Archive: 2025 NYC Democratic mayoral primary candidates who fell short

Adrienne Adams

Speaker of the New York City Council

Her ideological stance in brief: A well-respected, but low-key moderate Democrat who some see as a compromise candidate

Major endorsements: District Council 37, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (No. 2), state Attorney General Letitia James, Assembly Members Brian Cunningham and Andrew Hevesi, New York City Council Members Diana Ayala and Amanda Farías, New York Working Families Party (No. 3)

Fundraising: $2.7 million raised so far, including from a prior campaign account and public matching funds. She has an estimated $2.3 million in the bank, as of May 30. 

Where’s home? Southeast Queens

What is she running on? Her record as City Council speaker, including spearheading programs to support working mothers and adult learners, and fighting agency budget cuts.

What’s holding her back? Outside of political circles, she doesn’t have widespread name recognition. She entered the race relatively late with little money on hand, and City Council speakers have historically lost in citywide elections.

What’s her deal? Within the span of just a few weeks, Speaker Adams’ path to retirement upon the conclusion of her final City Council term stunningly transformed into an all out mayoral campaign – one that heavy-hitters like state Attorney General Letitia James pushed for behind the scenes. Up until recently, Speaker Adams showed little interest in furthering any political ambitions, but it’s hard to resist a drafting campaign in a field that some saw as still missing something. She officially announced her candidacy on March 5.

Supporters hoped Speaker Adams, a Black moderate whose district is home to an active Black voter base, would prevent Cuomo from dominating the current mayoral field, but so far, she’s struggled to gain support in her home borough. Cuomo has scooped up endorsements from a long list of Queens elected officials, including county chair Greg Meeks. Still, Speaker Adams’ entrance into the race was a big headache for Cuomo. A recent internal poll commissioned by the left-leaning Working Families Party found that Democratic primary voters would choose her over Cuomo in a general election contest. 

Speaker Adams is well-respected, particularly within the New York City Council and among other city elected officials. She was elected City Council speaker as a compromise candidate, aided by powerful outside union support without Mayor Adams’ backing. The two attended high school together, but they aren’t related. Their relationship pre-indictment was largely amicable, but they’ve also clashed over legislation. 

While she clinched public matching funds and a second-choice endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez just in time to be a real contender, Speaker Adams faces headwinds. She’s behind in fundraising and has low name recognition outside of political circles. She has presided over a City Council that has been seen as very left-leaning at a time when most mayoral hopefuls are trying to tack to the center. 

Further reading:
A couple of Cuomo endorsers in the City Council lose budget negotiation roles
Eric Adams and Adrienne Adams are both running for mayor. They’re also hashing out the city’s $115 billion budget.
Adrienne is on the horn
Meet New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams

Brad Lander

New York City comptroller

His ideological stance in brief: Brownstone Brooklyn progressive Democrat who gets under the mayor’s skin

Major endorsements: Fellow candidate Zohran Mamdani (No. 2), Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, New York Working Families Party (No. 2), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (No. 3), Independent Neighborhood Democrats, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (No. 1) and state Sen. Liz Krueger (No. 1) 

Fundraising: $7.5 million raised so far including donations from when he was running for reelection and matching funds. He’s got $2.7 million in the bank, according to Campaign Finance Board’s estimates.

Where’s home? Park Slope, Brooklyn

What is he running on? He’s pitching himself as a competence candidate. He wants to get homeless people with mental health issues into stable housing, restore funding to early childhood education, and carry out capital projects management and other reforms he’s called for as comptroller.

What’s holding him back? Lander is a nerdy white guy who has struggled to unite progressives as he faces Mamdani’s leftist wattage and Adrienne Adams’ outer-borough cred. 

What’s his deal: Brad Lander is a Park Slope progressive – a Missouri-born organizer who put roots down in Brooklyn and has championed progressive causes, first in the nonprofit sector, and then as a council member and now as comptroller. The comptroller, while hardly a co-equal position to mayor, can nonetheless function as a watchdog, with the responsibility to conduct audits of city agencies and oversee city contracts.

