Out of 51 council districts all through the 5 boroughs, 14 have Black metropolis council members. This 12 months kicks off a slew of metropolis council elections, with fairly just a few candidates dealing with off with Black incumbents of their respective districts.
Upping the spice issue to 2025 metropolis council elections is the ingredient of Ranked Selection Voting (RCV)– the place as a substitute of selecting just one favourite candidate, voters rank as much as 5 candidates in every race–on this 12 months’s June major.
Primarily based on New York Metropolis Marketing campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) data from this January, right here’s the candidates for aggressive races and funds they’ve raised to date.
District 7- Incumbent Shaun Abreu, Edafe Okporo
Abreu’s district covers the Higher West Facet, Morningside Heights, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, and Washington Heights in Manhattan. Previous to getting elected to workplace in 2021, he was a tenant rights legal professional. He’s been awarded $174,562 in public funds by the New York Metropolis Marketing campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB).
“New Yorkers don’t again down from a struggle, and neither do I,” mentioned Abreu. “Within the final three years, I’ve led on inexpensive housing and tenant rights, gotten trash baggage off our sidewalks, and handed employee safety legal guidelines which can be a mannequin for the nation. I secured unprecedented ranges of funding for parks, fought for our libraries, and expanded entry to psychological well being providers. Now, I’m operating for reelection to maintain up the momentum and create lasting change.”
His reelection platform prioritizes a everlasting tax breaks for low- and middle-income householders, the Neighborhood Land Act, altering the town’s schooling funding formulation, common afterschool packages, waste administration and sanitation, pay and tip transparency for supply individuals, increasing entry to open streets and public areas, gun security, and narcan in daycares to deal with potential overdose emergencies.
Okporo is Abreu’s primary challenger. He’s a passionate advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people and refugees. Initially from Nigeria, Okporo has written extensively on each topics, drawing from his personal experiences. His platform contains strengthening tenant protections, holding Columbia College accountable to its neighborhood advantages settlement, strengthening the Senior Citizen Hire Improve Exemption (SCRIE) program, addressing gun violence, absolutely funding psychological well being assets, defending immigrant and employee rights, and common childcare.
“New York have to be a metropolis that protects its individuals, not one which pushes them apart. As an immigrant, an activist, and a neighborhood chief, I’ve fought for insurance policies that uphold dignity, equity, and alternative for all,” mentioned Okporo. “Now, I’m able to take that struggle to Metropolis Corridor. Our marketing campaign is about guaranteeing middle-class households can afford to remain of their properties, guaranteeing retirees the healthcare they deserve, and making our neighborhoods safer with out criminalizing poverty. Within the face of worry and division, we’ll stand united — for an NYC that works for all of us.”
He’s raised $35,861 in personal funds and obtained $117,055 in public funds.
Ashman is a lifelong resident in Crown Heights, who was born of Caribbean immigrant mother and father. His platform focuses on eight vital points: decreasing crime and deed theft, open streets plan for the district, tackling the affordability disaster, imposing equitable zoning legal guidelines, creating wealth constructing alternatives and employment, imposing fair proportion provisions within the Metropolis Constitution, and advocating on behalf of the district. He’s raised $29,516 in personal funds and a formidable $115,748 in public funds.
“I’m campaigning for the thirty fifth Metropolis Council place as a result of we require and deserve stronger illustration than what we at present obtain from our incumbent representative- illustration that displays the true worth of our collective hard-earned tax {dollars},” mentioned Ashman.
District 27- Incumbent Nantasha Williams, Austin Pieters, Vera V. Daniels
Williams’ district covers Jamaica, South Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, St. Albans, Hollis, Queens Village, Cambria Heights, and Laurelton in Queens. She was first elected in 2021. She’s raised $36,896 in personal funds for her reelection marketing campaign, in response to the New York Metropolis Marketing campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB).
Pieters has raised $26,380 and Daniels has raised $5,257 in personal funds.
District 28 – Tyrell D. Hankerson, Romeo Hitlall, Latoya LeGrand, Japneet Singh
District 28’s race in Queens is exclusive as a result of Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is term-limited this 12 months, leaving a gap for her council seat and a brand new Speaker. A number of candidates have tossed their hat within the ring to exchange Adams, together with her Chief of Workers Tyrell “Ty” Hankerson.
“This district isn’t new to me. It’s my house, and I’ve lived in each nook of it,” mentioned Hankerson. “I’ve spent a number of years engaged on the problems that matter most to the individuals of this neighborhood, together with affordability, public security, schooling, high quality of life, accountable growth, and environmental justice. I search to unite this neighborhood as a result of we’re ONE DISTRICT 28, and I will probably be a Councilmember that serves everybody. Collectively, we will construct actual options that guarantee nobody is neglected and each voice is heard.”
