A Look Into the NYC Mayoral Candidates’ Campaign Teams

As New Yorkers gear up for the Democratic primary election today, candidates and their campaign teams will be anxiously awaiting results -- which may not be revealed until the week of July 12.

The winner of the Democratic primaries is almost guaranteed to be the next mayor of New York City, with its 3.7 million registered Democrats. Although there is no definite path to victory, each candidate's campaign team plays an essential role in strengthening their platform. The Org has looked into the campaign teams of the front running candidates for New York City's mayoral election to see who’s been putting in the hard yards on the election trail.

Eric Adams

Eric Adams tops the list of the most searched candidates on Google. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Adams currently serves as the Brooklyn borough president. He previously worked at the New York City Transit Police Department and was later transferred to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

Managing Adams's campaign is Katie Moore. Moore, the political director of New York City's Hotel Trades Council, partnered with Adams in November last year. Moore has worked on multiple campaigns throughout her career, which she started at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In 2004, Moore worked on America Coming Together (ACT), a political action group dedicated to organizing activities that would encourage people to vote. She also served as a campaign manager for City Council Member Francisco Moya in 2010.

So far, Adams has spent an estimated total of $437,000 on wages for campaign workers and over $600,000 on campaign consultant fees.

The lead consultant for his campaign is Nathan Smith, senior founding partner of Red Horse Strategies. Smith has previously worked on the election campaigns of National Committee Vice-Chair and Congresswoman Grace Meng, Congressman Gregory Meeks and current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Handling communications in Adams’s team are Evan Thies, the co-founder of Pythia Public Affairs, and press secretary Madia Coleman. Thies has served as a communications officer for multiple campaigns, most notably Andrew Cuomo's campaign for attorney general. He currently sits as a board member for the New York League of Conservation Voters.

Andrew Yang

Businessman-turned-politician Andrew Yang joined the race for New York City mayor after a failed presidential run. His campaign has focused on proposing a scaled-down version of his universal basic income for 500,000 of the poorest New Yorkers.

Managing Yang's mayoral campaign is Chris Coffey and Sasha Ahuja, both from political consulting firm, Tusk Strategies. In fact, Yang's press secretary, policy director and senior advisors are all from Tusk Strategies.

Coffey previously served as the senior strategist for Corey Johnson's campaign for the speaker of New York City Council. He spent years working for Michael Bloomberg at City Hall and was actively involved in Bloomberg's three electoral campaigns. He currently sits as chair of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and also sits on the board of Women in Need (WIN), the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and The Trevor Project.

Ahuja graduated from Columbia University with a Master’s in Social Work. She is a progressive activist who served as the chair of NYC Equal Employment Practices Commission and the chief of staff for Girls Gender Equality.

So far, Yang's campaign has spent over $1M in consultant fees and $620,000 in wages for its campaign workers.

Maya Wiley

Maya Wiley, an attorney, commentator and former counsel to Mayor Bill De Blasio, has been endorsed by progressive politicians, including Elizabeth Warren and AOC.

The first-time political candidate has hired Maya Rupert to be her campaign manager. Rupert was once the deputy campaign manager for Senator Elizabeth Warren and was formerly Julián Castro's campaign manager, making her the third Black woman ever to run a presidential campaign.

Earlier this month, Dianne Morale's former campaign manager Ifeoma Ike joined Wiley's campaign after accusations of staff misconduct within the Morales camp. Ike is the founder of Pink Cornrows and was the co-founder and principal of social impact startup, Think Rubix. She also works as a professor at Lehman College, where she teaches courses in law, incarceration and race.

A large part of Wiley's team has also been made up of advisors to current Mayor Bill de Blasio. According to Gotham Gazette, this includes campaign strategist Jon Paul Lupo, Senior Advisor Alison Hirsh and Patrick Gaspard.

Wiley has spent an estimated $588,000 on consultants and over $1.5M on employee wages.

Kathryn Garcia

Before running for the mayoral elections, few people knew of Kathryn Garcia. Most recently serving as the city's sanitation commissioner, Garcia has been endorsed by the New York Times editorial board as a competent crisis manager.

Managing her campaign is Monika Hansen. The graduate of George Washington University previously worked with Garcia as the deputy chief of staff at the NYC department of sanitation. She has previously worked as a field organizer for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016 and served as a general manager for private equity and venture capital firm MetaProp.

Working closely with Hansen is Nicole Migliore, who currently is Garcia's deputy campaign manager. Migliore worked as a policy and intergovernmental affairs advisor at the NYC Mayor's Office and has previously served as chief of staff for the New York State Assembly.

Garcia has spent an estimated total of over $1.1M in consultant fees and $223,000 on paying her staff and workers.