Mark Levine, looking at a possible Mamdani administration, wants no drama

Mark Levine thrives in a crisis. As COVID-19 ravaged New York City, Levine – then an Upper Manhattan council member without a background in health care – rose in prominence as the city’s unlikely pandemic political conscience. Some even took to calling him the “Anthony Fauci of the City Council.”

Then the chair of the City Council Health Committee, Levine dove headfirst into a sea of media reports and data with a scholar’s hunger. He became an essential resource for New Yorkers desperate for accurate public health information. He was a regular fixture on the news, often putting his fluent Spanish and Hebrew to use. He advocated for racial disparity data. At times, he publicly debated city practices like closing restaurants and hospitals turning away patients to the chagrin of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

He has met other crises with similar gusto. Fed up with claims that there was no space for new housing amid the city’s dire shortage, Levine used his Manhattan borough presidency – often a ceremonial role – to identify pockets of opportunity to build across Manhattan. When wildfire smoke turned the sky an uneasy shade of orange two summers ago, Levine took to social media with authority and co-authored legislation to bolster indoor air quality.

“He’s not afraid to look a crisis straight in the eyes and figure out ways to address it,” said City Council Member Keith Powers, a longtime friend of Levine’s. “Whether it’s the housing crisis or COVID, he’s demonstrated a strong affinity for leading from the front and demonstrating by example.”

As the city’s likely next comptroller, Levine will soon face perhaps his greatest challenge yet: safeguarding the city’s finances from an increasingly hostile presidential administration. He has vowed to be a bulwark against President Donald Trump – a popular sentiment in the deep-blue city – though thornier political dynamics may lie closer to home.

For some of his supporters, another major crisis looms. The likely incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, represents a threat they hope Levine will help address as comptroller. In addition to managing the city’s pension fund and conducting audits amid fiscal uncertainty, he’ll also be an independent check on Mamdani if he wins the general election. That’s part and parcel for the city’s comptroller – watchdog is in the job description. But with real estate and business power brokers clamoring for a strong foil to the 33-year-old democratic socialist, Levine may find himself with a choice: treat the possible leftist mayor as the latest crisis to take on, or set their differences aside, keep politics out of financial audits, and focus on the broader issues the city faces.

Out of the political comfort zone

The borough president’s office in lower Manhattan is infused with history. Aged maps of Manhattan adorn the walls. There’s a shower in the bathroom, installed by David Dinkins – an avid tennis player. Grandest of all is the stately wainscot chair, more than a 100 years old, passed down from borough president to borough president.

It was late July and Levine seemed in good spirits, eager to take on a broader citywide role as comptroller, but also contemplative about the past. Gesturing to the chair, he noted the talon-like feet rooted into the ground, the wooden owl perched atop the back symbolizing knowledge, how its origins date back to when the city was governed by the Board of Estimate. The city’s borough presidents had far more power then. One of eight panel members, Levine’s distant predecessors had a hand in making all of the city’s most important decisions. Since the board’s 1989 demise, the borough presidency is far more symbolic now. Success largely comes from its occupants’ charm, not brute force. It’s a platform Levine has tried to wield intentionally.

“One of the great powers of the office that I underappreciated was that it’s held in high esteem by regular Manhattanites and by the press,” Levine said. “What you say matters.”

This has worked to Levine’s advantage. People like him. Genuinely. More than 20 people across New York politics, advocacy groups and business attested to that. Together, they painted a portrait of an affable, authentic and smart public servant, one who has been willing to take on politically sensitive issues like housing development – a central theme of his tenure.

He filled Manhattan’s community boards – notorious for rejecting development – with people receptive to new housing projects in their neighborhoods. He fought to raise the 12 floor area ratio cap, a 1961 zoning restriction limiting the size of residential buildings. He was one of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’s earliest and most ardent supporters, helping push all but one of the borough’s council members to approve the sweeping zoning plan. And hoping to change the conversation about there being nowhere left to build, he put out a plan identifying 171 sites and neighborhood rezonings that could create more than 70,000 new residential units in Manhattan. When someone called with an objection about a particular site, Levine asked them to find an alternative in the neighborhood. Nobody ever came back with one. Dan Garodnick, chair of the City Planning Commission, said Levine has gone “above and beyond” on championing affordable housing. Annemarie Gray, Open New York executive director, described Levine as “ahead of the curve” in terms of embracing development.

“Look, I just got elected citywide,” Levine said. “You can step out of the political comfort zone on housing and still succeed politically. My hope is that politicians at the local level would see that.”

The polyglot

One of Levine’s closest friends and political allies is Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who defeated him in a state Senate primary a decade and a half ago. They grew close after that race, bonding over their shared attachment to Upper Manhattan. Espaillat said he’d been impressed by Levine’s Spanish and his work in the community. The council district Levine, who is white and Jewish, was elected to represent in 2013 is highly diverse – 41% Hispanic, 28% white, 17% Black and 9% Asian.