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Hankerson’s platform is targeted on addressing points like inexpensive housing, guaranteeing public security with accountability, enhancing the standard of schooling, advancing accountable growth, and tackling environmental justice. He’s additionally dedicated to increasing entry to high quality healthcare, supporting small companies, and driving financial growth throughout the district. Thus far he’s raised $25,141 in personal funds and $82,445 in public funds.
Different candidates within the race embrace Romeo Hitlall, a Neighborhood Board 10 member and actual property dealer; LaToya LeGrand, a constituent providers consultant for Assemblymember Vivian Cook dinner; and Japneet Singh, a Sikh social activist that ran for state senate in 2022.
District 35 – Incumbent Crystal Hudson, Hector Robertson, Sharon Wedderburn, Dion M. Ashman
“I’m honored to run for reelection to signify the residents of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill within the New York Metropolis Council,” mentioned Hudson. “4 years in the past, I first ran for the Council to present again to a neighborhood that has given a lot to me.”
In her time in workplace, she has handed payments to put the groundwork totally free or low-cost childcare, bolster entry to doula and midwife care to deal with the Black maternal mortality disaster, present direct money help to our metropolis’s most marginalized residents, and broaden NYPD accountability. She’s additionally helped restore vital funding to beloved establishments like libraries and cultural organizations.
Her reelection platform contains combating for deeply inexpensive housing, supporting community-led gun violence interrupters, enacting common childcare, defending immigrant communities, increasing protections for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers, and creating an accessible metropolis for older adults. Hudson has raised $69,624 in personal funds and $129,694 in public funds.
Robertson, considered one of her primary challengers, ran within the 2021 metropolis council elections in a packed district race and finally misplaced to Hudson. For over 20 years, Robertson has labored as a neighborhood organizer with the Washington Avenue Botanic Block Affiliation (WABBA) and the Crown Heights Neighborhood Council (CHCC). He’s a fierce advocate for older adults and tenants rights, he mentioned. He’s raised $3,975 in personal funds.
District 41 – Incumbent Darlene Mealy, Jamell Henderson, Dominique Okay. Alexandre, Dante Arnwine, Bianca Cunningham, Lawman Lynch, Jammel A Thompson
Mealy’s district covers Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, and East Flatbush in Brooklyn. She was first elected to signify District 41 from 2006 to 2017. In 2021, she gained once more, reclaiming her outdated metropolis council seat. Thus far she’s raised $11,500 in personal funds for yet one more reelection marketing campaign. Lots of her challengers are passionate advocates albeit not nicely funded.
Henderson is the NYC Regional Board Chair at Citizen Motion and at present a doctoral candidate. He proudly hails from the Kingsborough Homes in Brooklyn. “I’m pursuing this workplace to be the subsequent Councilmember of the forty first district of Brooklyn as a result of over 140,000 registered voters on this stunning district are awaiting that genuine chief who will see ALL neighborhoods within the district and ship by way of FUNDING, POLICIES, AND RESOURCES,” mentioned Henderson in a press release.
Cunningham was raised by a good knit household that has deep roots in Harlem. She has labored as a union and neighborhood organizer constructing coalitions round points akin to employee security, growing wages and suppleness for staff, securing fairness and assets for public faculty college students, and public security.
“I’m looking for to signify the forty first district and have a confirmed document of getting political braveness to face with the various to struggle for a New York that’s clear, protected, and inexpensive for all,” mentioned Cunningham. “A New York that prioritizes the dignity of our retirees, important staff, and public servants. I pledge to struggle corruption and particular pursuits conspiring to decrease the nice promise of this metropolis and our democracy.”
Lawman’s motto on this race is to maintain Public Security, Schooling, Optimization, Public Well being, Love, and Entrepreneurship (P.E.O.P.L.E.) on the middle. He’s raised $7,346 in personal contributions to date. “Our marketing campaign champions social justice by way of daring motion and collaborative management to uplift District 41 – Brooklyn,” mentioned Lawman.
A local Brooklynite, Thompson is a devoted public servant and neighborhood chief. He plans to put individuals and households first and prioritize participatory budgeting. He additionally desires to deal with senior residents’ issues about meals insecurity and hire, improve constituent providers, and enhance high quality of life points.
Arnwine is the district supervisor for Neighborhood Board 9 in Brooklyn. His platform addresses issues of fairness and equality for households of colour, akin to inexpensive housing, meals insecurity and meals deserts, well being schooling, the maternal mortality disaster that many Black girls are dealing with, and the vary of well being disparities Black males are coping with. He’s raised $10,519 in personal funds. “A brand new imaginative and prescient is coming to Council District 41. A imaginative and prescient primarily based on presence, communication, and technique,” mentioned Arnwine. “It will be the best honor to signify you within the New York Metropolis Council as your subsequent Council Member.”
