The 2025 NYC mayor’s race has drawn a packed field vying to replace the incumbent, Eric Adams, and will be the marquee contest topping voters’ ballots in the June 24 Democratic primary.
Adams, who is still a Democrat, is not participating in the primary after opting to run as an independent in the general election instead. His decision came after a federal judge granted the Trump Justice Department’s request to drop his federal corruption case in early April—one of many scandals that have seriously damaged his chances of being reelected.
Even before entering the race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerged as the frontrunner in a series of public and private polls, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the campaign season. However, as election day draws closer, Cuomo’s lead appears to be dwindling, with second-place Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mandami closing the gap in the most recent polling.
Cuomo has also led in amassing institutional Democratic support from elected officials and labor unions, while Mamdani has built momentum among young left-leaning voters through his social media prowess. Both have also amassed sizable campaign war chests utilizing the city’s generous matching funds program, and Cuomo is backed by a super PAC that has raked in over $12 million.
Despite the polling, the Democratic nomination is very much still in play. Voters will cast their ballots using the ranked-choice system, which allows them to rank up to five candidates by preference.
Mamdani — along with three of Cuomo’s other progressive rivals — are backed by the New York Working Families Party, which is urging voters to rank their slate, while shutting out the former governor entirely.
Here’s a look at what the major candidates, in alphabetical order, are proposing in the hopes of coming out on top on the June 24 ballot — early voting begins June 14.
Adrienne Adams
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is not related to Mayor Adams, was the last major candidate to join the Democratic primary field in early March. Representing a portion of southeast Queens since 2017, the relatively moderate Adrienne Adams has served as council speaker since Jan. 2022. She is term-limited on the council at the end of this year.
In her bid for the highest city-wide office, the speaker has emphasized her legislative experience and is pitching herself a “no drama” leader who will not get embroilled in the kinds of controversies surrounding Mayor Adams and Cuomo. Throughout her tenure as speaker, Adrienne Adams has frequently clashed with Mayor Adams on issues including budget cuts, police oversight, and the balance of power within City Hall, and most recently, led a lawsuit to stop ICE from reestablishing an office on Rikers Island.
Speaker Adams’ campaign platform focuses on expanding affordable housing, public safety, and family support services. Her top campaign proposal is to roll out a guaranteed basic income program that would aim to provide 21,000 homeless children and young adults with monthly stipend checks for three years. She has also positioned herself as someone who would vigorously defend the city against President Trump.
The speaker has highlighted her record of passing numerous rezonings to build affordable housing as well as the City of Yes zoning text amendment that is projected to net 82,000 new units of housing over the next 15 years. Furthermore, she has touted her experience advancing programs aimed at violence prevention, while advocating for policies that increase accountability in law enforcement and investments in childcare, education, libraries, and parks.
Some of her notable backers include Attorney General Letitia James — who encouraged her to run in the first place, Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke, and District Council 37. US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ranked her second and the WFP ranked her third.
Michael Blake
Rev. Michael Blake is a progressive former Bronx Assembly member and served as an aide in ex-President Obama’s White House. In addition to vying for mayor this year, Blake also ran for public advocate in 2019 and Congress in 2020.
The son of Jamaican immigrants, his campaign platform centers on four key priorities: addressing the true cost of living, affordable housing and homelessness, managing an efficient and effective government, and education and youth empowerment.
To reduce the high cost of living, Blake has floated proposals including a guaranteed income program and wage incentives for essential workers. Additionally, he says he will boost job opportunities by supporting small businesses.
Blake is among the candidates calling for freezing rent increases on the city’s roughly one million stabilized apartments. He has advocated for balancing tenant protections with support for small landlords through proposals like a vacancy tax.
To combat rising rents and the housing crisis, Blake wants to revive and expand the Mitchell Lama affordable housing program. His approach includes boosting the construction of affordable homes, enhancing support services for unhoused individuals and those experiencing mental health crises, and eliminating credit scores as a barrier in rent and mortgage applications to improve access to housing.
Blake’s vision also prioritizes reforming city government to be more efficient and responsive while investing in education and youth empowerment.
However, Blake’s campaign has failed to gain much traction. He has consistently polled in the low single digits, has not attracted any major endorsements, and has not been able to unlock public matching funds.
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo, the former three-term governor of New York who resigned in 2021 amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies, is seeking a political comeback in the mayor’s race.
Despite the controversy surrounding his resignation, the centrist Cuomo has maintained a strong lead in the polls and is positioning himself as a seasoned executive who can get things done. He has maintained his double-digit advantage even after weeks of relentless attacks from his opponents over his record as governor and the scandals that led him to resign.
Cuomo’s campaign is built on the notion that the city is “in crisis” due to Mayor Adams’s failed leadership and that he is the one candidate who can “save” it. He has drawn on his record of getting major infrastructure projects built as governor to argue that he can do the same in the five boroughs while also insisting he is the only candidate with experience battling Trump.
