Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive, entered the New York City mayor’s race last year, hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a business leader who is not part of the political establishment.

He has portrayed himself as a moderate alternative to the left-leaning candidates and has qualified for more than $2 million in public matching funds. But in a crowded field, he has struggled to rise above 1 percent in the polls.

Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the third in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We asked Mr. Tilson, 58, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his love for cycling and his escalating criticism of Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state lawmaker.

We’ve written previously about where Mr. Tilson and the other candidates stand on key issues and which candidates are raising the most money in your neighborhood.

1. What’s the most important issue in the race: affordability, public safety, President Trump or something else?

I’m trying to elevate the issue of fixing our schools. It’s the single biggest part of our budget, and I think it’s the root of so many of the other problems we see in our city, from the school-to-prison pipeline to affordability.