Comptroller Stringer Launches Run for Mayor

City Comptroller Scott Stringer has officially launched his mayoral campaign. He is seeking to brand himself as a progressive candidate. In his remarks announcing his candidacy, Stringer spoke on Mayor Bill de Blasio and his legacy, saying the current administration has done more to exacerbate the city's inequalities despite a vow more than seven years ago to close the wealth gap. He said those inequalities have been further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately impacted low-income people of color in the city's poorest neighborhoods. Stringer further pledged to “end the crushing cycle of speculation, eviction and displacement.”

As City Comptroller, earlier this year, Stringer laid out a housing plan that would require low-income apartments in all projects larger than 10 units. He proposed “universal affordable housing” where developers of all projects with 10 units or more would have to make at least 25 percent of the apartments low-income units. On average, they would have to be within the price range of households earning 60 percent of the area median income.

Stringer will compete in a June 2021 primary against a large and growing field of announced and potential Democratic candidates. The field includes City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, and former counsel to the mayor Maya Wiley.