NYC mayoral candidates voted for the state budget this year

What’s a budget without a few protest votes? Legislative leaders painstakingly negotiate budget language with the executive branch, only to have a handful of lawmakers refuse to vote for the bill – saying its cons and unmet needs outweigh its positives – while knowing it will still pass.

It happens pretty much every year in Albany, and in New York City’s own budget process. In those majority Democratic legislatures, votes against the budget usually come from farther left Democrats, or from Republicans. 

But this year, three Democratic state lawmakers who are running for mayor of New York City didn’t ruffle feathers and focused on legislative wins in the budget instead. State Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos, and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani all voted in favor of all the budget bills. Among the bills they voted in favor of is the policy-heavy so-called “big ugly” bill, which contained some of the more controversial provisions that have held up a budget deal between the governor and Legislature, including changes to the discovery law and a new penalty for wearing a mask while committing a crime. 

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has finished second in recent polls among Democratic mayoral candidates, didn’t speak on the floor to explain his vote. In a statement, Mamdani focused on victories in the budget, including a housing voucher program, universal school meals, a cell phone ban in schools and addressing unemployment insurance debt, which he said were achieved “all while protecting New Yorkers’ civil liberties.”

Mamdani was aligned with many of his fellow socialists in office in cooperating with legislative leaders this year – state Sen. Jabari Brisport was the only socialist in office who voted against one budget bill. 

That’s a departure for Mamdani from the past two years, when he voted against at least one budget bill. In 2023, he voted against the “big ugly” bill even though it included the free bus pilot that he fought for and which formed the basis of one of his key mayoral platform policies. Explaining his vote that year, Mamdani cited rollbacks of earlier criminal justice reforms included in the bill.

Myrie also voted yes on budget bills this year. In explaining his vote on the “big ugly” in particular, Myrie addressed changes to discovery reforms – part of the 2019 package of criminal justice reforms – that were among the more controversial elements making the budget more than a month late.

“Our intent with this change to our discovery laws is a continuation of our values – that we can uphold due process while keeping the public safe,” Myrie said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “I think we have struck the balance with this reform.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed for a more significant rollback of the 2019 reform that would have narrowed the scope of evidence that prosecutors have to turn over to the defense and given judges more latitude to cure discovery errors after the speedy trial clock runs out.

In the end, lawmakers managed to water down that proposal, ending up with a law that maintained a limit on discovery cures after the speedy trial clock runs out and didn’t narrow discovery requirements as much as Hochul wanted. Myrie cited that compromise when explaining his vote. 

Ramos cited wins in the budget this year including paying off unemployment insurance debt and boosting benefits, the Housing Access Voucher Program and expanded child care funding.

Myrie and Ramos have both voted against budget bills before, including in 2020 when both voted against at least one budget bill.

Those state lawmakers are just three in the crowded Democratic field running to replace Mayor Eric Adams, who is now running as an independent. In recent polls, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has held a wide lead, with Mamdani most frequently coming in second place.