a contentious proposal that was finally approved last fall. He told The Record that field space should continue to be a priority, and it will be part of his campaign platform.
“Rye is a special place … and we should look for ways to improve and enhance our offerings in terms of programs and potentially parks and facilities,” he said.
He also talked about the need for more civility in city government, a term mentioned often in recent elections.
McCabe first moved to Rye from the Bronx in 1979, when he was in second grade. His father was a Rye police officer and McCabe graduated from Rye High School. He has spent his professional career in corporate communications, most recently working for the broadcasting company CBS.
He first set out for a council seat last year as a Republican, but later dropped his bid citing health issues, which he told The Record he has since recovered from.
It remains to be seen which party-backed candidate his independent candidacy might hurt most. But he’s just hoping voters look past ideology.
He will need the support of the city’s wide swath of registered unaffiliated voters to pull off the upset. There are 3,706 voters unaffiliated with any political party in Rye, compared to 4,800 Democrats and 3,008 Republicans, according to enrollment data from the Westchester Board of Elections.
If he wins, McCabe said he’d start by focusing on long-term city planning and development.
Without a currently updated master plan, Rye is facing concerns that its downtown is developing too quickly. Those fears led the City Council to briefly mull a building moratorium.
McCabe said he supports protecting the aesthetic value of downtown, but he also recognizes there are opportunities for new development. He praised the council’s recent move to create a development committee to study zoning in the Central Business District.
“Purchase Street looks a lot different than when I delivered newspapers there when I was 12 or 13 years old, and that’s okay,” McCabe said. “That’s how cities like Rye progress…. But we need to be really smart about how we let developers do their work.”
Other issues he wants to tackle include ongoing park management and legal problems at Playland, as well as flood mitigation along the Sound Shore.
McCabe emphasized that, if elected, he would lead openly.
“Anything that’s going to happen needs to be done transparently,” he said.
The position of city mayor is a four-year term with no annual compensation. Election Day is Nov. 4.