“He has grown politically to understand the entire city, which is so complicated and diverse,” Espaillat said. “He’s become really knowledgeable about neighborhoods, the enclaves of the city and neighborhoods that make it run.”

Levine leaned into his linguistic chops on the comptroller campaign trail, running a popular ad that showed him switching from Spanish, Mandarin, Hebrew, English and Greek as he conversed with New Yorkers. He’s got a wide variety of other phrases in his arsenal, a “smattering” of Arabic, Bengali, French, Gujarati, Cantonese and Korean. Studying languages is fun, he said, even relaxing, like doing a crossword puzzle. “The fact that he speaks so many languages is impressive,” Council Member Gale Brewer said. “That’s a big deal for our communities.”

He started his career as a bilingual math and science middle school teacher at a South Bronx public school. Struck by the lack of access his students’ families had to financial services, he founded the nonprofit Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union in Washington Heights a few years later. Getting into public office took grit. The social problems he encountered across these two experiences spurred him to run for the City Council in 2001. But it took time to win an election. Several tries in fact. It wasn’t until 2013 that he was elected to represent the Upper Manhattan district. Since then he hasn’t lost. He’s most proud of championing the city’s right to counsel laws, which give low-income New Yorkers free legal representation in housing court. But his leadership during the pandemic was what really set him apart.

“He’s a supremely substantive policymaker and problem solver in what is increasingly an age of performative politics,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, who came up with Levine in the City Council. “He sees government not as a platform for personal brand building, but as a vehicle for actual problem-solving, and he is refreshingly engaged in the actual mechanics of governing.”

But he also has good political instincts. Amit Singh Bagga, a government veteran and political consultant, credited Levine for being among the most active local elected officials sounding the alarm about New York being a battleground state congressionally after the 2022 midterms. While other Democrats were boarding buses to organize in Pennsylvania and other swing districts in 2024, Levine urged New Yorkers to “tend to the battlegrounds in their backyards first,” Bagga said. “He’s an astute observer of politics and understood that was a crisis and made it a priority,” Bagga, a fundraiser with Battleground New York at the time, recalled. “I think that sets him apart.”

Being comptroller will imbue Levine with a much broader set of tools and responsibilities. Levine has put out a bevy of plans. And he framed the role as a way to further many of the things he’s pushed for throughout his political career. Like putting out trusted information on an even wider scale than he did during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also wants to use the office to tackle the housing crisis – like wielding the city’s pension system to launch a fund to create or preserve as many as 75,000 affordable units over the next decade.

As for addressing federal threats, he has vowed to fight for a budget capable of responding to cuts to health care and food assistance by increasing reserve funds by a billion dollars. If the Trump administration seizes money from the city’s bank accounts like it did earlier this year, he’ll sue. He also promised to flex the city’s sprawling pension fund – which has ownership in every major company in the country – when engaging with shareholders as a counterweight to Trump’s agenda.

The office has a staff of around 800 people – far more than he oversaw as Manhattan borough president or as a council member. Good management will be essential. He’ll be steward of one of the largest institutional investment funds on earth: the city’s five public pension funds of roughly $295 billion. He’ll be tasked with reviewing city contracts, scouring them for integrity, fiscal compliance and accountability. Oversight of the city’s budget and fiscal condition is also part of the job. As is auditing the city’s 50-plus agencies, issuing and selling bonds and resolving claims both for and against the city. And don’t forget the seat also doubles as a check on the mayor.

The other Democratic nominee

While he still technically has a general election against Republican Peter Kefalas to win this fall, Levine is a shoo-in to become the city’s next fiscal watchdog. A perpetual scholar, a quick study and consummate professional, he’s got a personality likely to lend itself to the wonky job. He’s a nerd and proud of it. Numbers and data are his bread and butter. At a time of great fiscal uncertainty, he’s exactly the sort of person you’d want at the helm.

Levine is difficult to put in a box politically. He has a fairly progressive record, but his firm support for Israel spurred many of the city’s progressives to align behind southern Brooklyn City Council Member Justin Brannan in the comptroller primary. Levine assembled a broad coalition of New Yorkers, ultimately winning every borough but Brooklyn. He and Mamdani got roughly the same number of first choice votes in the Democratic primary and won many of the same neighborhoods. Both are skilled communicators and talked about affordability on the campaign trail. They have vastly different views on Israel.

