New York
N.Y.C.’s Mayoral Candidates Spent Millions on TV Ads. What Are They Saying?
$1.1 million
$4.3 million
Estimated spending on
broadcast ads that have aired
The Democrats running for mayor in New York City and a super PAC supporting Andrew M. Cuomo are spending millions to reach potential voters, with much of the spending going toward commercials on broadcast television. A New York Times analysis of the broadcast ads that have aired so far, using data from AdImpact, explored the major themes highlighted by the candidates: crime and safety, President Trump, affordable housing and corruption.
Among the ads aired,
seven mention crime and safety
3 ads
Mr. Cuomo, the former governor, has been framing himself as a law-and-order candidate who will crack down on crime and improve public safety. Ads run by Fix the City, the super PAC backing Mr. Cuomo, have depicted New York as a city in chaos. One of its ads opens with images of police sirens, caution tape and subway riders fleeing a smoke-filled train.
“Crime is rampant,” says a voiceover in another pro-Cuomo ad, also paid for by Fix the City. That ad also references Mr. Cuomo’s “five-borough crime and affordability plan,” which would add “5,000 more cops” to the streets.
Other candidates took a subtler approach. Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller, said in his only broadcast ad to air so far that he would “put a cop on every train” and “hire more mental health workers.” An ad for Brad Lander, the current city comptroller, tied the idea of safety to Mr. Lander’s plan to “end street homelessness for the mentally ill.” An ad for Zohran Mamdani, the state assemblyman, simply said he would make New York a “safer city.”
2 ads Among the ads aired,
five mention President Trump
Taking jabs at Mr. Trump and his administration could almost be considered a requirement for candidates running in a Democratic primary in a city where former Vice President Kamala Harris won about 70 percent of votes in the 2024 presidential election. Still, some of the ads that mention the president are more direct than others.
An ad for Mr. Stringer was among the most explicit: “We deserve a mayor who can get our city back on track and keep this schmuck out of our business,” Mr. Stringer says over a clip of Mr. Trump dancing at a rally, adding that he will “tell Trump where to stick it.”
Mr. Lander drives a large forklift around a junkyard in his broadcast ad and places cars into a crushing machine. One of the cars has the words “Trump & Musk” in large black letters across the side.
Other candidates made only passing swipes at the president. Some of the ads supporting Mr. Cuomo mentioned that he took on Mr. Trump as governor and will again as mayor, and an ad for Mr. Mamdani said he would stand up to Mr. Trump. Mr. Myrie’s broadcast ad did not mention Mr. Trump.
3 ads
All ads mention affordable housing
Every broadcast ad reviewed in the analysis mentioned housing at least once. In one ad, Mr. Mamdani likened Mr. Cuomo to the current mayor, Eric Adams, whose housing policies have been similar to the former governor’s, and whose popularity declined after he was indicted on fraud and corruption charges in 2024. The Trump administration later dropped the charges.
“Cuomo is running for Adams’s second term,” Mr. Mamdani said in the ad, adding that he will “take on bad landlords and greedy corporations.”
Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo are both moderates who have many of the same donors, including powerful real estate leaders, and both have supported housing policies that are in stark contrast to Mr. Mamdani’s. The mayor and former governor both oppose freezing increases for rent-stabilized apartments, for example, while one of Mr. Mamdani’s ads is devoted solely to his plan to freeze rent prices.
In ads for other candidates, housing is mentioned only briefly. An ad by Fix the City for Mr. Cuomo said he will “cut red tape for affordable housing and build 500,000 new units.” In Mr. Stringer’s ad, he said he will “turn vacant lots into affordable apartments.” Mr. Myrie’s ad says he has “the boldest plan to build affordable housing.”
0 ads
Among the ads aired,
three mention corruption
Several of the candidates mentioned corruption in their ads. In Mr. Lander’s ad, a second car is brought out to be crushed, this one symbolizing “corruption,” specifically as it relates to Mr. Cuomo.
“Andrew Cuomo spent $60 million of your money to defend himself in court. That’s corrupt,” a voiceover says as the car is brought to the crushing machine. “But Brad Lander fights corruption.”
In the ad in which Mr. Mamdani compares Mr. Cuomo to Mr. Adams, the candidate paints the former governor and mayor as the corrupt establishment, responsible for making the city unaffordable.
“Working people are being pushed out of the city they built, and it’s because corrupt politicians like Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo have sold us out to billionaires and corporations, rigging the economy against us,” Mr. Mamdani says over a series of images that combine Mr. Cuomo’s face and quotes about the former governor from news articles.
Mr. Stringer defines corruption less precisely, mentioning that he “fought corruption” as comptroller. The three pro-Cuomo broadcast ads by Fix the City did not mention corruption, nor did the ad for Mr. Myrie.
