Brad Lander Is Elected N.Y.C. Comptroller
Brad Lander, a three-term New York City councilman, won Tuesday’s race for city comptroller against Daby Carreras, a Republican aligned with the Trump wing of the party, according to The Associated Press.
Mr. Lander, 52, a left-leaning Democrat from the liberal stronghold of Park Slope, Brooklyn, amassed endorsements from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Elizabeth Warren and New York City’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams.
The comptroller audits city agencies and oversees the city’s public pension funds, with assets totaling nearly $300 billion. The post frequently attracts politicians with higher aspirations. The departing New York City comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, ran for mayor, as did his two predecessors, John C. Liu and William C. Thompson Jr.
Mr. Lander has promised to expand efforts to make the city’s pension fund investments more environmentally friendly. During the campaign, he pledged to help overhaul the way the city invests in infrastructure to make it more efficient, and to conduct “sharp, strategic” audits of agencies.
“We are going to carry our city forward in a way that is more just and equitable and sustainable,” Mr. Lander said in a victory speech Tuesday night.
His victory means that Eric Adams, the city’s next mayor, will have to contend with both a comptroller and a City Council that are further left than he is on many issues, including policing and urban development.
Mr. Carreras, who Bloomberg reported is a financial adviser at Spartan Capital Securities LLC, ran as a far-right Republican and had suggested he would focus entirely on pension investment returns if elected.
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