Lively races for borough president are playing out this month in Manhattan and the Bronx, sparking interest from business donors keen on influencing officials who hold a key voice in development fights.
Though often derided as powerless, borough presidents are real political players. Their offices have budgets exceeding $6 million, including a staff of land-use experts, and can direct 5% of the city’s annual capital budget toward their favored construction projects. Borough presidents also make non-binding votes on rezoning applications that put pressure on City Council members to support or reject projects; appoint members to community boards; and often use their perch as BP to seek higher office.
The Manhattan Borough Presidency is up for grabs this year with incumbent Mark Levine giving up his seat to run for comptroller. Two prominent candidates — City Councilman Keith Powers and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal — are running in the Democratic primary to replace him. In the Bronx, incumbent Democrat Vanessa Gibson is seeking a second term but faces an unusually competitive primary challenge from outgoing City Councilman Rafael Salamanca, who has cultivated real estate-industry ties as chair of the council’s Land Use committee.
Incumbent Borough Presidents Antonio Reynoso in Brooklyn, Donovan Richards in Queens and Vito Fossella in Brooklyn are also seeking re-election but are not seen as vulnerable. Here’s what to know about the Manhattan and Bronx races ahead of the June 24 primary.
Different housing stances in Manhattan
The increasingly contentious race to replace Levine is between two well-liked lawmakers from opposite sides of the island. Hoylman-Sigal, a state senator, represents the West Side from the West Village to the Upper West Side; Powers, who is term-limited from the City Council, represents parts of the Upper East Side, Midtown and Stuyvesant Town.
Both men have broadly similar policy platforms, with differences in emphasis: Hoylman-Sigal leads with his perspective as a public school parent, while Powers is quick to note he is a rent-stabilized tenant and frequent bus rider.
“My premise is that you shouldn’t have to be a millionaire to live here in the greatest city on earth,” Powers said during an NY1 debate. Hoylman-Sigal said he is running to “fight Trump, and to protect the borough.”
More differences emerge on questions of development, where Powers is running as resolutely pro-construction while Hoylman-Sigal emphasises community input. Asked about the controversial city plan to build affordable housing on the site of NoHo’s Elizabeth Street Garden, Powers said at a Tuesday New York Law School debate that he would push forward, since “scrapping it now will set [us] years back on important housing.” But Hoylman-Sigal called for rethinking the housing plan instead of razing “beautiful public space.”
As for potential casinos in Manhattan, Hoylman-Sigal says he is totally opposed. Powers — who is running with the support of the pro-casino Hotel and Gaming Trades Council union — is more measured, saying he would consider neighborhood feedback. (Both men can influence casino bids this year in their current roles: Hoylman-Sigal’s senate district is home to Silverstein Properties’ proposal, while Powers’ council district includes the Soloviev Group’s East River site.)
The previously low-key borough president’s race has featured sharp attacks in recent days. At two debates this week, Powers criticized Hoylman-Sigal for supporting changes to bail and evidence-sharing laws in Albany that critics claimed exacerbated crime issues. Hoylman-Sigal responded that the reforms were meant to protect defendants’ rights and noted that he supported subsequent changes that softened the policies.
Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist, said Hoylman-Sigal is favored to win for the simple fact that West Side candidates tend to defeat their East Side counterparts, given high voter turnouts in neighborhoods like the Upper West Side. Policy issues may matter little, Yang said, since most voters have a poor understanding of the borough president role.
“Most candidates running for borough president really act like they’re running for mayor — or mayor of their borough,” said Yang, who is unaffiliated with any borough president campaign.
Hoylman-Sigal may also be known to more voters borough-wide since he ran for the same post in 2021, losing to Levine by 9 points in the final ranked-choice round.
Hoylman-Sigal enjoys top-tier endorsements from Attorney General Letitia James; U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman; former Borough Presidents Gale Brewer, Ruth Messinger and C. Virginia Fields; and health care union 1199 SEIU. Powers’ supporters include Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Ritchie Torres and Adriano Espaillat; and powerful unions such as HTC, city workers’ union DC37 and the building workers’ group 32BJ SEIU.
Hoylman-Sigal has a slight financial edge, having raised $1,628,981 in public and private funds versus Powers’ $1,488,243. Donors from the business world have supported both men: Powers’ donors include theater owner James Nederlander, a committee funded by the owners of Madison Square Garden, CBRE CEO Mary Anne Tighe, and two employees of Extell Development. Hoylman-Sigal has support from PR executive Steven Rubenstein, investor Jonathan Soros and Millennium Partners managing partner Mario Palumbo.
A third candidate, Calvin Sun, is an emergency medicine physician who emphasizes health policy but has raised much less money than his rivals.
A rare challenge in the Bronx
Different issues characterize the Bronx race, in which the incumbent Gibson — a former City Councilwoman — is trying to fend off a challenge by Salamanca, who is term-limited from his South Bronx council seat.
Gibson has touted her record securing infrastructure investments and public school upgrades, while Salamanca alleges the borough has been “mismanaged” under her four-year term, pointing to crime and sanitation issues. Racial dynamics also define the contest: Gibson is the Bronx’s first Black borough president, while Salamanca, who is of Puerto Rican descent, would be the latest of several Latino leaders of the city’s only majority-Latino borough.
Salamanca and Gibson have both raised just over $1 million in public and private funds. Salamanca’s donor list may reflect his real-estate connections as chair of the council’s powerful Land Use committee: His supporters include L+M Development Partners CEO Lisa Gomez; Joshua Arker of the development firm Arker Companies, which has numerous projects in the Bronx; Steven Smith, who owns a large property on Oak Point in the South Bronx; and a PAC representing the Hunts Point Produce Market, which is within Salamanca’s council district.
Salamanca has also benefited from $101,000 in spending by a super PAC funded by Airbnb. The Affordable New York PAC has distributed mailers backing Salamanca, the only borough president candidate that has benefited from the lodging company’s $5 million play to influence city elections this year.
Gibson’s donors include a dozen employees of Montefiore Medical Center and a PAC funded by the hospital; the landlord group New York Apartment Association; architect Ariel Aufgang; and a PAC controlled by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie of the Bronx.
Gibson has the lion’s share of institutional endorsements, including from the Bronx Democratic Party, unions 1199 SEIU and 32BJ SEIU, the progressive Working Families Party, and Rep. Espaillat — a notable backer, since the influential congressman has sometimes supported Latino candidates over Black incumbents.
That institutional support could give Gibson a slight edge, said Yang, though he predicted the race would be close.
Neither candidate has taken a stance on the lone Bronx casino proposal: Bally’s bid for the former Trump Links golf course at Ferry Point Park. Gibson, who will appoint a member to the committee that will vote on the proposal, said she is evaluating its promised benefits and listening to local residents, while Salamanca also alluded to pros and cons at a May forum, the Bronx Times reported.
