Campaign Confidential

New York City elections in presidential years? Consultants don’t like it.

The Campaign Finance Board’s annual report recommends consolidating city, state and federal elections to boost turnout.

New York City mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia campaign together on June 21, 2021. The NYCCFB wants to move mayoral elections to even-numbered years.

New York City mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia campaign together on June 21, 2021. The NYCCFB wants to move mayoral elections to even-numbered years. Jeff Coltin/City & State

This story is from the Campaign Confidential newsletter, relaunched for 2023. Want it in your inbox? Sign up here. And check out the whole email here.

New York City elections play out in a steady rhythm. State and federal in even years, city in odd years. Now the New York City Campaign Finance Board has an official suggestion: Let’s do it all at once.

The goal would be to increase voter turnout – more New Yorkers vote, generally, in the presidential and gubernatorial years than the city years. But like many of us in this world, political consultants’ lives are tied to the existing calendar. And they mostly don’t like the pitch.

“Keeping council races in the off year gives them the attention they deserve,” said Camille Rivera, partner at New Deal Strategies. Voters want consistency, she said, and “as a consultant, it’s an important business opportunity to service council and city candidates in the off cycle.”

Others think it would be good for business – but bad for democracy. “More campaigns mean less staff to go around, which positions us to provide the support campaigns need,” said Justin Chae, CEO of Meridian Strategies. But voters already get confused with crowded ballots now. Double that up? Chae said the impact would probably be “less care given to anything after the top of the ticket, so more ethnic surname bias, picking whoever is first, and random (ranked-choice voting) picks.”

They’re just two of the half-dozen consultants City & State reached out to for feedback, after the board published its annual voter analysis report Monday. It’s a huge document full of fascinating analysis. (Average age of primary election voters? 57. Highest turnout in the general election? Upper East Side.) But the headline is that the board recommended aligning city elections with presidential elections. That hasn’t been done since 1892, when Grover Cleveland carried New York.

“We’ve always given policy and legislative recommendations,” said Tim Hunter, press secretary at the Campaign Finance Board. “(But) this is the biggest recommendation we’ve made, ever. … We’re literally talking about shifting the entire campaign universe.”

To be sure, consolidation isn’t even close to happening. There have been bills introduced in the state Legislature every session for at least a decade. They get few to no co-sponsors and die in committee. State Republicans are staunchly opposed, thinking it would hurt the party’s chances. Most Democrats are just quiet on it. One of the reasons for that may be that a lot of the consultants, who state legislators have all hired for their expertise at one point or another, don’t like it.

But the idea is gaining some momentum. Good-government group Citizens Union is lobbying for city elections in even-numbered years, and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams told a Citizens Union breakfast last year she would “definitely” support it. City Council Member Sandra Ung, who oversees the Campaign Finance Board as chair of the Governmental Operations Committee, is also open to it. Her office told Campaign Confidential she thinks “it would be a positive move” that could avoid “election fatigue” and “help drive up turnout.” That said, it’s not a live issue before the council.

Consultants have many concerns. “This would be a good idea if we had the same number of metro reporters in 2023 as we did 20 years ago. But now it would mean the average council/Senate/Assembly race would go uncovered start to finish,” said a political consultant who asked for anonymity to speak freely. “This would dramatically strengthen the impact of (independent expenditure committees) and other unrestricted spending sources. … A rare situation that’s both bad for democracy and the consulting industrial complex’s bottom line.”

Others acknowledged that turnout would go up – “which is a good thing,” said another consultant who asked for anonymity. However, “the length of the ballot is my key concern, especially the mixture of RCV and regular voting. It will potentially disenfranchise voters due to confusion.”

Sure enough, low turnout isn’t the only concern about New York elections, Sasha Neha Ahuja of the Working Families Party pointed out. “Without robust voter education and engagement, as well as laws that help facilitate greater access to the ballot box, the more fragmented our elections are,” she said. “Elections every year – ‘off years’ especially – require that we are doing our due diligence.”

Bigger picture, thought Corey Ortega of HZQ Consulting, consolidation could save candidates money, or get their name out more. “It would be great for economies of scale, for running as a slate. The expenses go down per mailer, which allows for more mailers to go out,” he said. It could also save the city money by not having to run big elections some years. “It’s great for democracy because it leaves money in the budget to save a kitten from a tree or fund a library,” he said.

But that’s everyone else’s bottom line. “That would mean there’s an actual off year where nothing happens?” Ortega asked. “That’s not good for the consultant business.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.