Where do NYC mayoral candidates stand on banning horse-drawn carriages?

“I feel like I’m back in 2013,” Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa told reporters on Thursday, reflecting on the sudden prominence of the debate over horse-drawn carriages (and charter schools) in the 2025 New York City mayoral race this week. 

The push by animal activists to ban the anachronistic carriage rides won former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s support when he was first running in 2013, but he failed to get the job done.

That movement, backed by the advocacy group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), has a champion in outgoing Council Member Bob Holden, who sponsors legislation that would ban horse-drawn carriages. But the issue has failed to gain enough traction in the council and still faces heavy opposition from Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage drivers.

The ban got an attention boost this week, however, after Mayor Eric Adams urged the council to support that legislation and issued an executive order that purports to prioritize enforcement of the industry in preparation for an eventual ban.

At a press conference outside the hub of carriage activity in Central Park, Sliwa called it a positive, if late, development, and urged the other mayoral candidates to follow suit. Here’s where the major mayoral candidates stand so far.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS

Supports a horse-drawn carriage ban. 

On Sept. 18, Adams called on the City Council to do what he said they should have done long ago and pass the ban. (Sliwa suggested on Thursday Adams himself should have supported the ban long ago.)

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who once represented NYCLASS, told City & State that Adams is “meeting the moment” in backing the proposed ban, citing recent incidents involving horses that pull carriages and the death of one horse, as well as the Central Park Conservancy joining the calls for a ban. “It’s not working now. As a matter of public safety, as a matter of the safety of these horses, this is the moment,” he said. Mastro, who was not so long ago scorned by the City Council for an appointed position in City Hall, called out the council’s leaders for not advancing Holden’s bill. “It hasn't moved. No hearing, no nothing,” he said. “(Adams is) calling on the council leadership to move the bill.”

A City Council spokesperson suggested Adams’ move smacks of political opportunism. “The Council appreciates that this is a difficult and emotional issue for many New Yorkers, which has persisted for decades. Mayor Adams politically using it for his reelection campaign is opportunistic and not helpful,” spokesperson Benjamin Fang wrote in an email. “Mayor Adams and Randy Mastro have no credibility in the legislative process after the Council was forced to override their vetoes of grocery delivery worker and street vendor bills that their administration had supported. This bill continues to go through the legislative process, which is deliberative and allows for thorough input from all stakeholders.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Supports a horse-drawn carriage ban. 

Mamdani has not spoken out much about the issue, but responded to a NYCLASS questionnaire during the spring primary saying he supports a ban. “Horse-drawn carriages are inhumane and unnecessary. I will support legislation and efforts to shut it down,” he wrote.

CURTIS SLIWA

Supports a horse-drawn carriage ban. 

The Guardian Angels founder, who is running on a ballot line called “Protect Animals” in addition to the Republican Party line, has so far been the most vocal in pushing for the ban. He’s hoping Adams’ announcement marks a turning point for the movement, and puts more pressure on the City Council to act. “Can you imagine, on the front steps of City Hall, Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa standing there, making an overall appeal to the 51 members to pass Bob Holden’s Ryder’s Law?” Sliwa said Thursday, painting his ideal, if somewhat unlikely, scenario for seizing on this momentum.

ANDREW CUOMO

Unclear.

The former governor did not respond to the NYCLASS questionnaire, according to the group, and has not responded to questions about the issue from City & State.