Total spending on advertising,
including future broadcast spots
| Total spent | Broadcast share | |
|---|---|---|
|
Fix the City (pro-Cuomo super PAC) |
$8.1 million | 91% |
 Mamdani |
$3.0 million | 41% |
|
Lander |
$2.3 million | 72% |
|
Stringer |
$1.9 million | 83% |
|
Myrie |
$1.7 million | 27% |
Spending on ads that have already aired on broadcast television, which this analysis focused on, is one slice of candidates’ overall ad spending. They have also purchased broadcast spots to air more ads in the future, as well as ads on other platforms like streaming television, satellite and internet. Broadcast was, however, a major focus for the candidates.
Fix the City, the pro-Cuomo super PAC, has spent the most on advertising by far, with 91 percent of its spending devoted to commercials on broadcast networks. (Mr. Cuomo’s campaign has not yet aired any of its own ads on broadcast television, according to AdImpact.)
By contrast, the campaign for Mr. Mamdani, which has become known for its savvy approach to social media, has spent just 41 percent of its advertising budget on broadcast, according to the AdImpact data. (Mr. Mamdani’s campaign has, however, spent more on broadcast than any other individual platform.)
One of the leading Democrats in the mayor’s race, Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the New York City Council, has not yet aired an ad on broadcast television. The candidate struggled to raise funds early in her campaign, but recently got an infusion of $2 million from the city’s fund-matching program, which the campaign said it would use for an aggressive ad blitz in the coming weeks before the June 24 primary.
Every week since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has published stories by, and for, New Yorkers of all ages and eras (no matter where they live now): anecdotes and memories, quirky encounters and overheard snippets that reveal the city’s spirit and heart.
For the past four years, we’ve asked for your help picking the best Diary entry of the year. Now we’re asking again.
We’ve narrowed the field to the five finalists here. Read them and vote for your favorite. The author of the item that gets the most votes will receive a print of the illustration that accompanied it, signed by the artist, Agnes Lee.
The voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21. You can change your vote as many times as you’d like until then, but you may only pick one. Choose wisely.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Two Stops
Dear Diary:
It was a drizzly June night in 2001. I was a young magazine editor and had just enjoyed what I thought was a very blissful second date — dinner, drinks, fabulous conversation — with our technology consultant at a restaurant in Manhattan.
I lived in Williamsburg at the time, and my date lived near Murray Hill, so we grabbed a cab and headed south on Second Avenue.
“Just let me out here,” my date said to the cabby at the corner of 25th Street.
We said our goodbyes, quick and shy, knowing that we would see each other at work the next day. I was giddy and probably grinning with happiness and hope.
“Oh boy,” the cabby said, shaking his head as we drove toward Brooklyn. “Very bad.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in horror.
“He doesn’t want you to know exactly where he lives,” the cabby said. “Not a good sign.”
I spent the rest of the cab ride in shock, revisiting every moment of the date.
Happily, it turned out that my instinct about it being a great date was right, and the cabby was wrong. Twenty-four years later, my date that night is my husband, and I know that if your stop is first, it’s polite to get out so the cab can continue in a straight line to the next stop.
Ferry Farewell
Dear Diary:
On a February afternoon, I met my cousins at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Their spouses and several of our very-grown children were there too. I brought Prosecco, a candle, a small speaker to play music, photos and a poem.
We were there to recreate the wedding cruise of my mother, Monica, and my stepfather, Peter. They had gotten married at City Hall in August 1984. She was 61, and he, 71. It was her first marriage, and his fourth.
I was my mother’s witness that day. It was a late-in-life love story, and they were very happy. Peter died in 1996, at 82. My mother died last year. She was 100.
Peter’s ashes had waited a long time, but finally they were mingled with Monica’s. The two of them would ride the ferry a last time and then swirl together in the harbor forever. Cue the candles, bubbly, bagpipes and poems.
Two ferry workers approached us. We knew we were in trouble: Open containers and open flames were not allowed on the ferry.
My cousin’s husband, whispering, told the workers what we were doing and said we would be finished soon.
They walked off, and then returned. They said they had spoken to the captain, and they ushered us to the stern for some privacy. As the cup of ashes flew into the water, the ferry horn sounded two long blasts.
Unacceptable
Dear Diary:
I went to a new bagel store in Brooklyn Heights with my son.
When it was my turn to order, I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel with whitefish salad and a slice of red onion.
The man behind the counter looked up at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
Teresa
Dear Diary:
It was February 2013. With a foot of snow expected, I left work early and drove from New Jersey warily as my wipers squeaked and snow and ice stuck to my windows.
I drove east on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was tied up worse than usual. Trucks groaned on either side of my rattling Toyota. My fingers were cold. My toes were colder. Got to get home before it really comes down, I thought to myself.
By the time I got home to my little red bungalow a stone’s throw from the Throgs Neck Bridge, the snow was already up to my ankles.
Inside, I took off my gloves, hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and snow boots. The bed, still unmade, was inviting me. But first, I checked my messages.
There was one from Teresa, the 92-year-old widow on the corner.
“Call me,” she said, sounding desperate.
I looked toward the warm bed, but … Teresa. There was a storm outside, and she was alone.
On went the pants, the sweater, the coat, the scarf, the boots and the gloves, and then I went out the door.
The snow was six inches deep on the sidewalks, so I tottered on tire tracks in the middle of the street. The wind stung my face. When I got to the end of the block, I pounded on her door.
“Teresa!” I called. No answer. “Teresa!” I called again. I heard the TV blaring. Was she sprawled on the floor?
I went next door and called for Kathy.
“Teresa can’t answer the door,” I said. “Probably fell.”
Kathy had a key. In the corner of her neat living room, Teresa, in pink sweatpants and sweaters, was sitting curled in her armchair, head bent down and The Daily News in her lap.
I snapped off the TV.
Startled, she looked up.
“Kathy! Neal!” she said. “What’s a five-letter word for cabbage?”
Nice Place
Dear Diary:
When I lived in Park Slope over 20 years ago, I once had to call an ambulance because of a sudden, violent case of food poisoning.
Two paramedics, a man and a woman, entered our third-floor walk-up with a portable chair. Strapping me in, the male medic quickly inserted an IV line into my arm.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his partner circling around and admiring the apartment.
“Nice place you’ve got here.” she said. “Do you own it?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, all but unconscious.
Once I was in the ambulance, she returned to her line of inquiry.
“Do you mind me asking how much you paid for your apartment?”
“$155,000,” I croaked.
“Wow! You must have bought during the recession.”
“Yeah” I said.
They dropped me off at Methodist Hospital, where I was tended to by a nurse as I struggled to stay lucid.
At some point, the same medic poked her head into the room with one last question:
“You wouldn’t be wanting to sell any time soon, would you?”
Illustrations by Agnes Lee.
‘Part of the job’
Edwin Guity was at the controls of a southbound D train last December, rolling through the Bronx, when suddenly someone was on the tracks in front of him.
He jammed on the emergency brake, but it was too late. The man had gone under the wheels.
Stumbling over words, Mr. Guity radioed the dispatcher and then did what the rules require of every train operator involved in such an incident. He got out of the cab and went looking for the person he had struck.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Guity said later. “But this is a part of the job.”
He found the man pinned beneath the third car. Paramedics pulled him out, but the man died at the hospital. After that, Mr. Guity wrestled with what to do next.
A 32-year-old who had once lived in a family shelter with his parents, he viewed the job as paying well and offering a rare chance at upward mobility. It also helped cover the costs of his family’s groceries and rent in the three-bedroom apartment they shared in Brooklyn.
But striking the man with the train had shaken him more than perhaps any other experience in his life, and the idea of returning to work left him feeling paralyzed.
Edwin Guity was prescribed exposure therapy after his train struck a man on the tracks.
Hundreds of train operators have found themselves in Mr. Guity’s position over the years.
And for just as long, there has been a path through the state workers’ compensation program to receiving substantive treatment to help them cope. But New York’s train operators say that their employer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has done too little to make them aware of that option.
After Mr. Guity’s incident, no official told him of that type of assistance, he said. Instead, they gave him the option of going back to work right away.
But Mr. Guity was lucky. He had a friend who had been through the same experience and who coached him on getting help — first through a six-week program and then, with the assistance of a lawyer, through an experienced specialist.
The specialist prescribed a six-month exposure therapy program to gradually reintroduce Mr. Guity to the subway.
His first day back at the controls of a passenger train was on Thanksgiving. Once again, he was driving on the D line — the same route he had been traveling on the day of the fatal accident.
M.T.A. representatives insisted that New York train operators involved in strikes are made aware of all options for getting treatment, but they declined to answer specific questions about how the agency ensures that drivers get the help they need.
In an interview, the president of the M.T.A. division that runs the subway, Demetrius Crichlow, said all train operators are fully briefed on the resources available to them during their job orientation.
“I really have faith in our process,” Mr. Crichlow said.
Still, other transit systems — all of which are smaller than New York’s — appear to do a better job of ensuring that operators like Mr. Guity take advantage of the services available to them, according to records and interviews.
A Times analysis shows that the incidents were on the rise in New York City’s system even as they were falling in all other American transit systems.
An Uptick in Subway Strikes
San Francisco’s system provides 24-hour access to licensed therapists through a third-party provider.
Los Angeles proactively reaches out to its operators on a regular basis to remind them of workers’ compensation options and other resources.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has made it a goal to increase engagement with its employee assistance program.
The M.T.A. says it offers some version of most of these services.
But in interviews with more than two dozen subway operators who have been involved in train strikes, only one said he was aware of all those resources, and state records suggest most drivers of trains that strike people are not taking full advantage of them.
“It’s the M.T.A.’s responsibility to assist the employee both mentally and physically after these horrific events occur,” the president of the union that represents New York City transit workers, John V. Chiarello, said in a statement, “but it is a constant struggle trying to get the M.T.A. to do the right thing.”
new video loaded: Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid
transcript
transcript
Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid
Nearly 200 protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving a parking garage in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. The confrontation appeared to prevent a possible ICE raid nearby, and led to violent clashes between the police and protesters.
-
[chanting] “ICE out of New York.”
By Jorge Mitssunaga
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