Yang hospitalized with apparent kidney stone

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang (D) was hospitalized Friday morning with an apparent kidney stone, his campaign announced. 

A statement released by his campaign and tweeted by campaign manager Chris Coffey said that after experiencing abdominal pain, the former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate “visited an emergency room where he was diagnosed with what appears to be a kidney stone.”

The campaign added that his public events initially scheduled for Friday would be canceled as he remains at the hospital with his wife, Evelyn Yang. 

“He looks forward to getting back out on the trail in the days ahead,” his campaign said. 

Update: After experiencing abdominal pain this morning, @AndrewYang visited an ER where he was diagnosed with what appears to be kidney stone. He remains at the hospital with Evelyn. His events for the day are cancelled, but he looks forward to getting back out on the trail soon.

— Chris Coffey (@chriscoffeytalk) April 2, 2021

With just months away from the June 22 mayoral primary, Yang continues to lead the crowded field of candidates at 16 percent, though roughly half of likely voters are still undecided, according to a March poll from Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics.

Yang was followed in the poll by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with 10 percent and Maya Wiley, former legal counsel for current Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), at roughly 6 percent.

Yang and Adams in recent weeks have engaged in heated clashes, with Adams claiming that “people like Andrew Yang” have never held a job, prompting the Yang campaign to accuse Adams of making “false and reprehensible attacks.”

Yang has thus far centered his campaign around bringing New York City out of the financial crises spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, with Yang on his website writing, “New York City has to be the fastest city to come back safely.” 

The former 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful has also called for more affordable housing and support for small businesses, schools, unemployment aid and other measures aimed at fueling economic recovery in the city.

Even amid the pandemic, Yang has committed to in-person campaigning, and on Thursday released a music video featuring rapper MC Jin reciting “Yang for New York” over footage of the candidate interacting with city residents.

Jin on Friday morning tweeted a message of support to Yang after hearing news of the candidate’s kidney stone, writing, “Thinking about how he called last night solely to congratulate me on the release of the track and share how great it was that it was uplifting folks in some way.”

“Get well soon my friend,” he added.

Woke up to find out that @AndrewYang is in the hospital due to a kidney stone.

Thinking about how he called last night solely to congratulate me on the release of the track and share how great it was that it was uplifting folks in some way.

Get well soon my friend. ❤️

— MC Jin (@iammcjin) April 2, 2021

–Updated at 10:05 a.m.