Which Democrats are running against Eric Adams and what do they know about me, Dave?

Sick of electoral politics occupying your brain and field of vision? Too bad! The New York City mayoral primary election is in June, just eight short months away. Mayor Eric Adams has already started cozying up to Donald Trump, and you get to primary a sitting mayor only so often, so this primary has the potential to energize plenty of people who see it as a way to make a big change on a local level.

Which means that as the calendar turns to 2025, you’re going to keep seeing polls, mailers and appeals for your attention from Eric Adams and the Democrats running against him, as well as the so-far-undeclared Republican candidates. Also maps. So many maps. Maps of where donations are coming from, maps combining the 2024 election results with the 2021 mayoral primary results, maps showing where donations for 2025 are coming from plus the ability to cross reference the 2021 primary results or 2024 election results.

But you’ve gotta know who’s running too, to understand the polls and maps and appeals for your attention. To clue you in, and to ensure we don’t have to keep linking out to candidate lists other websites put together, we’ve got a comprehensive guide to who’s running against Mayor Adams in next year’s Democratic primary. Any website can do that of course, so The New York Groove candidate list also considers how familiar every candidate is with my many stupid bits (declaring I’m shadowbanned on Hinge, tweeting phrases over and over, dressing like that at work). Consider it a personal touch that no other website can deliver for you, until they themselves hire a narcissist recognized across wide swaths of the political world.

Adams will of course be in the race, pending any possible criminal charges, or removal by an act of Albany. You are probably broadly familiar with him though, since he’s in the news every day. He is also broadly familiar with me and once suggested that I was like Spike Lee because he kept seeing me in a Knicks hat.

Your Democratic challengers, ranked by how much money they’ve raised per their most recent Campaign Finance Board filings:

Comptroller Brad Lander
Money raised: $967,381

What’s this guy’s deal: Lander served three terms in the City Council in the seat previously held by a little-known political operative by the name of Bill de Blasio, where, as the co-founder of the Progressive Caucus he probably represented the outer limits of leftism in the city’s elected officials before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got on the scene. 

As a Council member, Lander backed the Gowanus rezoning, the push for the Streets Master Plan and passed legislation that ensured drivers who got dozens of red light or speed camera tickets could actually get their cars impounded. He was eventually revealed as a traffic camera scofflaw himself, and the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program withered and died under the watchful eyes of Mayors de Blasio and Adams.

As Comptroller, Lander hasn’t been able to make policy, but he hasn’t tanked the city’s pension fund, which is an important part of the job. He’s also created many dashboards to allow people to click around and see how money gets spent in the city, and has pissed off Eric Adams every time he’s opened his mouth.

How familiar is he with my stupid bits: Extremely. You may recall that I vowed to face Lander in the squared circle, an idiotic vow I have committed to with a regular training program at Church Street Boxing Gym. Lander told me directly that he had no interest in fighting me, but he could always change his mind. 

Scott Stringer
Money raised: $591,116

What is this guy’s deal: Stringer has been a fixture in city politics for longer than you’ve been alive, or at least that’s what we’re telling advertisers who want to reach consumers under the age of 40. First appointed to a city planning commission at the age of 17, Stringer then worked for now-Representative Jerry Nadler when Nadler served in the state Assembly; took over Nadler’s Assembly seat in 1992; won the position of Manhattan Borough President in 2005 and then became city comptroller in 2013. Despite this history, Stringer recently said that the presidential election results showed people were sick of the status quo.

In his decades-spanning career in local politics, Stringer got a reputation as a stalwart, intelligent progressive who pushed for tenants’ rights and pro-public transit and cycling policy. As comptroller he also managed not to tank the city’s pension funds. Stringer marshaled all of that goodwill into a spot as the progressive choice for mayor in 2021, and lost all of that goodwill after two women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment in both the 20th and 21st centuries.

How familiar is he with my stupid bits: In 2021 Stringer declined to take the Dave Colon Open Challenge, a Streetsblog feature which involved a mayoral candidate taking a bike ride with me on a route of my choosing. Also, when I was 23, I got way too stoned before a fundraiser of his my boss took me to, and Stringer was stuck shaking my hand while I insisted a distant cousin of mine whose name I kept getting wrong worked for him.

