Campaigns & Elections
Jessica Ramos paid off her anti-casino poll debt. But what did it cost?
First, an anonymous donor was going to pay for it. Now, the state senator’s campaign has – and it might have been more than she owed.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos seems to have made a bad bet on a constituent poll. John Nacion/Getty Images
Two years later, state Sen. Jessica Ramos has finally paid off the poll she said solidified her opposition to Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plan for a casino and entertainment complex next to Citi Field.
But the book can’t be closed just yet – the Queens Democrat and her pollster, Slingshot Strategies, can’t seem to agree on how much she paid for its services. And to complicate matters, Ramos only updated her campaign finance filings to include the latest payments to Slingshot, following City & State’s inquiries.
Ramos first shared the poll in April 2024, announcing to The City that 75% of her constituents didn’t want a casino in their neighborhood. She initially said the poll cost $27,500 and was paid for by an anonymous donor. But that raised concerns that a rival casino bid might have been trying to influence her as she weighed whether to greenlight the casino bid in her district. Ramos changed course months later and said she’d pay Slingshot out of her state campaign account instead.
When she finally did start paying it off, the first $5,000 chunk came right after Neal Kwatra, a lobbyist for the Bally’s Corp. bid in the Bronx and a longtime Ramos ally, donated $5,000 to her reelection campaign in September 2024.
Campaign finance records show Ramos made another $5,000 payment to Slingshot in October 2024, a $14,000 payment in May 2025, a third $5,000 payment on Jan. 9 of this year and a final $8,500 payment on March 4. The last two payments were added in amended filings with the Board of Elections on Monday night, after City & State first contacted Ramos’ campaign. Before that, the $13,500 in payments by Ramos’ campaign had not been reported.
Slingshot founding partner Evan Roth Smith and Ramos campaign spokesperson Hank Sheinkopf both confirmed the poll was paid in full. But they disagree on how much was paid. Smith told City & State the firm never received the first $5,000 payment in September 2024 that’s recorded in Ramos’ campaign filings. But he said Ramos was charged $32,500 and has now paid it off – a cost that was confirmed by an invoice reviewed by City & State. Sheinkopf disputed that. “The poll cost $37,500. And that is exactly what was paid,” he said in a text message.
It’s not clear why Ramos would record paying an extra $5,000 she didn’t owe, but it wouldn’t be the first time she has failed to maintain accurate campaign finance records. When Ramos effectively suspended her New York City mayoral campaign to endorse former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year, she was carrying tens of thousands of dollars in unreported liabilities. Her next filing showed her campaign to be more than $125,000 in debt. But she has not filed a report with the New York City Campaign Finance Board since June 2025, blowing the last two disclosure deadlines.
Even after the casino was approved for her Queens district, Ramos has been campaigning on her opposition to it. She’s facing a tough reelection battle against Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas and former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate.