Jessica Ramos, no-nonsense state senator from Queens, is running for NYC mayor

State Sen. Jessica Ramos has marched in New York City’s annual Labor Day Parade at least 16 times. First as a communications professional working for several labor unions, later under former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, and most recently as the chair of the Senate’s influential Labor Committee. This year was no exception. Joining tens of thousands of workers from over 200 unions and constituency groups, Ramos strode down 5th Avenue wearing a red t-shirt, moving from union to union and waving at the assembled crowd.

But a cloud of uncertainty hung over the Sept. 7 festivities as New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces mounting questions over his ability to govern amid a swirl of investigations. Federal investigators raided the homes of multiple high-ranking officials in his administration several days prior, seizing electronic devices and raising major questions about the upcoming mayoral election. As Ramos marched alongside what she refers to as her union family, her own plans were unbeknownst to the crowd – ones she hopes will cast a unifying light amid the heightened uncertainty.

“Aren’t you tired of this?” Ramos said at a Sept. 5 event a few hours after news of the latest investigations broke. “I think we all are.”

Her exhaustion with all “this” is one of the big things fueling her – and perhaps reinforcing her confidence – to challenge Adams in next year’s Democratic primary. After months of rumors, Ramos will officially announce her campaign Friday, becoming the first woman to join what’s shaping up to be an increasingly competitive race. While the primary is nine months away, the timing feels right to her. She’d waited, giving the decision a lot of thought – wanting to truly make sure as the political landscape took shape that she’d be a valuable voice to add to the conversation.

“I believe that as a woman, as a Latina, as a woman from Queens, a mother in Queens, I want the city to be doing a better job of taking care of us intergenerationally,” Ramos said in an interview. “My parents should have been able to retire in this city. My kids should be safe and have every educational opportunity available to them in this city … I want a city with a vision and an effective delivery of everyday services.”

Ramos has forged a reputation as a tough and effective lawmaker since she ousted moderate Democrat incumbent Jose Peralta in 2018. While she’s not the only candidate challenging the centrist mayor from the left, Ramos is distinctive in ways that could help her coalesce support. She’s the only woman running so far – a mother of two school-age children who has slammed the mayor for cutting education funding and who has fought to expand affordable child care. She’s a staunch ally to organized labor. She’s the daughter of Colombian immigrants and has been a consistent advocate for immigrant New Yorkers, urging compassion and denouncing doomsday rhetoric about the migrant crisis. Ramos sees herself as a unifying candidate – someone who working class New Yorkers will identify with and view as a fighter who can bring results to an increasingly expensive city. But to have a viable path to victory, she’ll need money – lots of it – and Ramos is entering the field a bit late. Some of the very factors that distinguish her from the other challengers could also sink her campaign. Her reputation for blunt honesty has garnered both respect and enemies. While the New York City Council became a woman majority for the first time in 2021, New Yorkers still haven’t elected a woman mayor. It’s still unclear who her built-in base would be, and turnout in her Queens district has historically been low. The political landscape has also shifted over the last couple of years. Being viewed as too much to the left could alienate voters. 

Trying to prevent the “chaos of 2021”

It was late August, the Friday going into Labor Day weekend. Sitting in Seba Seba, a Colombian diner and bakery in Jackson Heights, Queens, Ramos detailed her plans to run, describing a city “starving” for more effective leadership. She said the city needs a mayor who is willing to work with the City Council. Someone who “has a much more progressive view” on how to upgrade city services – like crafting a truly multifaceted affordable housing program and bolstering access to mental health care. Even with Adams facing poor polling and several different investigations, defeating an incumbent mayor is no easy feat. It hasn’t been done since Rudy Giuliani beat David Dinkins in 1993. Most New Yorkers with mayoral aspirations would be inclined to wait until Adams is term-limited in 2029. But Ramos isn’t deterred. She said she sees the seat as open right now. “We can’t wait another four years to see where the consequences of inaction take us,” she said.

Just how vulnerable Adams will be in 2025 is still unclear as his political standing could improve by then, but the recent raids on the homes of his inner circle – and the resignation of his second police commissioner Edward Caban – have plunged him into a new degree of political peril. “New York City will be going through a period where anything can happen. Who would have thought the police commissioner would have been subpoenaed by the feds or had his house searched?” Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf said.

There’s been a lot of talk about who is the best person to challenge Adams in 2025. Discontent festered among the city’s progressive and liberal Democratic ranks over the past few years as the mayor rolled out sweeping budget cuts across city agencies in response to the migrant crisis (many of which he later reversed), cast doubt on the mandated closure of the Rikers Island jail complex, and as a string of federal investigations burst into the public eye. The consensus, some left-leaning leaders have said, is that there was a need to start early and coalesce around one strong candidate who has strong progressive credentials but can also appeal to more moderate Democrats and outerbough voters of color. The sentiment makes sense. During the 2021 Democratic primary – the first year of ranked choice voting in a mayoral race – the city’s progressive movement was largely scattered among three candidates. Even though most of the support shifted to MSNBC contributor Maya Wiley by Election Day, the sting of missed opportunity lingered. A mere 7,200 votes separated Adams from runner-up Kathryn Garcia in the final ranked-choice tally.