For much of Eric Adams’ three years in office, Lander has filled that role as expected, often clashing with the more conservative mayor over budget cuts and how the administration has handled the influx of migrants to the city over the past two years. By virtue of his position, perhaps as much as his politics, Lander has been a consistent critic of Mayor Adams during his three years in office.

But in a race for mayor – and one taking place amid a continued shift to the right in parts of the city – Lander, who cofounded the City Council Progressive Caucus, has to walk a more careful line than just being the progressive foil to Eric Adams. Lander, along with several other progressives in the race, hasn’t touted that moniker like candidates have done in the past. 

The strategy so far hasn’t caught on. Recent polls have shown Lander struggling to catch up to Mamdani and Cuomo among Democratic primary voters. Many progressive leaders have ranked him second behind Mamdani, including the influential Working Families Party. Though he secured her early and vocal support in his 2021 comptroller race, Ocasio-Cortez dealt him a blow when she ranked him third in this year’s mayor race. 

He was euphoric to receive the backing of the majority of influential New Yorkers sampled by the New York Times Opinion section, and a long-awaited mutual cross endorsement with Mamdani will bring a boost as well.

Lander’s got a lot riding on this race. He’s giving up a chance at a second term as comptroller to run for mayor. As comptroller, Lander is well-positioned to make the efficient manager case, and he’s out with a few creative TV ads that manage to make that a fun pitch. His support will likely still come from the liberal centers that elected him – like Brownstone Brooklyn and the Upper West Side.

Further reading:

Episode 9: An interview with Brad Lander

Lander pitches doubling NYC’s general reserve fund to protect from Trump admin

Brad Lander: ‘I don’t think this is a moment about lanes or ideology’

Are comptrollers running for NYC mayor doomed?

Brad Lander makes his case to business leaders

Eric Adams might need someone to serve as a check. Is that Brad Lander?

Jessica Ramos

State senator representing Queens

Her ideological stance in brief: Pro-labor progressive who doesn’t like to fall in line.

Major endorsements: Working Families Party (No. 5), Teamsters Locals 804 and 808

Fundraising: $280,000 raised so far. She has an estimated $9,000 in the bank. She has not qualified for matching funds.

Where’s home? Jackson Heights, Queens

What is she running on? She wants to improve child care access, bolster affordable housing supply and integrate mental health care citywide.

What’s holding her back? Slow and messy fundraising, trouble distinguishing herself in a crowded field of progressives. And a bunch of her supporters pulled their endorsements after she backed Cuomo.

What’s her deal: Ramos has touted her independence and no-nonsense personality as an asset. But her lack of political allies has become evident in her troubled mayoral campaign. Initially excluded from the Working Families Party slate, Ramos made a video calling the lefty party out. Then, the day after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez excluded Ramos from her ranked slate, Ramos went nuclear. She shocked the political world by endorsing Cuomo – who declined to endorse her back. Ramos, who recently speculated about Cuomo’s senescence, told the Times she thinks Cuomo is “best positioned right now to protect this city” from Trump. That puzzling about-face prompted a cascade of condemnations and rescinded endorsements from progressive groups. 

Ramos is a progressive state lawmaker who has represented East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona since she ousted a moderate Democrat incumbent in 2018 as an insurgent, Working Families Party-backed candidate. She has forged a reputation as a tough and effective lawmaker, notching some high-profile legislative victories as chair of the Labor Committee. She has cracked down on wage theft, passed paid sick leave for domestic workers, enacted new protections for workers on farms, at nail salons and in distribution warehouses, and secured unemployment for more nontraditional workers. Beyond Ramos’ legislative victories and her condemnation of Mayor Adams for his handling of the migrant crisis, she’s perhaps best known for her – ultimately failed – attempt to block a proposed casino bid from Mets owner Steve Cohen. 

Ramos’ ties to the labor world run deep. She has a background working in communications for social service employees union SSEU Local 371 and building service workers union 32BJ SEIU. But while many see her as a champion for labor, she has so far been unable to unite any major labor support. 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council are backing Cuomo, while the public employees union DC 37 is backing Adrienne Adams. Ramos launched her campaign in mid-September, she so far hasn’t been able to fundraise enough to make her competitive. She’s one of two Latino candidates – the daughter of Colombian immigrants – and a mother to two boys.

