NYC Comptroller Brad Lander is running for mayor

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a prominent progressive who has criticized Mayor Eric Adams' management of the city, announced on Tuesday that he will enter next year’s Democratic primary for mayor.

“Why does a city that means so much to so many have leadership that delivers so little for so few?” Lander said in a campaign video. “Nothing can replace New York City, but we can replace a leader when they fail the basic tests of the job.”

Lander, a 55-year-old resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn, becomes the first candidate to formally announce that he will try to derail Adams from a second term, a rare challenge of an incumbent mayor and a sign of what could become a competitive ranked-choice primary. Two other left-leaning Democratic contenders — former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn — have opened exploratory committees and begun fundraising for mayoral bids.

Similar to Stringer and Myrie, Lander has criticized Adams’ management of the city. The mayor has faced lagging poll numbers, including a historically low 28% approval rate from local voters. Critics have pointed to his widely unpopular budget cuts, his handling of the migrant crisis, and an ongoing federal investigation into his 2021 campaign fundraising.

The mayor has denied any wrongdoing related to his campaign, but how that case wraps up could further upend the race.

In an interview with Gothamist on Tuesday, Lander said he would focus on affordability and quality-of-life issues if he were elected mayor.

“I just keep talking to people who feel we are grinding,” he said, borrowing one of the mayor’s popular catchphrases. “We don't see City Hall delivering on its promises.”

When asked about public safety concerns in the city, Lander said Adams has not effectively addressed the increasing number of New Yorkers with mental illness who are living on the streets, and pledged to end street homelessness among those who are severely mentally ill.

“Everyone will like being in a city that doesn't have folks sleeping on the street who are a danger to themselves and to others,” he said.

Adams, who has staked his mayoralty on public safety and overseen a decline in crime, is still expected to be a formidable opponent. He has raised millions of dollars for his re-election bid, which his campaign has said could potentially grow to $8 million under the city’s public matching funds program.

Adams has argued that his critics have not given him adequate credit for his accomplishments, which he says include job growth, housing production, and opportunities for people of color and women. The mayor and his allies have compared Adams to David Dinkins — the city’s first Black mayor, who lost his re-election bid to Republican Rudy Giuliani — and implied that criticisms of Adams, particularly as a manager, have been motivated by racism.

“Coded words. ‘Incompetence.’ We know what that means,” Adams told reporters earlier this month.

Lander’s decision to enter the Democratic primary race did not come as a surprise to political observers. In June, he told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that he was “thinking really seriously” about mounting a challenge.

As the city’s fiscal monitor, Lander has scrutinized Adams’ managerial track record.

Earlier this year, he audited the city’s no-bid emergency contracts for migrant services and found exorbitant spending that he said amounted to millions of wasted taxpayer dollars. He was also a vocal opponent of the mayor’s budget cuts that affected libraries and schools.

Lander won the comptroller election in 2021, when he beat then-City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. His campaign focused on climate change policies and an equitable recovery from the pandemic, drawing the endorsements of nationally known progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Lander previously represented Park Slope on the City Council.

Adams, a moderate law-and-order Democrat, has derisively called Lander “the loudest person in the city,” while mocking the Park Slope progressive’s voice.

For his part, Lander has refused to trade insults with Adams.

“I try to keep it respectful,” he told WNYC’s Lehrer. “I would not mock or do an impression of someone else.”

But beyond a campaign message that resonates with New Yorkers, the race for mayor will also depend on money.

Lander, whose existing re-election funds can be rolled over into his mayoral campaign, has less than $200,000 on hand, according to public records, but is said to be on track to have $2.4 million in matching funds.

Race may also shape the contest. Lander and Stringer are both white Democrats who have sought to appeal to left-leaning voters of color and unions. Myrie, an Afro-Latino who represents the same state Senate district as Adams once did, drew attention to his budding candidacy with an appearance at the Abyssinian Church in Harlem, a well-worn campaign stop.

Lander was discussed as a potential mayoral candidate as early as 2014, when he was viewed as a liberal power broker who joined with other councilmembers to form the Council’s Progressive Caucus.

Now that Lander has officially entered the mayoral primary, the race to replace him as comptroller is expected to begin in earnest.

Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, and Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, have been floated as potential candidates. State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, one of Adams’ staunchest allies, opened an exploratory committee to run for city comptroller earlier this month.

This story has been updated with comments from Brad Lander.