Alums from President Biden’s 2020 campaign are joining mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan’s staff.
He tapped Brendan McPhillips, who was Biden’s state director for Pennsylvania, as campaign manager; Rameera Robbalaa, Biden’s former northeastern states organizing director, as his own organizing director; and Jeremy Edwards, the president’s Georgia press secretary, as his press secretary.
“Getting talent that is deeply rooted in New York and also won the states that put Biden over the top shows that we have picked the strongest talent and that they will bring the very latest skills for how to campaign,” Donovan told the Daily News on Tuesday.
Among other efforts, Robbalaa previously worked on Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s campaign. Amelia Adams, senior adviser to Donovan, previously held top roles at New York Communities for Change and former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s office. Most of Donovan’s campaign staff are people of color.
Donovan’s time working for former President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden has been a main theme of his campaign. He was secretary of Housing and Urban Development, then head of the powerful Office of Management and Budget, under Obama. Donovan was commissioner of housing preservation and development under former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, though Donovan has played down that connection.
“Clearly, I’m the candidate with the strongest ties not just to President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris, both of whom I’ve worked with regularly, who I know not just as colleagues, but as friends,” he said. “What also separates me is the deep and broad relationships I have with a huge share of the incoming senior team in the administration as well as with senior leaders in Congress.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams officially announced his bid for mayor via Zoom on November 18, 2020. The former cop and state senator hopes to use both his legislative and law enforcement experience to help reform the NYPD. As a state senator, Adams was a vocal opponent of police brutality and NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policy. In a recent candidate forum, Adams said he would not keep Dermot Shea as Police Commissioner. The politician is also known for becoming an advocate of public health programs and education after reversing his Type 2 Diabetes with a vegan diet and exercise.
Comptroller Scott Stringer officially announced his mayoral bid on September 8th, 2020. Throughout his seven-year tenure, the city’s chief financial officer has challenged Mayor de Blasio’s administration with probes into public housing, homeless shelters, and children’s services. Stringer has already been endorsed by several progressives, such as state Sens. Alessandra Biaggi, Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar and Democratic nominee for Congress Jamaal Bowman.
Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer and New School professor who once served as counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, is seeking to distance herself from her former boss. Wiley has criticized de Blasio’s handling of NYPD misconduct and promises to champion racial justice. She served as the board chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent police oversight agency, from 2016 to 2017. Since then, Wiley worked for MSNBC as a legal analyst and professor at the New School.
Although Dianne Morales has no prior government experience, the Bed-Stuy native brings her advocacy and leadership skills as a former non-profit CEO to the table. Morales’ experience serving struggling communities underlies her promise to prioritize vulnerable New Yorkers if she makes it to Gracie Mansion.
Kathryn Garcia is the city’s premier crisis manager. In 2018, Bill de Blasio turned to the former sanitation commissioner to handle the public housing lead-paint scandal as New York City Housing Authority’s interim chair. More recently, Garcia led the emergency food effort that fed one million New Yorkers a day during the height of the pandemic. Garcia continued overseeing the Department of Sanitation until resigning in September out of frustration with de Blasio’s budget cuts. Since then, the native Brooklynite has focused her efforts on a City Hall run. .
Council Member Carlos Menchaca represents the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Red Hook, Sunset Park, Greenwood Heights, and portions of Windsor Terrace, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park. The Mexican-American politician is openly gay and champions progressive legislation, spearheading the IDNYC program that grants identification cards to all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.
Before her appointment as Veterans’ Services Commissioner, Loree Sutton served as the Army’s highest-ranking psychiatrist. Unlike the rest of the Democratic field, the distinguished military veteran has been a vocal opponent of calls to defund the NYPD and wants to require permits to protest. If Sutton wants to win, she might need to temper her conservative tendencies with the progressive ambitions of her peers.
Shaun Donovan has both city and federal experience under his belt. He first served as Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration before being appointed by President Barack Obama as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. As federal housing secretary, Donovan oversaw the recoveries of Hurricane Sandy and the 2008 housing crisis. From 2014 to 2017 he served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Raymond J. McGuire is a powerful Wall Street executive who made a splash on the mayoral field after announcing his candidacy with a video narrated by director Spike Lee. The Harvard-educated Citigroup exec has so far raised more money for his campaign than any other candidate.
Andrew Yang may soon trade in his White House ambitions for a mayoral run. The former Democratic presidential candidate is known for proposing a universal basic income for all Americans, elevating the conversation around future automation and employment. The tech entrepreneur will certainly have the advantage of name recognition if he enters the race.
Rep. Max Rose of New York’s 11th congressional district is expected to run for mayor after quietly registering his mayoral campaign committee with the Campaign Finance Board. The bid comes after a re-election loss in November to Assemblymember Nicole Malliatokis. The moderate Democrat from one of the most conservative districts in the city may struggle to gain traction in a race populated with progressives, but his sizable base and higher name recognition should help.
Donovan also took a dig at Andrew Yang, though he did not mention him by name.
“This is not a game of who’s got whose telephone number,” he said. “The fundamental question here is which candidate can make sure that relationships in Washington make a real difference in the lives of average New Yorkers.”
Yang, who campaigned for Biden and Harris after dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary, recently boasted to NY1: “I’ve literally got the vice president’s number.”
Donovan has raised nearly $1.7 million total for his mayoral run and expects to get about another $1 million in public matching funds.
