City Council District 2 candidate rakes in over $26k in donations

The Democratic primary may lie more than a year ahead, but the race to succeed term-limited New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera is well underway. 

Roughly three months after launching her campaign for the Council District 2 seat, Manhattan Community Board 3 chair Andrea Gordillo has raised over $26,000 in donations, surpassing the threshold needed to qualify for the city’s matching funds, according to her campaign. To qualify for matching funds, City Council candidates need to raise at least $5000 from at least 75 in-district donors. The New York City Campaign Finance Board has not made any matching payments at this point.

 "This early support shows that voters are ready for young women’s leadership and that my deep roots and record of service have strong viability in the council,” Gordillo said in a statement. In addition to chairing the local community board, Gordillo is also the development director for The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ representative to the Public Theater’s board of trustees.

Other strong contenders have also entered the fray for Council District 2, which encompasses the Lower East Side and the East Village, as well as Flatiron, Gramercy Park, Rose Hill, Kips Bay and Murray Hill, signaling the coming June 2025 Democratic primary will likely be among the city’s most interesting. 

For one, Sarah Batchu, first vice chair of Manhattan Community Board 3, is also in the running, meaning she and Gordillo likely have many meetings to look forward to in which they’ll be sitting beside their opponent in the build-up to the primary. Batchu, who previously worked under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and served as Rivera’s deputy campaign manager, launched her campaign in December. 

Assembly Member Harvey Epstein also launched his campaign this week with a slate of endorsements, including former Council Members Margarita Lopez and Rosie Mendez and tenant association presidents. “Our campaign has already received dozens of contributions since formally announcing less than a week ago and without having hosted any fundraisers,” Epstein’s campaign said in a statement. “We expect to have a robust fundraising operation.”