Public Advocate Jumaane Williams officially made his choice in the 2025 NYC mayor’s race Tuesday, endorsing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Comptroller Brad Lander as his top two choices in the city’s ranked-choice Democratic primary.
Williams said he plans to announce his third, fourth, and fifth ranked-choice endorsements in the coming days and encouraged voters to “exhaust their ballot” in the June 24 primary.
“I’m really excited to be doing a co-number one endorsement with Speaker Adrienne Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander,” Williams said at a May 27 press conference in City Hall Park. “I couldn’t be more excited to be supporting two linear leaders who are already citywide, who have already shown what they can do.”
Williams says it’s strategy
When asked whether Lander had originally been his sole pick, Williams said he had intended to support both candidates early on, but expanded his slate after Adams entered the race in March.
“We said, let’s figure out how best to elevate everyone, and particularly how best to use ranked-choice voting so that Andrew Cuomo is not the mayor,” he said.
Williams praised both Adams and Lander for their commitment to affordability, public safety, and honest governance. He criticized Mayor Eric Adams for failing to stand up for New Yorkers and took direct aim at former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is currently leading the latest opinion polls among likely voters.
“I’m very concerned for a Cuomo mayoralty, bringing back something that didn’t work the first time and had to leave to replace something that’s not working now,” said Williams. “It’s not what we need to be doing, and we have amazing leaders in this city who never left. They’ve been doing the work, on the ground. They are what New York needs.”
He said Speaker Adams and Comptroller Lander have been talking about how to make this city affordable for years, “as opposed to someone who is going to be ushering in the highest rent increase that we’ve seen in the past 20 years, for the third time,” referring to the proposed rent hikes proposed by the Mayor Eric Adams appointed Rent Guidelines Boards.
The public advocate said he hopes his endorsements will help steer the race toward candidates who “speak the language” of working New Yorkers and who offer a clear alternative to what he called “maintenance” leadership.
Lander, who has worked closely with Williams since their time together on the City Council, highlighted their shared history fighting for tenant protections and criminal justice reform.
“We fought for tenants’ rights over and over … and we worked together to pass the Community Safety Act to dramatically reduce stop-and-frisk,” Lander said. “Unfortunately, in this administration, the opposite has been true.”
Speaker Adams echoed those sentiments, saying her campaign is rooted in her experience as a mother, grandmother, and lifelong New Yorker.
“I legislate the way that I live,” she said. “New Yorkers deserve a mayor that brings you no drama, no trauma, no scandal, and no corruption.”
Williams’ endorsements come as Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani continues to gain momentum in the race. An internal poll conducted by Workbench Strategy for the Mamdani campaign showed Cuomo with 40% of first-choice support, followed by Mamdani at 27%. All other candidates polled below 10% in the survey of 500 likely Democratic primary voters conducted from May 14 to May 18.
However, the polling stands in contrast to a SurveyUSA poll conducted during the same period, which indicates former Gov. Andrew Cuomo leads the mayoral race with 43% of first-choice support, while Mamdani follows with 11%.
