Upper East Side City Council candidates contend with the Carolyn Maloney factor

On Mother’s Day, New York City Council candidate Virginia Maloney posted one of her regular “endorsement alerts,” emphasized with siren emojis and all-caps writing. “Proud to have the support of Carolyn Maloney – trailblazing former Congresswoman and longtime East Side champion,” the campaign wrote on social media. 

Of course, Carolyn Maloney – who is Virginia Maloney’s mother and whose congressional district included the same East Side of Manhattan neighborhoods her daughter is vying to represent – was actively supporting her daughter’s City Council campaign long before the May 11 endorsement announcement. Shortly after Virginia Maloney officially entered the crowded race in council District 4 last fall, she held a fundraiser in Washington D.C. that coincided with the unveiling of her mother’s official congressional portrait. The fundraiser was co-hosted by Carolyn Maloney and her former chief of staff, Politico New York reported. Another fundraiser the next month also listed Carolyn Maloney as a co-host. The former Congress member has also appeared at campaign events – including a candidate forum on Tuesday night held at the Roosevelt House, where she serves as a distinguished leader in residence. 

“Many days, it feels like I’m running against Carolyn Maloney,” said one rival candidate in Council District 4, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern of becoming a target of Carolyn Maloney.

The Democratic primary in Council District 4 is one of this June’s most crowded – and most expensive – council primaries. Apart from Maloney, other candidates include two presidents of local Democratic clubs – Vanessa Aronson and Faith Bondy – former district leader and state housing policy official Ben Wetzler, veterans advocate Luke Florczak, and former Missouri state legislator Rachel Storch. (So far, one of the most notable stories out of the race has been Storch’s fundraising: She opted out of the public matching system, allowing her to spend without limits.) Several of the candidates running against Virginia Maloney agreed that the former Congress member has been a major factor in the race – and they aren’t too thrilled about it.

Maloney served in Congress for 30 years, becoming a mainstay of Upper East Side politics and society. She lost her seat in a painful race following a congressional redistricting that pitted her against fellow incumbent Rep. Jerry Nadler of the Upper West Side in 2022.

The elder Maloney’s influence was referenced in explaining why her daughter got certain endorsements, according to a couple of phone recordings shared with City & State on the condition we would not name the source. “You are up against Carolyn making calls and being involved in the race. That is absolutely happening,” an official from the influential Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, which endorsed Virginia Maloney, can be heard telling a rival candidate on the recording. The comment was in response to the candidate asking if Carolyn was a factor in their endorsement. The union official added that Carolyn was not decisive, saying, “For HTC anyway, we don’t jump when anyone says jump, and that’s not the nature of the relationship there.” The candidate then goes on to thank the union official for their candor, saying it’s a step that not all endorsing groups, including unions, take. “Thank you so much for calling. Not everyone does this,” the candidate says.

A spokesperson for HTC said such courtesy calls are normal. “Sharing endorsement rationale and thoughtful advice on the political landscape a candidate faces is a courtesy and common practice,” HTC spokesperson Austin Shafran said in a statement. “Seeing a candidate secretly record and release a private conversation indicates clearly that this person is untrustworthy and undeserving of an endorsement.” 

In another recording, a City Council candidate from a different district tells the same District 4 candidate in a voicemail: “I don’t know if you were aware that Carolyn Maloney had come out to endorse me, and then through her and The New Majority, we created this cross-endorsement of me cross-endorsing Virginia.” The New Majority is an organization that supports female City Council candidates. Both The New Majority and the council candidate in the other district denied that there was any kind of cross-endorsement deal involving Carolyn, Virginia, The New Majority and the candidate in the other district. The New Majority ranked all four women running in District 4, with Virginia ranked No. 1. “We have a strict endorsement process that we trust and adhere to that has in no way been compromised,” said Yvette Buckner, co-chair of The New Majority NYC.  The candidate in the other district said the reference to The New Majority in the voicemail had to do with the fact that she first met Virginia at an event held by the organization.

Carolyn Maloney told City & State that she didn’t have a conversation with anybody at the hotel council about her daughter’s candidacy. She added that she has been supportive of The New Majority and knows its leaders, but said that Virginia earned both that endorsement and HTC’s on her own merits. “She’s earned everything she’s done in her life herself,” the former Congress member said. “I guess they can’t find any way to criticize her, so they’re just criticizing her for being my daughter.”

In an interview, the former Congress member’s admiration of her daughter came through plainly, as she ran through Virginia’s bio – including working for the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Meta, as well as volunteering on local and national campaigns and serving on the executive committee of the Lexington Democratic Club.

“She’s running on her own. I am not in on her strategy meetings,” Carolyn Maloney said, adding, “Of course, I talk to her – she’s my daughter, I love her.” 

Nepo babies are not uncommon in New York City politics. Just ask Andrew Cuomo, candidate for mayor and son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo. City Council Member Eric Dinowitz represents the same section of the Bronx his father Jeffrey represents in the Assembly. Rep. Yvette Clarke’s first elected office was the City Council seat her mother once held, while Rep. Grace Meng’s was the Assembly seat her father once held.

Despite the gripes from some rivals, a couple prominent elected officials in the area said Carolyn Maloney’s activity in the race is par for the course. “It’s her daughter running. I think it would be expected that any mother – whether a Congress member or not – would be involved in helping get their daughter elected. That’s standard practice,” said Council Member Keith Powers, who currently represents the East Side council seat.

“I know how hard my parents campaigned for me when I was running,” added Assembly Member Alex Bores. “They’re not as influential as a member of Congress, but I would expect someone’s parents to campaign for them.”

Neither Powers nor Bores has endorsed in the race – Powers is in the middle of his own campaign for Manhattan borough president, while Bores said he’s been too busy with the budget and legislative session in Albany to weigh in so far.

Virginia Maloney’s campaign doesn’t shy away from her mother’s support. “There should be no surprise that Virginia is proud of the support of a longtime, progressive, effective leader who has stood up to Trump and gotten things done for the East Side,” Matthew Rey, a spokesperson for the Maloney campaign, said in a statement. He said it was “puzzling” that  “other candidates think labor unions don’t smartly make their decisions independently. We’ll keep talking about the future, not sour grapes.”