Brad Lander won the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller. The primary took place on June 22, and the race was called after the New York City Board of Elections released ranked-choice voting tabulations on Tuesday, July 6. Those tabulations included early voting ballots, election day ballots, and most absentee ballots. Voters were allowed to rank up to five candidates on their ballots.
As of Wednesday morning, Lander had 51.9% of the vote after 10 rounds of tabulation, followed by Corey Johnson at 48.1%, with 24,683 votes separating them. Johnson conceded the race Tuesday night.
Lander is a member of the New York City Council and a co-founder of the council’s Progressive Caucus. He received endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and The New York Times.
Johnson, who placed second, is speaker of the city council. His endorsers included Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), the United Federation of Teachers, the NY Hotel & Motel Trades Council, and several other unions.
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera placed third and was eliminated in the 9th round of ranked-choice tabulations. She is a former financial analyst at CNBC and challenged Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District last year.
The comptroller’s duties include performing audits of city agencies and managing five public pension funds. The next comptroller will also oversee how federal stimulus money issued in response to the pandemic is spent. The general election is on November 2.