State Senator Zellnor Myrie
Money raised: $464,211

What is this guy’s deal: A former white-shoe lawyer, Myrie made it to Albany as part of the 2018 Blue Wave, which scattered almost every member of the Independent Democratic Conference from the state Senate. The IDC were Democrats who had a power sharing agreement with the Republicans and thinking about that era of Albany makes me want to stick an ice pick in my brain so let’s move on.

As a state Senator, Myrie has focused on voting rights, tenants rights and gun violence prevention. Also one time he dressed up like a carrot. He sponsored the 2018 bill that established early voting in New York, was a main voice for the bills that strengthened rent stabilization in New York City and was also brutalized by the NYPD at the city’s first George Floyd-related rally. 

How familiar is he with my stupid bits: I covered Myrie’s 2018 campaign closely, and so on multiple occasions he saw me show up to his rallies looking like a hungover Pitchfork Music Festival attendee. Earlier this year, as legislators blasted Governor Kathy Hochul’s attempt to do away with congestion pricing, Myrie told an assembled audience in the Capitol “You know it’s an important day in Albany when Dave Colon is wearing a blazer” before moving on to his prepared remarks.

State Senator Jessica Ramos
Money raised: $52,513

What is this woman’s deal: Ramos is a truly unique political figure: a western Queens progressive who picks fights with AOC and the DSA. Like Myrie, she swept into the state Senate in the 2018 De-IDCification of Albany, and like Myrie has managed to serve in the state Capitol without triggering a single state or federal criminal probe.

Ramos was the key mover behind the bill that legalized e-bikes, which technically passed in then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s state budget in 2020 after passing both legislative houses in 2019 because Cuomo has never been shy about shamelessly making stuff all about him. Ramos also won a 40-hour workweek for farm workers and led the effort to create a pandemic-era unemployment fund for undocumented workers otherwise ineligible for the money. She’s also been a one-woman roadblock in front of Steve Cohen’s casino dreams.

How familiar is she with my stupid bits: Maybe it’s an unconscious reflection of her no-nonsense personality, but Ramos has never tweeted or publicly acknowledged any of my dumb bullshit. She did yell at me once for not saving her phone number though. However, possibly unbeknownst to her, she is trapped forever in my Bluesky profile photo looking confused as I did a big stretch during break in the action at a state Senate MTA oversight hearing.

Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani

Money raised: Mamdani officially declared his candidacy after the Oct. 11 campaign finance filing period, so we'll know on January 15th.

What is this guy’s deal: Mamdani successfully primaried Aravella Simotas in 2020, and, along with fellow DSA electeds Tiffany Caban and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is a big reason why people call it The People’s Republic of Astoria. As an Assembly member, Mamdani aggressively pushed for an MTA rescue package in 2023 and got a fare-free bus pilot included in the funding deal as well. 

Mamdani has been a vocal critic of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and is the Assembly sponsor of a bill that strips tax exempt status from New York nonprofits that support Israeli settlements.

How familiar is he with my stupid bits: As the youngest person in the field, Mamdani is also the most online, which means that he has tweeted about my own Wednesday night habit of tweeting “It’s wrestling night in America,” has responded to my idiotic lovelorn tweets and is broadly familiar with the dumb bullshit I do to entertain myself.

And that’s where we are right now. Your mileage may vary as to whether you find elected officials knowing my whole deal a delightful humanizing element or some grim reflection of the media/political landscape.

The above list is only made up of declared candidates. There are plenty of rumors floating around out there about who’s gonna jump into the Democratic primary (Jumaane Williams! Andrew Cuomo! C.M. Punk!) but I don’t have all day to go through them all, and neither do you. At the moment, there’s no set date for the 2025 primary which means there’s also no current date you need to register by to vote in it. But if you want to vote in the Democratic primary, remember that you need to register as a Democrat. Knowledge of my bits is optional.