Pointing to Ramos, city Comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Working Families Party co-director Ana María Archila said there’s a “strong bench of candidates.” But while decisions have yet to be made on whether there will be a consolidation behind one progressive standard bearer or whether the party will lean into ranked choice voting and endorse several people, Archila emphasized that WFP will “lead the effort to coalesce around the strategy and prevent the chaos of 2021.”

Of course it’s unclear how much of a boon winning the whole-hearted backing of the city’s progressive and left-leaning forces would actually be in a match up against Adams. Consolidating the support of the Working Families Party and other progressive groups wouldn’t guarantee a win. Ramos, who was elected to the Senate as an insurgent, Working Families Party-backed candidate, recognizes as much. Asked whether she expects to be the progressive standard bearer, Ramos shrugged off the label. “I’m a Queens labor Democrat. That probably describes me best,” she said, adding that she sees her base as all working class New Yorkers. Lander, Myrie, and Stringer have also so far shied away from the progressive label. Socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who is considering a run for mayor, could end up owning the far-left lane if he enters the race.

Ramos criticized the mayor for bringing “chaos” to the city. New Yorkers are confused about why agencies aren’t allocating funding quickly and why they have had to fight so hard to restore “unnecessary budget cuts,” she said. Those budget dances are antiquated, she added. “It’s hard to B.S. a New Yorker. We have the ability to provide for New Yorkers in a much more effective way and that needs to start happening now.” She also lamented how Adams’ has cut city funding for the early childhood system and scaled back his predecessor’s signature universal 3-K citing budgetary constraints and thousands of empty seats. As an aide working under former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration she’d helped roll out the city’s sweeping universal pre-K program. Her own children benefited from the program.

Eric Adams’ 2025 campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 

A “formidable” Latina

Ramos has a handful of strengths that could help her build the broad support needed to mount a strong challenge. As the only woman in the race, she could be buoyed by the Democratic Party’s national momentum to elect Vice President Kamala Harris this fall. While she’s not the only Latino in the race – Myrie is the son of Costa Rican immigrants – advocates and political consultants said Ramos is deeply rooted in Latino communities throughout the city.

“Jessica is certainly a rising star and among the younger generation of Latino electeds I think she is one of the most talented,” said political strategist Eli Valentin. “I think she’s formidable and there’s nothing but potential for a Jessica Ramos type at the citywide level.”

Latino New Yorkers have grown to encompass close to 20% of the city’s Democratic electorate. Recent polling found that Adams’ support has slipped with the critical constituency that helped get him elected. Ramos could still struggle to pull voters from the mayor’s base because she’s seen as too left, according to Lupe Todd-Medina, a political consultant and member of City & State’s advisory board. While voters of color are by no means a monolith, the older generations – those who played an instrumental role in electing Adams – tend to be more moderate.

“I’m not sure you can win from the left, especially when the country is moving center,” she said.

Ramos was one of the leading voices criticizing the Adams administration for its handling of the arrival of more than 200,000 asylum-seekers. She said that over two years in, there’s no reason that the city shouldn’t have a better idea of who is here, when their next immigration court date is, and what skill sets they’ve brought with them. “He’s completely mismanaged the situation and tacked on poor rhetoric to boot,” she said, recalling her outrage when the mayor said the migrant crisis would destroy the city at a town hall last September.

Her advocacy has garnered attention. “As an immigrant myself, I have noticed her voice in that space and it has been effective,” Todd-Medina said.

Ramos isn’t one to shy away from a fight, and she’s proud of that. Her willingness to have tough conversations and tackle problems head on – even those that nobody else sees as worth it – is one of the things that sets her apart, she said.

Her opposition to billionaire New York Mets owner Steven Cohen’s sprawling proposal to build a casino at Flushing Meadows Corona Park is perhaps the greatest example of this. After hosting three community town halls, conducting a poll and email survey, and holding numerous meetings, Ramos refused last spring to introduce the legislation necessary to pave the way for the proposal. She said her community, having faced “generations of neglect,” disagreed with the premise that accepting a casino was the necessary trade off for investment and opportunity. Her decision put her at odds with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, longtime respected state Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubry and City Council Member Francisco Moya who’d implored her to introduce the necessary legislation. She’s also publicly clashed on a few occasions with state Assembly Member Catalina Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

“For better or for worse, she does not always have the best relationships with the other leaders in that region – political leaders, business leaders, et cetera,” said Democratic political strategist Trip Yang, who is also a member of City & State’s advisory board. “That could be used by her potential opponents as an anchor to prevent her from really lifting off her candidacy.”

