How The New York Times Editorial Board’s silence could impact the 2025 mayoral race

News that the New York Times Editorial Board will no longer be endorsing candidates in local elections was met with laments about the state of local journalism and already dismal civic participation on Monday. But among a smaller set of New Yorkers, the news may have more immediate consequences next spring. Challengers to Mayor Eric Adams in next year's Democratic primary who could have received a boost from the liberal, but not too-left-leaning Editorial Board – including, but not limited to Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie – will have to look elsewhere for the injection that a Times endorsement could have provided.

While there’s no telling who the Times Editorial Board – which has made a mayoral endorsement for more than 160 years – would have picked this time around, some observers suggested that Lander, a Brooklyn progressive, might have gotten the nod and used it to pull in votes in Manhattan and parts of brownstone Brooklyn where he doesn’t already have a base. “I think it’s a problem for Brad,” said consultant Chris Coffey. “I don’t think this is going to knock out Brad Lander, but I think it could have really helped him win those votes in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Upper West Side. And in the absence of it, I think he’ll just have to work harder for those votes.”

“Brad is going to win this race the same way he’s won every other race he’s run: by talking directly to voters, communicating through the many media channels they consume, and sharing his vision for a safer, more affordable, more livable, better-run city,” Lander’s senior campaign adviser Rebecca Rodriguez said in a statement. The Times Editorial Board endorsed Lander for comptroller in 2021.

Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, suggested the candidates most negatively affected by the loss of a potential Times endorsement are Lander and Stringer.

In general, observers didn’t expect the Times’ endorsement to go to the incumbent Adams, suggesting the news only carries upside for Adams’ reelection campaign. “I’m sure the mayor’s reelection folks are excited about the news,” Coffey said.

The Times Editorial Board endorsement was credited with making – and breaking – several recent campaigns. Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia was catapulted from relative obscurity to second place in the 2021 mayoral primary following a surprise endorsement from the Grey Lady. The neighborhoods where Garcia cleaned up, including Park Slope in Brooklyn, Upper West Side, Upper East Side and SoHo in Manhattan, were likewise considered a pretty accurate map of where New York Times readers lay their heads. On the flipside, fellow 2021 mayoral hopeful – and former secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Shaun Donovan took a major hit when he erroneously guessed that a house in Brooklyn cost just $100,000 in his Times endorsement interview. 

That doesn’t make the Times Editorial Board a queen or king-maker every time, however. Adams still won the election without their endorsement in 2021 on the strength of his outer borough base of voters. (Adams did get a helpful endorsement from the New York Post.)

But the board undoubtedly has pull. In 2022, the Times endorsement was considered a major factor in the victory of now-Rep. Dan Goldman in a crowded Democratic primary that included a current member of Congress, two Assembly members and a City Council member, among others. Goldman’s district, the 10th Congressional District, includes South Brooklyn neighborhoods and all of lower Manhattan. 

The importance of the Editorial Board’s endorsement for campaigns dates back further, too. “The first thing people talk about is the Times endorsing,” said longtime consultant George Arzt. “‘How can I get it? What do I have to do?’”

Greer noted that while the Times’ endorsements don’t always capture where voters across the city are, she sees the decision as a loss for the electoral process. “Who they endorse isn't always who the voters want, but I do think it is important to have candidates go before a board and explain their ideas and articulate a vision, and for folks to debate about that in their pages,” Greer said. Greer sits on the editorial board of the New York Amsterdam News, which she said will be continuing endorsements in local elections.