The NY City Council Races that Real Estate is Watching

Real estate and construction groups are rallying behind incumbents facing viable Republican challengers in next week’s City Council election.

All 51 seats are technically up for grabs on Nov. 7, but only a few races are considered competitive. City Council members control rezonings and other land use actions, can pass legislation that damages the real estate industry, and sign off on the city’s budget.

Much of the campaign fliers and materials paid for by real estate–related entities focus on crime, an indirect but paramount industry issue that resonates with voters. The actual and perceived level of safety around a property can dramatically affect its value.

Industry interests are spending a huge amount of money to keep Bronx Council member Marjorie Velázquez in her seat.

The New York City District Council of Carpenters has spent more than $183,000 on ads and the like supporting the Democrat and $28,500 on ads trashing her challenger, Kristy Marmarato. One flier connects Marmarato to the far right, contrasting a picture of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol with a smiling Velázquez. It touts the Democrat’s record on affordable housing and public safety.

Velázquez has enjoyed significant support from the city’s unions, in part because she demanded union labor be hired for construction and building services at a Bruckner Boulevard development that might have died without her approval.

The Labor Strong Coalition, which includes 32BJ SEIU, the Hotel Trades Council, DC37, the New York State Nurses Association and the Communications Workers of America, has spent more than $240,000 on mailers, fliers and calls supporting Velázquez.

The coalition has also backed Council member Sandra Ung, who is defending her District 20 seat in Queens against Republican Yu-Ching James Pai, and Brooklyn incumbent Susan Zhuang against Republican Ying Tan and Conservative Vito LaBella.

The unions are also supporting Brooklyn Council member Justin Brannan, a moderate Democrat who narrowly defeated Republican Brian Fox in 2021, against Democrat-turned-Republican Council member Ari Kagan.

Lobbyist Jeff Leb, through his PAC Future NYC, paid more than $33,000 for ads against Kagan this month. Leb’s PAC has raised money from the Cayre family and others in the industry.

This month, Jobs for New York, a PAC funded by the Real Estate Board of New York, spent $32,755 on fliers touting Brannan’s record on safety, quality of life, and “cutting red tape and fees for our small businesses.”

The group also paid for mailers highlighting Velázquez’s support for funding more security cameras and NYPD officers, as well as her record supporting union labor and affordable housing.

“Council members Brannan and Velazquez consistently support policies to enhance quality of life, improve delivery of government services, and strengthen the city’s economic recovery,” a REBNY spokesperson said in a statement on behalf of the PAC.

Kagan has criticized Brannan, who chairs the Council’s financing committee, as “fiscally irresponsible,” and has called for cuts to the city’s spending on migrants, according to the New York Daily News.

Marmorato has criticized Veláquez for reversing her position on the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning. She and the Bronx GOP also used an August incident in which a resident trashed her campaign office to criticize quality of life and safety in the district under Democratic leadership, the Bronx Times reported.

REBNY benefits from supporting moderate Democratic incumbents because the party controls the Council and will continue to for the foreseeable future, regardless of the outcome of this year’s competitive races.

That bolsters REBNY’s requests of Council leaders to stymie bills it doesn’t like, such as one requiring that rental brokers’ fees be paid by the landlords who hire them rather than by prospective tenants.