Her opposition to the casino proposal could have costs. Big business and big real estate interests could be less incentivized to donate to her campaign as a result, although Ramos, who is known for taking a grassroots approach to fundraising, said she plans to raise money “the old fashioned way.” As a state senator with limited name recognition outside of her borough, it’s especially important for Ramos to prove she’s an effective fundraiser. Any serious mayoral candidate has to come close to maxing out public matching funds and get as close as possible to the roughly $8 million dollars they can spend between January and June 2025, according to Yang. As of July, Adams’ war chest was right on the precipice of reaching that figure under the city’s matching funds program. Stringer reported raising about $424,000 – which would translate to around $2 million with matching funds. Myrie’s campaign has raised roughly $326,000 (over 1.3 million in matching funds).

“The vast majority of the work that goes into winning a mayoral race happens right now and in early 2025 because you have to lay the foundation,” Yang said. “You have to raise the millions of dollars now to put together a campaign team, do the polling, do the research, make sure your media ads go out, secure commitments, et cetera.” 

Whether Ramos will be able to do this is unclear. Asked whether she has any concerns that her opposition to the casino proposal could hurt her campaign, she said doing the right thing should never hurt her chances. If it doesn’t work out that way?

“Then it wasn’t meant to be,” Ramos said.

The labor candidate?

As labor chair, she’s notched a variety of high-profile legislative victories, including indexing minimum wage to inflation, enacting protections for retail workers amid concerns about workplace violence, securing unemployment for more nontraditional workers, cracking down on wage theft, passing paid sick leave for domestic workers, and enacting new protections for workers on farms, at nail salons and in distribution warehouses. Her ties to labor run deep. Before becoming a legislator, she worked in communications for the social service employees union SSEU Local 371 and building service workers union 32BJ SEIU. She sees herself occupying a similar lane in the mayoral race, although what degree of support she’ll actually receive from unions remains to be seen. Ramos said it’s too early to say who she expects to support her. 

“I am the labor candidate in this race. I have worked for some of the best and toughest unions in this city. I have written copious pages of labor law and I have passed consequential bills to help working people,” Ramos said. “That’s real work.”

There’s nothing like the Labor Day Parade. I love seeing my union family out in full strength, celebrating our wins as we take over Fifth Avenue.

Many voices, one movement. ✊#1u pic.twitter.com/k7nYlP4tMl

— Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramosqns) September 7, 2024

Several labor sources said Ramos has proven herself to be a true champion, describing her as someone who stands with union members in both the halls of Albany and on the picket line. They see her as a fighter at the Senate level – someone who doesn’t need to be told about labor issues or reminded about labor standards as she already understands them.

“It’s one thing to be a chair in name, it’s another thing to be a champion of the legislation that you’re putting forward,” said Chelsea Connor, communications director for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “I think she really does deeply care about the bills that she’s putting forward.”

“She lives and breathes labor,” said Brandon Mancilla of UAW Region 9A. “The way she talks about unions and the labor movement is completely in line with our values and our mission to build the power of working class people in this city and in the country.” 

UAW and RWDSU are among the more progressive unions in New York that didn’t endorse Adams last time around; both endorsed Stringer in 2021 and have yet to make endorsements for 2025. 

Despite the reputation Ramos has garnered in the state Senate, pulling labor support from the mayor will be a massive, uphill battle for any opponent. While the more progressive unions and those not as close to the mayor may be more willing to risk alienating City Hall by endorsing a challenger, Adams’ past labor allies are expected to stay with the mayor, though an indictment could upend that, along with the rest of Adams’ calculus. Of some of the largest and most influential New York City unions, Adams won the support of 32BJ SEIU, District Council 37 and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council in 2021. Bigger questions remain about how another big three – the United Federation of Teachers, 1199SEIU and the Building & Construction Trades Council – will move. Stringer won UFT’s and Building Trades’ endorsements in 2021, but his campaign isn’t expected to bank on the support of any major unions this time around. Those unions did not respond or declined to comment.

While labor sources suggested unions have been frustrated by aspects of the mayor’s management – the city’s largest public-sector union DC 37 and the UFT sued the Adams administration over budget cuts last year for example – he also helped settle contracts with the majority of the city’s union workforce during his tenure. Of the unions that didn’t support Adams in 2021, it’s possible some could go against the mayor in 2025, but only if there’s a candidate that demonstrates an ability to win, according to one labor source. “Those with the appetite for a risk are more than willing to take it if a candidate demonstrates an ability to win,” they said. “If you’re going for the king, you better not miss.”

Ramos isn’t the only Democratic challenger with allies in labor. Lander in particular has been popular with labor as comptroller. Unions have their own endorsement processes, and none have made their endorsements for mayor yet. But the possibility of utilizing a ranked choice endorsement is something that at least some of the unions looking for a change from Adams – as Mancilla said UAW is – will consider. While the field is still developing, Mancilla suggested that so far, he expects his members will be excited about Lander, Ramos and Mamdani.

Ramos isn’t taking anything for granted. 

“We all have labor relationships and it’ll be interesting to see how we can win over the membership,” she said. “We’ll see how they decide. I’m again running on my record, on my work ethic and on the relationships I’ve been building for a long time.”