The ballots feature political figures who resigned in disgrace. Global story lines related to Israel and President Trump have defined contests. And millions of dollars from corporate interests have been injected to sway outcomes.
Even as most of New York City’s political attention is focused on Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, this year’s races for City Council have also drawn widespread interest and money.
Two names well known in New York congressional circles will grace the ballots in Manhattan: Anthony Weiner, the former congressman who spent about a year and a half in prison and much longer in public exile; and Virginia Maloney, whose mother, Carolyn Maloney, was a longtime congresswoman. Each is running to fill an open seat.
All 51 Council seats will be up for election in November, and eight have no incumbent. But with most districts heavily Democratic, the primary on Tuesday has become the real race.
Super PACs backed by companies, unions and housing advocacy groups, many with interests before the Council, have spent about $13.4 million to influence the contests, $6.8 million more than in 2021.
Some of the races have been defined by local issues. In Lower Manhattan, for example, candidates have sparred over the fate of the Elizabeth Street Garden, where a long-gestating plan to build affordable housing for older New Yorkers has been put on hold.
The incumbent, Christopher Marte, opposes closing the garden. His opponents believe that the need for affordable housing outweighs the benefits of preserving a small green space.
In Brooklyn, a far more global issue has overshadowed a primary contest, with the campaign becoming a proxy battle over developments in the Middle East and the question of whether Jews are safe in New York City.
Shahana Hanif became the first Muslim woman elected to the Council in 2021, and spent her first term focused heavily on housing policy and on increasing protections for food delivery workers. But Ms. Hanif has also been an unsparing critic of the Israeli government. She attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University and was arrested at a Bryant Park protest weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Ms. Hanif’s attention to the war has frustrated some constituents and was partly why Maya Kornberg, a researcher at the Brennan Center for Justice, challenged her. In a recent television interview, Ms. Kornberg said Ms. Hanif was not focused on the district.
“The Council member’s disproportionate focus on that issue and taking public divisive stances on that issue, instead of focusing on the local issues facing our district — on fixing potholes and planting trees — is precisely the progressive attitude we need to change,” she said.
About $400,000 in outside spending to support Ms. Kornberg or oppose Ms. Hanif has flowed into the race, with a vast majority coming from Uber and companies associated with Madison Square Garden.
Ms. Hanif has received support from progressive groups, certain unions and pro-housing advocates, but outside spending on her behalf has been far lower. Still, Ms. Kornberg said it was unfair that Ms. Hanif was accusing her of being “beholden to money.”
“It’s very hypocritical because there are all these PACs supporting her,” Ms. Kornberg said.
Some local issues have risen to the forefront. Ms. Hanif has drawn attention for her efforts to rezone the site of the Arrow Linen & Uniform Supply Company in Windsor Terrace for housing. Many community members opposed the redevelopment, which passed the City Council earlier this year. Ms. Hanif helped scale down the project and ensure that more affordable units were included.
Ms. Kornberg has said she was glad that the plan succeeded, even if she faulted her opponent for how she went about it.
Ms. Hanif said in an interview that the plight of Palestinians angers her, but that she has remained focused on her constituents’ needs, citing the Windsor Terrace project as an example.
“I have not been distracted,” she said. “I know the opposition has led a mobilization over the last eight to 10 months to try to get me to be distracted, and they have failed.”
Yvette Buckner, a Democratic strategist who is closely following the Council races, said that a candidate’s stance on a subject like Israel can be a moral signifier, even if Middle Eastern geopolitics is not in a local politician’s remit. But she said the need to create affordable housing was a through-line in many contests.
“Housing matters in so many of these races in part because they have such a definitive role in making sure it’s made or not,” Ms. Buckner said.
In Manhattan’s District 2, Mr. Weiner has tried to center his campaign on street and subway safety. Still, given his notoriety, he has also confronted his foibles head-on. A mailer he recently distributed features a large elephant and the tag line “Anthony Weiner Knows You May Have Questions.” On the back is a long letter about his past — he went to prison after admitting to sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a teenage girl — and what he has done to try to make up for it.
In an interview, Mr. Weiner said there had been a range of responses to his candidacy as he spoke to voters in recent months. Those who did not dismiss him outright, he said, talked about a need for a councilman who would stand up to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Weiner is not the only politician attempting a comeback after ethical or sexual indiscretions. In the Bronx, Andy King, a former city councilman who was expelled for harassing female aides and taking a kickback, is running for his old seat. And in Queens, Ruben Wills wants his seat back years after being convicted on corruption charges, which were later overturned on appeal.
Ms. Buckner said the return of such figures can be explained in part by Mr. Trump’s unapologetic rise in American politics. If he could do it, why not them, she said, adding that they hope their policies will continue to resonate with voters.
“There has been the feeling that past transgressions do not matter as much,” she said.
North of Mr. Weiner’s district, Ms. Maloney hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps. The former congresswoman has helped her daughter with fund-raising and gaining endorsements and has accompanied her to numerous campaign events.
But Ms. Maloney still trails in fund-raising behind Rachel Storch, a former state legislator in Missouri who is now the chief operating officer at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. Ms. Storch has opted out of the city’s campaign finance matching–funds program and has raised $454,000, nearly half the total raised in the race, and two and a half times what Ms. Maloney has raised.
That race, like others, has been swamped by mailers and digital advertising from outside groups backed by companies such as DoorDash and the billionaires Bill Ackman and Steven Roth, who have also supported Mr. Trump and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the front-runner in the mayor’s race.
In an interview, Ms. Maloney, who currently works at Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said the outside spending and Ms. Storch’s opting out of the matching-funds program had led her to believe the program needs to be reformed. (Ms. Storch has indicated that she wanted to avoid the program’s spending limits in order to get her message out to voters. “I’m not beholden to anyone, whether it’s a $10 contribution or a $1,600 contribution or something that has come in unsolicited from a super PAC,” she said.)
Like Mr. Weiner, Ms. Storch and other candidates, Ms. Maloney said that voters in her district have been preoccupied by Mr. Trump and the state of the world.
But their main concerns are local, she said, like worries about the proliferation of speeding e-bikes and rising antisemitism.
“We see basic services falling short, and many of our friends and neighbors don’t feel safe on our streets or on our subways,” she said.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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