Mamdani calls Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide, decrying the country as an apartheid state. He has long condemned how the country’s government has treated Palestinians, at least 60,000 of whom have reportedly been killed since Israel mounted its offense in wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. He has vowed to govern for the city’s Jewish and Muslim inhabitants alike, but his unapologetic criticism of the Israeli government has unsettled some Jewish New Yorkers. (Though many still voted for him.) Levine, meanwhile, has condemned rising antisemitism and frequently spoke about the deep ties between the city and Israel. Roughly a week after Hamas attacked Israel, Levine rallied with the family members of hostages held in Gaza, calling for their immediate release.

One point of tension likely to crop up is the city’s investment in Israel Bonds. While current comptroller Brad Lander (who is also Jewish) let the city’s longtime investments in the Israeli state lapse, Levine has promised to reverse this, describing it as “prudent management” and a “reliable investment.”

“Mark Levine will simultaneously be arrested stopping deportations by ICE and then march in the Israeli pride parade,” Democratic consultant Ryan Adams said. “A lot of people who are going to be like, ‘Is that allowed as a Democrat?’ Mark Levine is going to challenge that in a way that I think is really important now.”

Asked about his dynamic with Mamdani, Levine was diplomatic. He’ll approach the relationship with nuance, he said, supporting the mayor when he’s doing the right thing and pushing back when he believes he’s not. The two men have talked after their respective wins. Mamdani even visited the borough president’s office in late July. “We obviously have differences of opinion on a number of issues, in some cases quite sharp, but I expect that we will have a relationship of respect that allows us to work together,” Levine said. A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.

Those spiraling about Mamdani – largely the city’s real estate and business communities – see a potential champion in Levine. Or at the very least a listening ear. While being comptroller isn’t innately a political role, his predecessors have used the platform to varying levels to check the mayor. John Liu and Mike Bloomberg had a highly charged relationship, clashing over everything from city contracts to teacher layoffs. Scott Stringer was fairly aggressive in the role. While there was little daylight between him and de Blasio politically, they were frequently at odds, with Stringer even suing him in 2021 over the mayor’s spending on fast-tracked emergency contracts. Lander was initially more reserved in criticizing Mayor Eric Adams than his predecessors, but he grew into a forceful critic, at one point revoking the mayor’s ability to enter emergency contracts to house and care for migrants without his approval.

How that dynamic plays out between Mamdani and Levine may very well end up mirroring some of the leading reasons people voted for them: Mamdani pushing for change. Levine, perceived as more experienced and less extreme, providing a sense of calm and stability. “He’s considerably older, more established,” political consultant Sam Raskin, who worked on Brannan’s campaign, said of Levine. “He’s going to have the opportunity to present himself as the quote unquote adult in the room compared to Mamdani, which is not the typical dynamic. Usually it’s the thorn in the side of the big bad mayor.”

Lander pointed out that ultimately, the two executive roles need the other. Hostility is a mistake. “There’s an enormous amount of work that the mayor and the comptroller are assigned to do together,” Lander said. “Every day our teams are working together to do that, even when we’re fighting like cats and dogs.”

Like his predecessors, Levine has absolutely no plans to run for mayor

Most don’t expect Levine to be particularly political. Nor do they expect him to be overly antagonistic with Mamdani. It’s just not his nature. Several people interviewed for this story said he’s willing to talk to anyone, so in that sense, he could be a good entry point in city government for those apprehensive about the mayor. Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, said the business community expects Levine to challenge the administration if he thinks the city is going in the wrong direction. “I think he’ll be focused on the right issues, not just looking to make headlines with some of the gotcha audits we’ve seen in the past,” Wylde said.

Stringer expressed similar sentiments. “You have to hold government accountable and have the strength to do it. But you also have to find real solutions,” he said. “Anyone can hold a press conference, but it’s a lot harder to do work that’s sustainable.”

While the comptroller office has long been a launching pad for a mayoral run (albeit with scant success), Levine said that’s not on his mind right now. “I actually really want to do this job,” he said. “I would be happy to hunker down and actually just be a great comptroller.” Of course, others who’ve been in his position made similar claims.

Whether he’ll loudly back Mamdani in the general election is less certain. After the primary, Levine told PIX11 that he’s a “Democrat on the Democratic ticket who supports Democrats in general elections.” But he hasn’t decided whether he’ll campaign with the 33-year-old democratic socialist. Levine said he has been frank with Mamdani about the fears many New Yorkers are feeling right now and about the phrase “globalize the intifada.” That’s something Mamdani has never said, but he initially declined to condemn the phrase on a right-leaning podcast – spawning a seemingly endless news cycle.

While Levine said he felt like the Assembly member listened, he believes there’s still more he can do to reassure Jewish New Yorkers.

“He’s going to have a chance now to prove that he cares about every person in this city, Jewish or not, and to his credit, he has said that he has every intention to lead that way,” Levine said. “I’m going to take him at his word and hold him to it. But we need to ensure that every person in New York feels safe and cared for by their mayor and city government. I think he’ll be judged on whether he can achieve that.” So, of course, will Levine.