New York City heads into 2025 on the cusp of reshaping the local political landscape — with Mayor Eric Adams and the entire City Council up for re-election and the impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term set to come into full focus.
The coming year will be particularly crucial for Mayor Adams as he vies for a second term while simultaneously trying to beat the five criminal charges against him in an April trial. At the same time, competitive races are shaping up for other top citywide posts and the entire City Council will once again face re-election, with a handful of members leaving their posts due to term limits.
If the incoming Trump administration is anything like the last one — and all signs indicate it will be even more uninhibited — it is likely to butt heads with Democratic leaders in New York City and State. Yet the new regime looks to have a willing partner in Mayor Adams, who has more than once expressed an openness to working with Trump and company.
Below are the stories amNewYork Metro is following going into 2025.
Mayoral election
The 2025 Democratic mayoral primary is already in full swing as the new year begins. The competitive contest is sure to take up much of the oxygen in the New York political sphere for the first half of the year.
Although incumbent mayors like Adams typically do not face a tough road to re-election, his own federal indictment has left him in a politically vulnerable position. Adams’ perceived weakness has opened the floodgates for several challengers to vie for his job in the June 24 election.
The Democratic primary field includes sitting city Comptroller Brad Lander, his predecessor Scott Stringer, state Sens. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) and Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) and former Bronx Rep. Michael Blake. Also running, though not in the Democratic primary, is prominent attorney Jim Walden.
Other possible contenders whose names have been floated but who have not said whether they will run include former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James.
While Adams can continue using his bully pulpit as the sitting mayor to broadcast his message, his campaign suffered a major setback in December when the city Campaign Finance Board denied it the first traunch of public matching funds. Adams will also have to contend with his roughly six-week criminal trial, scheduled to begin April 21, taking place right in the thick of the campaign.
However, Adams’ left-leaning challengers will need to find ways to stand out in a crowded field and gain the name recognition needed to unseat an incumbent. Furthermore, they will have to decide how much they want to embrace the city’s relatively new ranked-choice voting system.
Other big-ticket races
In addition to the mayor, voters will also be able to choose the citywide positions of comptroller and public advocate, as well as the five borough president spots.
With Lander running for mayor, a competitive primary is taking shape to decide who will be the city’s next comptroller — a watchdog position that oversees municipal finances. Some of the prominent names already in the race include Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Brooklyn City Council Member Justin Brannan — who chairs the body’s Finance Committee, and Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, an Adams ally.
Incumbent Public Advocate Jumaane Williams already has nearly a dozen challengers. Yet Williams won handily in 2021 after first coming into office through a 2019 special election and has a good chance of being re-elected.
The Manhattan borough president’s office is also up for grabs in 2025 with Levine running for comptroller instead of re-election. Manhattan state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who came in second to Levine in 2021, and outgoing City Council Member Keith Powers have both thrown their hats in the ring.
The other four borough presidents, all incumbents, are each facing at least one challenger in 2025.
City Council elections
As if the citywide races were not enough, all 51 City Council seats will also be on the ballot.
Due to the 2022 City Council redistricting, most council members will be running for re-election for the third time in four years.
Ten council seats will be open contests, as the members who currently occupy them are term-limited at the end of 2025 and will not be able to run for re-election this year. Council members are allowed to serve for two consecutive terms under the City Charter.
Much of the current council leadership is among those who will be departing at the end of 2025. In addition to Powers and Brannan, those members include City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan) and Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).
Council Members Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), Rafael Salamanca Jr. (D-Bronx), Robert Holden (D-Queens), Fransico Moya (D-Queens), and Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) are also on their way out.
Some of the primaries for open seats are already looking to be competitive. For instance, Rivera’s East Village and Lower East Side seat has drawn candidates like Assembly Member Harvey Epstein and disgraced ex-US Rep. Anthony Weiner.
Trump impact on NYC
Outside of next year’s upcoming elections, perhaps the greatest open question is how the city will contend with Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incoming Republican president has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants, to undue federal regulations on carbon emissions, and to take political retribution against those he feels have wronged him. That could include Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who have brought civil and criminal cases against Trump, respectively.
The five boroughs are home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants — with a sizable chunk having arrived here since 2022. Trump has said he plans to begin deporting millions of undocumented newcomers as soon as he comes into office on Jan. 20.
Although much of the city’s Democratic leadership has vowed to defend newcomers from Trump’s deportation pledge, Mayor Adams has repeatedly said he plans to work with the incoming administration on immigration and other issues.
Adams met with Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, in December. The mayor left the meeting saying that he wishes to protect the immigrants who are “hardworking” and have “given back to the city in a real way,” but that the city will not be a “safe haven” for those who commit “violent acts.”
But Adams has not been made clear if he intends to go around the city’s sanctuary laws by working with the feds to deport migrants who are accused, but not yet convicted, of violent crimes. Instead, he has simply repeated that he wishes to assist Trump in deporting those who “commit” violent crimes.
The mayor has taken a generally friendly stance toward Trump since before he won re-election. Adams’ warmth toward Trump has fueled speculation among his critics that he is angling for the incoming president to pardon him if he is convicted in his criminal case.