The former governor’s platform centers on public safety and quality of life. He wants to expand the NYPD’s headcount by 5,000, place more cops in the subway system, and boost enforcement of low-level offenses and e-bike violations. He has also pushed more aggressive outreach and treatment for homeless individuals with severe mental illness or substance use disorders, aiming to reduce chronic street homelessness while restoring public order.
Affordability is another cornerstone of Cuomo’s campaign. He has pledged to push Albany lawmakers to boost the city’s minimum wage to $20-an-hour. He has also proposed building and preserving 500,000 new housing units, but has not pledged to implement a rent freeze.
Additionally, Cuomo has also proposed expanding access to child care and universal 3-K, reducing health care costs and providing targeted tax relief. He has sought to make combating antisemitism one of the race’s central issues, heavily criticizing pro-Palestinian protests in the city as promoting Jewish hate.
But Cuomo’s candidacy has attracted plenty of its own controversy. His opponents have blasted him for releasing a housing plan that utilized ChatGPT for research, getting public matching funds withheld by the city’s Campaign Finance Board over suspected illegal coordination between his campaign and a super PAC supporting it, and accepting contributions from Trump-aligned donors.
Cuomo has attracted a slew of high-profile supporters, including former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his opponent, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, and the unions 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council.
Brad Lander
Brad Lander is a progressive Democrat currently serving as city comptroller, the third-highest-ranking citywide elected office after the mayor and public advocate. Lander is running as a seasoned watchdog whose frequent clashes with Mayor Adams have prepared him to take on Trump.
The Brooklynite, who formerly served eight years on the City Council, has made the lofty goal of ending street homelessness the central plank of his campaign. His plan calls for embracing the housing first model, whereby he would expand outreach teams to connect roughly 2,000 severely mentally ill homeless New Yorkers with supportive housing.
Lander’s agenda prioritizes affordable housing as well, with a goal of building 500,000 new units and enacting tenant protections. Part of his housing plan calls for utilizing some of the city’s public golf courses to construct 50,000 new units.
He also wants to improve the city’s public housing by introducing a “Yelp for NYCHA Repairs” that would allow tenants to rate vendors who perform maintenance on their apartments.
When it comes to public safety, Lander has pledged to retain current Commissioner Jessica Tisch and boost the department’s ranks back to their budgeted headcount of 35,000.
The city’s top money man gained the backing of a panel of experts convened by the New York Times Editorial Board. He also recieved support from the Working Families Party, which ranked him second, Brooklyn Borough President Atonio Reynoso, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who ranked him alongside Adrienne Adams.
Zohran Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani has represented parts of Astoria and Long Island City in the Assembly since 2022. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and was first elected in 2021 after defeating longtime incumbent Aravella Simotas.
Mamdani has built his mayoral campaign on the message of using government to make life more affordable for New Yorkers by making city buses free, instituting universal subsidized child care, and freezing rent increases for stabilized tenants. He has put forward a plan to construct 200,000 new affordable homes over the next decade, financed directly by the city.
On public safety, Mamdani wants to establish a new “Department of Community Safety” that would take a community-focused approach, prioritizing violence prevention and mental health services alongside policing.
Beyond housing and safety, Mamdani supports expanding city-owned grocery stores to lower food costs, providing free high-quality childcare from infancy through preschool, and investing in fully funded, equitable public schools and CUNY. His climate agenda includes aggressive decarbonization and climate resilience, while his healthcare proposals aim to expand access, strengthen public hospitals, and lower costs by rejecting Medicare Advantage.
Mamdani’s progressive platform is funded by a plan to raise corporate taxes to New Jersey’s level and tax the city’s wealthiest earners, along with cracking down on corrupt landlords and reforming city procurement.
The Democratic socialist’s campaign has gained serious momentum, generating excitement among the city’s younger progressive voters. He has drawn number one rankings from the WFP and Ocasio-Cortez.
At the same time, however, Mamdani has taken criticism for his stance on Israel as he seeks to lead a city with the second-largest Jewish population in the world. Along with supporting the BDS (Boycott Divest Sanction) movement against Israel, he has been an outspoken supporter of the pro-Palestine cause during the Israel-Hamas War and took criticism for saying he supports Israel’s right to exist as “a state with equal rights” rather than as a Jewish state.
Zellnor Myrie
Zellnor Myrie represents central Brooklyn neighborhoods including Crown Heights, Park Slope, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens in the state Senate. First elected in 2018 after as a progressive insurgent who defeated incumbent Jesse Hamilton in a Democratic primary, Myrie has served six years in the Senate seat once held by Eric Adams.