Further reading:
Progressives pull Ramos endorsements after she backs Andrew Cuomo
Episode 1: An Interview with Jessica Ramos
Will Steve Cohen’s gambit to sidestep Jessica Ramos work?
Jessica Ramos, no-nonsense state senator from Queens, is running for NYC mayor
Jessica Ramos was majorly bummed out at the WFP rally
Jessica Ramos isn’t sugarcoating anything

Zellnor Myrie

State senator representing Brooklyn

His ideological stance in brief: Progressive, increasingly pro-real estate Democrat.

Major endorsements: Rep. Dan Goldman, Zephyr Teachout, Abundance New York (shared with Lander), Working Families Party (No. 4), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (No. 5).

Fundraising: $4.1 million raised so far, including public matching funds. He’s got $900,000 in the bank, according to latest Campaign Finance Board estimates.

Where’s home? Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn

What is he running on? Proposals to build and preserve 1 million homes in New York City, and create universal, free after-school programs.

What’s holding him back? Most voters haven’t heard of Zellnor Myrie – though an MSNBC hit with Goldman might have helped a little bit

What’s his deal: Zellnor Myrie, a City Council staffer turned Davis Polk attorney, started off his political career by running against Eric Adams – by proxy, at least. In 2018, Myrie challenged state Sen. Jesse Hamilton – a protege of Adams who was serving in the same Central Brooklyn seat that Adams once held. Alongside Jessica Ramos and several others that year, Myrie succeeded in defeating the incumbent, who along with a handful of other Democrats, was caucusing with Republicans.

Myrie has since accumulated some high-profile legislative wins, including ones that earned him good favor with progressives, like early voting and the Clean Slate Act to seal criminal records for some people who have served their time. But in mounting his run for mayor, Myrie hasn’t made a claim to the progressive lane, preferring to eschew those identifiers altogether in favor of one that he – and others – seem to believe will be a more compelling pitch for those weary of a chaotic City Hall: a competent manager for New York. 

One of Myrie’s signature policy proposals is a plan to build 700,000 new housing units over the next 10 years and preserve another 300,000. But his YIMBY pitch has also caught the eye of tenant advocates, who are looking to hold candidates to promises to freeze the rent. (Myrie, who advocated for tenant protections in the Legislature, eventually joined other candidates in calling for a one-year rent freeze.)

Coming from Adams’ old district, Myrie, who is the son of Costa Rican immigrants, seemed better positioned than some of his other current challengers to dig into Adams’ 2021 base of middle- and working-class Black and Latino voters in outer boroughs, but so far hasn’t made much of a dent.

Further reading:
Episode 8: An interview with Zellnor Myrie
Zellnor Myrie speaks at church, vows to stand up against Trump
Zellnor Myrie wants to represent New York City. First, the city has to meet him.
Zellnor Myrie wants to give NY a clean slate

Scott Stringer

Former comptroller

His ideological stance in brief: A Manhattan liberal who had a shot as a progressive mayoral candidate last cycle, but is tacking center now. 

Major endorsements: Rep. Jerry Nadler, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (No. 4), Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Deborah Glick, West Side Democrats

Fundraising: $5 million, including matching funds. He has an estimated $3.1 million in the bank.

Where’s home? Financial District, Manhattan

What is he running on? Plans to beef up the NYPD, tackle corruption, unlock more land for affordable housing, expand child care and clean up the streets

What’s holding him back? His 2021 mayoral bid failed amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Stringer strongly denies allegations from one woman and has been fighting them in court with a defamation lawsuit. He said he doesn’t remember ever meeting another woman who subsequently came forward. He’s also been out of the political game for a while.

What’s his deal: A former Assembly member, Manhattan borough president and city comptroller, Stringer certainly has the insider resume to be New York City mayor. He is known as a savvy political operator and a skilled campaigner, as his hefty early fundraising numbers showed. 

He’s also motivated by redemption after a bruising 2021 fight, where he came in fifth place in the first round of ranked choice voting. He had amassed broad support from progressives and elected officials he had mentored, many of whom ultimately abandoned him following the misconduct allegations. After nearly three decades in public office, he has had the past few years off, and he’s been singularly focused on this goal. 

