With Mayor Eric Adams facing several potential primary challengers next year, the political playing field in New York City may soon be gashed wide open — extending beyond the mayoral race.
A former city comptroller and a current state senator have already formed exploratory committees for mayoral campaigns, hoping to capitalize on Mr. Adams’s perceived vulnerability. Another state senator and a former governor are also said to be mulling bids.
But it is the potential candidacy of Brad Lander, the current city comptroller, that would throw the city’s election cycle into full chaos mode.
Mr. Lander, a persistent critic of Mr. Adams, said recently that he was “thinking really seriously” about running for mayor. If he were to do so, that would create another citywide office vacancy for Democrats to fight over.
Two prominent Democrats — Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, and Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president — are likely to run for comptroller if Mr. Lander runs for mayor, according to three people who are familiar with their plans. A third Democrat, Jenifer Rajkumar, a state assemblywoman from Queens who is often at Mr. Adams’s side, announced over the weekend that she was planning to run for comptroller.
“This is unprecedented — to have this many people expected to run for various positions in a year when the mayor is running for re-election,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist. “If you look at the cascading effects and ramifications for several races, this hasn’t happened since term limits were created.”
The most stable of the three citywide offices is held by Jumaane Williams, the public advocate, who appears unlikely to run for mayor despite his growing criticism of Mr. Adams in recent months. But even that could change if Mr. Adams, who is facing a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, were to step down and Mr. Williams became acting mayor.
Mr. Lander, a left-leaning former City Council member, has vocally criticized the mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis and his unpopular budget cuts. The mayor has pushed back fiercely, mocking Mr. Lander’s voice and calling him the “loudest person in the city.”
Mr. Lander said in a recent radio interview on WNYC that New Yorkers were worried about budget cuts to libraries and wanted better management of the city.
“I love this city,” Mr. Lander said. “I love serving the people of this city. As I talk to them, they’re anxious about the city’s future and about its leadership.”
The race to replace him would most likely include Ms. Rajkumar, one of the mayor’s closest political allies, who announced on Saturday that she was opening an exploratory committee to run for comptroller. In the Assembly, she has focused on cracking down on illegal cannabis shops and making Diwali a school holiday.
Mr. Levine, a former City Council member who received attention during the pandemic for his health guidance, and Mr. Reynoso, another former city councilman who led the body’s progressive caucus, have yet to announce their plans. But if they were to run, their borough president seats would also become available.
Justin Brannan, the City Council finance chair, is also considering running for comptroller, or he might run for Brooklyn borough president if Mr. Reynoso leaves that position, according to someone who is familiar with his thinking.
Mr. Levine, Mr. Reynoso and Ms. Rajkumar each have a base of support. Jahmila Edwards, associate director of District Council 37, a powerful union that represents city workers, expressed enthusiasm for Mr. Levine in an interview and said that members had a great relationship with him.
“We’re excited about the ally he has been to us and look forward to continuing our partnership with him at this level and wherever he goes next,” she said.
Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president, praised Mr. Levine as a “data-driven” leader who brings people together and digs into “wonky” issues. Rather than focusing on political ideology, “he does what’s right,” Mr. Richards said.
Mr. Reynoso, who hopes to become the first Latino elected to a citywide office, is viewed as a rising star among left-leaning Democrats and has embraced a “yes in my backyard” platform to address the city’s housing crisis.
Ms. Rajkumar has become a mainstay at the mayor’s events, even ones far outside her district. When she won her race in 2021, she was the first South Asian American woman to be elected to a state office in New York.
When Mr. Adams was asked recently if their alliance meant that he would support her bid for comptroller, he did not answer directly. But he called her a “great partner,” noting that her mother was “born in a mud hut in India” and “comes from the cloth of working hard, like I have.”
Ms. Rajkumar recently appeared at an event with the mayor to highlight restored library funding, even though some in the City Council questioned why she was there given her lack of involvement in the negotiations. In her remarks as a featured speaker, she appeared to hint at her qualifications for comptroller.
“I’ve always loved numbers — in fact, I got a five on the Calculus A.P. exam,” said Ms. Rajkumar, wearing a dress in her signature red. “I never had a chance to brag about that and now is my moment.”
As the city’s chief financial officer, the comptroller examines the city budget and oversees five public pension funds while providing an oversight role to search for fraud and abuse.
In next year’s mayoral race, Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, and Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller, have announced plans to run in the Democratic primary. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, are also considering entering the race.
Mr. Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, and his allies have raised concerns about someone like Mr. Lander, who is white, running to deny him a second term.
At the mayor’s weekly news conference last week, Mr. Adams mentioned an opinion piece by the Rev. Al Sharpton in The Daily News that compared criticism of Mr. Adams to that directed at David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, who served only one term.
“When I first took office, I went back and looked at some of the things they were saying about David Dinkins,” Mr. Adams said. “Coded words. ‘Incompetence.’ We know what that means.”