BP Race: Hoylman-Sigal Racks Up Endorsements, Powers Rakes in Fundraising $$s

With only two declared candidates in the race for Manhattan borough president, it appears to be shaping up as a classic East Side vs. West Side contest.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a NYS Senator in a district that runs through parts of Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and the Upper West Side, said on Jan. 28 that he had endorsements from 10 elected officials, including former borough presidents Gale Brewer and Ruth Messinger. Brewer currently represents a UWS Council district. Messinger also held a UWS Council seat before being elected borough president.

Powers is term-limited in his City Council seat, which represents a district that stretches from Stuyvesant Town through portions of Midtown and Kips Bay and the UES to East 93rd Street and west to the Rockefeller Center/Times Square area. Three weeks ago, he unleashed his list of 20 endorsements—which included five of the six candidates looking to succeed him in the race for the council seat—and many of the East Side Democratic Club leaders.

Among the leaders who just announced endorsements for Hoylman-Sigal are four current Assembly members: Deborah Glick, Micah Lasher, Linda B. Rosenthal and Tony Simone; Council member Erik Bottcher, and former Assembly member Richard Gottfried. Previously NYS Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assembly member Grace Lee also said they were endorsing Hoylman-Sigal. “Support from my West Side colleagues means the world to me,” said Hoylman-Sigal, who only announced his candidacy in early December.

Powers announced in August and for four months was the only candidate in the race. That has helped him jump out to a fundraising lead. The New York City Campaign Finance Board showed Hoylman-Sigal had quickly raised $126,065 in private funds in his first month but has not received matching city funds thus far.

Powers’ war chest is over a half million, according to the latest city figures, which show a $585,481 total including $271,046 in private funds and $314,435 in matching public funds. His campaign manager, J. T. Ennis, said that Powers has actually raised $887,000 in total, which will show up in the next disclosure. “We are excited to be running a substantive borough-wide campaign focused on listening to the needs of all Manhattan residents and highlighting the needs of all Manhattan residents,” Ennis said.

Both candidates are big backers of rent stabilization and affordable housing in the city. And in the most controversial issue for residents lately, both candidates are supporters of the congestion pricing toll that began on Jan. 5 for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street. Both had pushed for a discount for resident drivers within the toll area.

Powers was part of a group of four City Council colleagues representing residents inside the district who in November sought to get an in-zone discount for the car owners who live in the district. Hoylman-Sigal had pushed earlier for a similar resident’s discount at the state level. The MTA and Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, turned a blind eye to the pleas and offered no in-resident discount from the $9 toll.

Powers was elected in 2017 and took office in 2018, succeeding Council member (and now Planning Commissioner) Dan Garodnick and became the Democratic leader in the City Council from 2022 until January 2024. In 2019, Powers tied with Helen Rosenthal for the designation of top lawmaker on the City Council by City and State. He has introduced several public-safety bills involving lithium-ion batteries and an anti-noise bill during his tenure.

Hoylman-Sigal, a former president of the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats, was elected to the NYS Senate for the first time in 2012. He is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and was the Senate sponsor of the $30 million Newspaper Sustainability Act that passed the state legislature and was signed into law last year. He narrowly lost in a race against Mark Levine for borough president in 2021. In his re-election bid in the State Senate in 2023 he ran unopposed.

Brewer said of Hoylman-Sigal, “Brad understands the importance of quality of life, and that’s reflected in his legislative record. We’ve worked closely on neighborhood issues like supporting our public schools, combating dangerous e-bikes and mopeds, and making our streets and subways safer.”

Powers was among a group of 15 City Council members (which included Brewer) to withdraw from the City Council members’ Progressive Caucus. Hoylman-Sigal was cited by City & State, as “the person behind state Senate’s progressive bills.”

The primary is Tuesday, June 24. The borough president slot opened up because the incumbent Levine, who has yet to make an endorsement, said he was going to run for the city-wide office of comptroller. The current incumbent of that post, Brad Lander, announced he was jumping into the Democratic primary race for mayor to oppose Eric Adams in a crowded field.