Sitting comptroller Brad Lander is likely to appeal to many of the same voters, and both straight, white Jewish comptrollers were dealt a blow when The New York Times Editorial Board announced it won’t be endorsing in local races. But Stringer is slightly less progressive than Lander, including on Israel. 

Stringer has prevailed in some dog fights. He beat out nine other candidates to become Manhattan borough president in 2005. He often recounts his victory in the 2013 race for comptroller in which he narrowly defeated former Gov. Eliot Spitzer as evidence he shouldn’t be underestimated.

Further reading: 
Episode 7: An interview with Scott Stringer
All aboard Scott Stringer’s anti-Cuomo tour bus
Scott Stringer readies primary challenge to Mayor Eric Adams
Scott Stringer has always been progressive
Scott Stringer, millennial for mayor

Michael Blake

Founder and CEO of Kairos Democracy Project, political consultant, associate pastor

His ideological stance in brief: Moderate Democrat in the style of Barack Obama. 

Major endorsements: Three Bridges Democratic Club (shared with Ramos and Mamdani)

Fundraising: $547,000 raised. He has an estimated $18,000 in the bank. He hasn’t qualified for public matching funds.

Where’s home? Melrose, Bronx

What is he running on? He wants universal child care and a tax break for middle-class homeowners. He also wants to speed up government payments to nonprofits.

What’s holding him back? Blake has been out of office for a few years, and with a couple of unsuccessful campaigns, he’s in danger of becoming a perennial candidate. 

What’s his deal: Blake is a former state Assembly member from the Bronx who entered the mayoral race toward the end of November. Like many of the candidates, he’s emphasized that his campaign will center on making things more affordable for New Yorkers and on quality of life issues. An alum of the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns who also did a stint in the Obama White House, he’s a fairly moderate Democrat – certainly more than many of his opponents. He’s championed more progressive causes though, including the Raise the Age legislation to prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from being tried as adults.

Name recognition and differentiating himself will be big hurdles in his campaign. He gave up his seat in the Assembly in 2020 to run for Congress. He came in second to Rep. Ritchie Torres in the Democratic primary. The year prior, he finished fourth of 17 candidates in a special election for New York City public advocate.

Further listening:

Episode 3: An Interview with Michael Blake

Whitney Tilson

Investor and editor at Stansberry Research, an investment research firm.

His ideological stance in brief: Pro-charter school Wall Street moderate focused on public safety.

Major endorsements: Bill Ackman – though Ackman recently donated $250,000 to the pro-Cuomo PAC.

Fundraising: $3 million, including public matching funds and $185,000 in loans he made to his campaign. He has an estimated $1.8 million in the bank as of May 30. 

Where’s home? Upper East Side, Manhattan

What is he running on? He wants to reduce violent crime, grow the city’s economy, and rein in excessive city government spending. 

What’s holding him back? He has no experience in politics, low name recognition and he’s a millionaire but not Bloomberg rich. 

What’s his deal: Tilson, a former hedge fund executive, announced he’d be running for mayor in late November. He fell short of his highly ambitious goal: Raising nearly $8 million including matching funds by Jan. 15, but he still put up some strong numbers. 

It’s Tilson’s first time running for a political office after years of donating to Democratic candidates – both local and national. He has a history of education philanthropy, particularly involving charter schools. He cofounded the PAC Democrats for Education Reform, which supports pro-charter candidates. The group successfully advocated to raise New York’s charter school cap. Tilson was also on the board of charter network KIPP NYC, and he helped found the service-year program Teach for America, which places recent college grads in struggling public schools. Some of his top priorities listed on his campaign website include growing the city’s economy by 50% over the next decade, cutting violent crime by 50% during his first term, addressing the “cost-of-living crisis,” curbing “out-of-control city government spending,” and to “prioritize” citizens and permanent legal residents when it comes to allocating city resources. Before announcing any aspirations to run for mayor, Tilson garnered national headlines when in July 2024 he urged President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.

Further reading:
Whitney Tilson is running on education, and he’s claiming the pro-charter lane in the mayoral race
With Adams ditching the primary and Cuomo absent, mayoral ire turns toward little-known Tilson
Episode 4: An Interview with Whitney Tilson