Democratic Primary Race: Manhattan Borough President

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Why are you running for Manhattan Borough President?

Manhattan needs an effective champion to fight Trump and protect our borough. I’ve passed more than 370 bills in Albany and have been endorsed by trusted leaders, including Attorney General Tish James, former Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Liz Krueger and Congress Members Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman. As a public-school parent of two young daughters, I see the top tissues through their eyes: Will they be able to afford the rent in Manhattan when they’re older? Will the subways be safe? Will they continue to have access to high-quality public schools, cultural institutions, and health care?

What are the top three things you aim to accomplish if elected?

First: Help build more affordable housing and preserve our existing stock. New York City has some of the lowest housing production per capita of major American cities and homelessness at levels not seen since the Great Depression. As borough president, I’ll support the creation of all types of housing to help remake Manhattan as a place where working people can afford to live.

Second: Quality of life, with a focus on public safety and transit. I’ve passed numerous bills in Albany as a state senator on these issues, including getting illegal guns off our streets, fighting scaffolding, and regulating dangerous delivery bikes.

Third: Return integrity to City Hall, fight Trump, and help organize local democracy. It’s important at this time of growing government cynicism that the next borough president be part of bringing honesty, integrity, and openness to City Hall.

What makes you the best candidate for this position?

I’d point to my record. I’ve spent the last decade fighting in the State Senate for a more affordable, safe, and fair New York. I helped lead fights to protect tenants against eviction, improve public education, secure funding for mental health, prevent immigrants from being arrested at courthouses, and fight bias crimes—including anti-Semitism and anti-LGBTQ hate.

Background and qualifications: I’ve been a state senator since 2012, representing the West Side, from Christopher Street to West 103rd Street—or as I say, from the “gay bars to Zabar’s.” I’m a longtime grassroots activist, serving previously as a Democratic district leader and three-term chair of Manhattan Community Board 2. I’m a lawyer by profession and served as president of the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats and board member of Tenants & Neighbors and Citizen Action.

Keith Powers

Why are you running for Manhattan Borough President?

I’m running for Manhattan Borough President because in the world’s greatest city, you shouldn’t have to win a lottery to find an affordable place to live.

I’m a lifelong New Yorker. When I was growing up here, it was a place where folks who own small businesses, where a nurse, could raise a family. I know that because those are my parents, and they were able to do that because we provided good housing, a safe neighborhood, good schools, and a good way to make a living.

What are the top three things you aim to accomplish if elected?

First, create more affordable housing. I’m proud to have a longstanding record as a champion for tenants. For my affordable- housing plan at Waterside Plaza, I was praised by the New York Times, which called it a “rare happy outcome for renters in today’s real estate market.”

I’ve fought to preserve rent regulation for nearly 6,000 units in Stuyvesant Town, just one of the myriad victories I’ve secured to advance affordable housing.

As borough president, I’ll tackle affordability head on. I want to bring my work on housing to create a master housing plan for the entire borough and to give the borough president the tools to implement it.

Second, expand child care and after-school programs (and tackling the cost of living). On the City Council I’ve fought to expand access to childcare, and as borough president I will continue to look for innovative ways to ultimately achieve universal childcare for all New Yorkers.

We must make sure that our commitment to 3-K and pre-K is real, meaning not only should we offer these services, but make sure New Yorkers know about them through extensive outreach programming.

Third, improve public transportation: As a lifelong New Yorker, I proudly ride the subway and the bus every single day–so I have a deep understanding of the importance a well-functioning public transit system has to the daily lives of our communities.

What makes you the best candidate for this position?

As a lifelong New Yorker who grew up in rent-stabilized housing, I know how important affordability is to Manhattan families. That’s why I’ve spent my career fighting to build more housing, keep our neighborhoods safe, and lead the charge for common sense at City Hall.

As borough president, I’ll have the courage to fight for even more housing, fix the mental-health and public-safety crisis, and put some common sense back into city government.

Background and qualifications:

During my time in the City Council, I have authored and passed legislation to convert the city vehicle fleet to electric vehicles, protect animal welfare against cruel conditions, prevent housing discrimination, strengthen the noise code, tackle e-bike fires, expand mental-health beds in the five boroughs, and end the scourge of scaffolding in Manhattan.

Calvin Sun

Why are you running for Manhattan Borough President?

I am a lifelong New Yorker, seasoned emergency physician, and proven frontline leader running for Manhattan borough president. For over a decade, I have battled to save lives in the emergency room, having served in almost all of NYC’s public, safety-net hospitals. But in recent years, while I served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, our elected leaders prioritized politics over saving lives, and the people suffered. Day after day, I treated the most vulnerable New Yorkers, all while knowing that their suffering was preventable. And now, I have seen enough. I’m running to stop the next crisis before it begins, by treating New Yorkers before they become my patients. I will deliver the same bold, honest leadership that New Yorkers already trust with their lives. I am running to heal this city.

What are the top three things you aim to accomplish if elected?

First, build more housing: As our next borough president, I will take a data-driven approach to build housing where it’s needed most, and fund bold initiatives to slash the cost of living that is strangling our families today.

Second, prevention-first healthcare: As a frontline doctor and cancer survivor, I will prioritize prevention to treat New Yorkers before they ever become my patients. This means deploying mobile healthcare teams directly to all neighborhoods, and conducting community health assessments across the borough. This effort will not only save lives, but also save taxpayers billions of dollars in wasteful healthcare spending.

Third, invest in communities: With the billions saved from focusing on preventative care, I will direct this funding into each community. Childcare, early education, job training, tuition-free community college, adult wellness programs. I will invest heavily in all neighborhoods.

Background and qualifications:

I am an MD and a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, clinical assistant professor, author, speaker, activist, choreographer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur based in NYC. I graduated from Columbia University and SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, serving as vice president and president of my classes, respectively. Following my graduation, I led the Columbia College Young Alumni, and also served as director of the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU). As the founder of The Monsoon Diaries, I transformed my solo travel blog, started the summer before medical school, into an accidental adventure travel company and global community that has taken thousands to 250-plus countries and territories over the past 15 years. I completed my Emergency Medicine training at Jacobi+Montefiore Medical Center, where I also served as the director of Resident Wellness.