What will the NYC comptroller race come down to? (Hint: It might not be accounting acumen)
Spend enough time browsing New York City campaign websites, and you’ll land on two candidates for citywide office who, at first glance, might appear to be running for mayor. City Council Member Justin Brannan promises to create a universal child care system for the city. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine’s listed priorities include “solving our housing crisis” and “improving public safety.”
As a little deep reading will tell you, Brannan and Levine aren’t running for mayor. They’re the leading candidates for New York City comptroller – a powerful but not widely understood citywide office that acts as a check on city government through reviews of the city’s budget, and audits of city agencies and contracts. The comptroller also serves as custodian of the city’s public pension funds and sets prevailing wage rates.
In a race where many voters do not tend to know specifics about the duties of the comptroller’s office, the campaign trail rhetoric can get broad, the campaign pledges convoluted. “Some of the policies are a little more indirect,” Levine acknowledged in an interview.
Whether making such proposals further confuses voters about what the comptroller actually does, it’s a political reality. “It’s hard to run on contracts,” said Democratic political consultant Ryan Adams.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/03/what-will-nyc-comptroller-race-come-down-hint-it-might-not-be-accounting-acumen/404046/?oref=csny-category-lander-river