District 46 – Incumbent Mercedes Narcisse, Dimple Willabus, Kenny Altidor
Narcisse’s district covers Bergen Seashore, Canarsie, Flatlands, Georgetown, Gerritsen Seashore, Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. Previous to being elected in 2021, she labored as a registered nurse and was a small enterprise proprietor. She’s raised $93,624 in personal contributions.
Willabus, considered one of her challengers, additionally ran in 2021 towards Narcisse and finally misplaced. Her present platform is centered across the wants of her constituents. She additionally desires to concentrate on public security, high-quality schooling, healthcare, veteran assist, local weather schooling and sustainability, and supporting small companies. She’s raised $19,611 in personal funds and $50,928 in public funds.
“In case your aim is to realize success, be ready for disappointments, rejections, and mock as a result of your enemy understands how highly effective you might be, already,” mentioned Willabus.
District 49 – Incumbent Kamillah M. Hanks, Abou S. Diakhate, Sarah Blas, Jozette Carter-Williams
Hanks’s district covers St. George-New Brighton, Tompkinsville-Stapleton-Clifton-Fox Hills, Rosebank-Shore Acres-Park Hill, West New Brighton-Silver Lake-Grymes Hill, Westerleigh-Castleton Corners, Port Richmond, Mariner’s Harbor-Arlington-Graniteville, Comfortable Harbor, Todt Hill-Emerson Hill-Manor Heights, and Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island (SI). Hank follows within the footsteps of former Councilmember Debi Rose, the primary Black individual elected to increased workplace on SI. Hanks continues to be the one Black councilmember on SI.
Hanks was the founder and president of the Historic Tappen Park Neighborhood Partnership and served on the town’s Panel for Schooling Coverage (PEP) previous to getting elected in 2021. She’s raised $77,440 in personal funds.
Initially from Senegal, Diakhate mentioned he has a deep ardour and unwavering dedication to SI’s North Shore as a former Deputy Chief of the HIV/AIDS Unit on the United Nations, a university professor, skilled public servant, and devoted native activist. His marketing campaign is pushed by the wants and aspirations of the neighborhood he has known as house for over 20 years. He plans to assist the 30,000 Levels Initiative, which goals to graduate extra college students to increased schooling; advocate for immigrants by way of his personal experiences; struggle starvation, homelessness, and the opioid disaster; and develop a clear, vibrant, and absolutely accessible shoreline that advantages each Staten Islander. He’s raised $7,840 in personal contributions.
“Our neighborhood deserves management that listens, understands, and takes motion,” Diakhate mentioned. “I’m operating to make sure Staten Islanders have the instruments and assets to thrive — inexpensive housing, equitable healthcare, dependable transportation, waterfront growth, and high quality schooling. I’ll struggle tirelessly to ship these for each resident of the North Shore.”
Blas, considered one of Hank’s different challengers, is a local New Yorker, a small enterprise proprietor, and a lifelong advocate for working households as a mom of six. She mentioned she has a ardour for creating actual options from over 20 years of championing schooling reform, housing reform, workforce growth, and extra on SI. She is operating for metropolis council to present a voice to individuals who really feel left behind. She’s raised $6,867 in personal contributions.
“I imagine that the political is profoundly private. The highs and lows of accessing the town’s assets for myself and my six kids is what drives my dedication to the households of the North Shore,” mentioned Blas. “I imagine management is about service, and I’ve spent years advocating for actual change and delivering options for our neighborhood. I’ll carry each ounce of my experience and lived expertise to Metropolis Corridor.”
Carter-Williams, who’s a Brooklyn native with Puerto Rican roots, is enthusiastic about addressing crime on SI and revitalizing the native economic system.
“Each vacant storefront represents a missed alternative for jobs and progress,” mentioned Carter-Willaims. “We should prioritize filling these areas by implementing insurance policies that foster job creation, appeal to small companies to the district, and enhance transportation entry to assist these enterprises. Revitalizing our native economic system begins with empowering companies and creating employment alternatives for residents.”
By way of public security, she known as for an elevated police presence and equitable funding for precincts, neighborhood policing, improved surveillance methods, enhanced safety infrastructure, and higher avenue lighting. She can be dedicated to bolstering schooling by way of smaller class sizes, reintroducing house economics in excessive colleges, growing after faculty choices, offering ample funding for particular wants packages, and increasing STEM packages. She’s raised $7,465 in personal contributions to date.
