Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the second-highest ranking elected official in the city, rolled out his endorsements for the mayoral and comptroller races last week.
“I’m very concerned for a Cuomo mayoralty — bringing back something that didn’t work the first time and had to leave to replace something that’s not working now,” said Williams. “It’s not what we need to be doing, and we have amazing leaders in this city who never left. They’ve been doing the work, on the ground. They are what New York needs.”
With the city’s ranked choice voting (RCV) system, voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate secures more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those votes are redistributed based on voters’ next preferences. This process continues until a winner is declared.
Williams announced that his strategy is to rank his long-time friend Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as his top choices in this year’s mayoral bid to replace incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani would be his third choice, followed by State Senator Zellnor Myrie and former Comptroller Scott Stringer as fourth and fifth choices. There are 11 candidates officially on the ballot for the primary on June 24.
“As the top two picks, Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams represent the strongest leadership New Yorkers can rally behind. Both have governed with vision, transparency, and deep compassion for working families across the five boroughs,” said Williams.
Lander and Williams are known to be longtime friends and colleagues in government since their days on the City Council together, going back to 2009. They co-wrote the Community Safety Act, aiming to end discriminatory stop-and-frisk policies; established an inspector general for the NYPD; and worked to end solitary confinement in jails, among other things.
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“For years, Jumaane and I have fought alongside each other to deliver criminal justice, living wages, safer streets, and public transit for all,” said Lander in a statement. “I’m honored to have his support for mayor, which adds to our strong, wide coalition of supporters from every corner of the city who want honest, effective leadership back in City Hall.”
Meanwhile, according to the latest round of matching funds from the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) on May 30, Speaker Adams scored a major payout of about $2 million ($2,004,819). Williams considers her a worthy candidate.
“The support of New Yorkers in such a short window is a clear sign of the energy and enthusiasm behind Adrienne’s campaign,” said her spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina in a statement. “Adrienne is in it for us.”
Looking strictly at numbers, 35% of voters still support former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the first round of the ballot while 23% support Mamdani for mayor, according to May polling from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill. Cuomo’s strongest support still comes from Black voters, those over 50 years old, and women. Mamdani holds an edge among white voters, those under 50 years old, and college-educated voters.
“Cuomo has led in the polls since early 2025, but Mamdani has surged, gaining 23 points and winning second-choice votes nearly 2-to-1, cutting Cuomo’s ranked-choice lead from 12 points to 9 points,” said Emerson’s executive director Spencer Kimball in a statement. “With four weeks to go, the question is whether Cuomo can run out the clock, or if he needs to win over second-choice voters to hold off Mamdani’s momentum.”
About 11% support Lander, 9% Stringer, 8% Speaker Adams, and 5% Myrie, said Emerson.
Even though Mamdani continues to hold his place as a strong second contender in the race, just behind Cuomo, Williams explained that “by ranking Brad Lander, Adrienne Adams, Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, and Scott Stringer across all five available slots, voters can ensure their ballots continue to count toward a progressive candidate even if their top choice is eliminated.”
Williams said in a statement that “Leaving Andrew Cuomo off the ballot entirely means he cannot receive a vote from that ballot in any round, making it less likely he advances as other candidates are eliminated.”
Cuomo was recently denied another $675,000 in public matching funds by NYCCFB because of a belief that his mayoral campaign had illicitly coordinated with a super political action committee (PAC), reported the New York Times. He was also fined $622,056 two weeks ago over a commercial the PAC aired on his behalf.
Williams also endorsed City Councilmember Justin Brannan in this year’s comptroller race, citing Brannan’s leadership in standing up to Mayor Adams’s budget cuts as one of the reasons for his support.
“Justin knows how to fight and win against the powerful and corrupt, and has led the charge against Mayor Adams and his austerity budgets by protecting afterschool programs, early childhood education, our parks, and libraries,” said Williams. “Justin has always taken bold positions in a district where it would’ve been much easier to run from them. With democracy on the line in Washington, Justin is the comptroller we need who will stand up and fight back for New York City.”
There are four people on the ballot for comptroller.