During his tenure in Albany’s upper chamber, Myrie has focused on reforms in elections, criminal justice, housing, and public safety. He helped pass early voting legislation and a law sealing criminal records after a designated period.
In Mayrie’s bid for mayor, he has continued to hold progressive positions but has also tacked more to the center on some issues. His housing agenda includes a plan to build 700,000 new housing units over the next decade and preserve 300,000 existing units, with an emphasis on affordable homes rather than luxury condos.
Myrie wants to boost NYPD headcount by 3,000 to bring it back to its 2018 level of 36,000. Furthermore, he has pledged to hire 2,000 new detectives and solve 100% of shootings.
The state Senator has proposed instituting universal free after-school for public school students. He has also pushed policies addressing racial equity, including efforts to expand homeownership for Black New Yorkers, combat deed theft, and reform discriminatory mortgage lending.
Under his Black agenda, public health priorities include funding maternal health centers in predominantly Black neighborhoods and expanding mental health services.
US Rep. Dan Goldman (Brooklyn/Manhattan) is Myrie’s most high-profile first-place supporter. However, he has attracted lower rankings from progressive powerhouses like the WFP, which ranked him fourth, and AOC, which ranked him fifth.
Jessica Ramos
The daughter of Colombian immigrants and a lifelong New Yorker who grew up in Astoria, Jessica Ramos has represented Queens in the state Senate since 2019. During her time in Albany, the progressive Ramos supported legislation to raise the minimum wage, strengthen tenant protections, and expand immigrant rights.
While Ramos is still on the ballot, she threw her support behind Cuomo on June 6, essentially conceding that she does not see herself winning the primary. Her move came after she failed to attract the support of the city’s major labor unions or progressive groups.
Nevertheless, her campaign centers on housing, public jobs, mental health reform, and support for immigrant communities.
Ramos proposes expanding housing access through voucher programs and legalizing basement apartments, improving access to immigration legal services, and increasing funding for adult literacy and job training programs. She also calls for greater language access across city services to better serve non-English speaking residents.
Ramos plans to declare a citywide mental health emergency on day one, committing to rebuilding mental health infrastructure and expanding access to care in all neighborhoods and languages. She supports integrating mental health care into housing, education, workplaces, and public safety systems.
A signature proposal of her campaign is the creation of a New York City version of the Works Progress Administration. The program, she says, would fund public service jobs focused on neighborhood infrastructure, workforce housing, climate resilience, public markets, and the restoration of shuttered mental health facilities.
Scott Stringer
Scott Stringer, who preceded Lander as comptroller, is making a second run for mayor after coming fifth in 2021. His previous bid was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied.
After running as a progressive in 2021, Stringer has built his current campaign message around his decades of experience in city and state government instead. He previously served as Manhattan borough president and as a member of the Assembly, and argues that his background makes him well-suited to lead the city through complex challenges.
The former chief bean counter is proposing significant investments in public infrastructure and services, including a $1 billion “Very Rainy Day Fund” to stabilize city finances and a “Mitchell-Lama 2.0” initiative to build and preserve affordable housing.
Stringer’s public safety plan also includes hiring 3,000 additional police officers, deploying mental health professionals in the subway system, and placing a cop on every train car. He is also calling for ethics reforms, including restrictions on campaign contributions from city contractors and greater transparency in budgeting and procurement.
His platform also includes initiatives on youth services, childcare, and climate resilience. These include universal summer camps, extended school hours, new mobile parks, and neighborhood “resilience hubs” in underserved communities. He is also proposing zoning reforms to limit non-public uses of federally owned properties, aimed at countering federal overreach.
Stringer has not attracted many endorsements throughout the cycle. Manhattan Rep. Jerry Nadler is his top supporter, and he did attract a number-five pick from AOC.
Whitney Tilson
Whitney Tilson, a businessman and former hedge fund manager, is running for mayor on a platform that emphasizes school reform, public safety, and housing development.
As a member of the first New York City cohort of Teach For America in the early 1990s, he later became an outspoken advocate for charter schools and education reform. He co-founded the national nonprofit Democrats for Education Reform and has served on the board of KIPP NYC, a network of charter schools, for more than two decades.
He supports maintaining mayoral control of schools and promises to appoint a reform-oriented chancellor to root out inefficiencies and improve student outcomes. He wants to shift away from seniority-based teacher compensation in favor of performance-based pay and higher salaries for educators in hard-to-staff subjects and high-needs schools.
Tilson is a strong supporter of charter schools and calls for lifting the state’s cap on charter schools, expanding high-performing schools, and holding all public schools accountable to performance benchmarks.
Beyond education, Tilson’s agenda includes reducing crime and expanding the city’s housing supply by cutting red tape for developers and streamlining zoning and permitting processes. He proposes ending street homelessness in his first term and overhauling the shelter and mental health systems.
