With a well-funded former Missouri lawmaker in the mix, Upper East Side council race is shaping up to be pricey

Manhattan’s east side may see the most expensive race in the 2025 City Council elections. In the open seat in City Council District 4, Rachel Storch, a former Missouri state representative and chief operating officer at Fifth Avenue Synagogue, has chosen to opt out of the city’s public matching funds program. She is the only City Council candidate so far to decide not to participate in the program, which provides campaigns public matching dollars for smaller-dollar donations and is designed to minimize the influence big donors have in local elections. 

Storch’s decision to opt out means that she doesn’t have to adhere to any spending limits, and it could affect the spending limits for her primary opponents too. Storch has raised over $163,000, according to the most recent filing in early October, putting her fundraising well ahead of the four other candidates in the race for the open seat. The four other candidates will receive public matching funds, which will strengthen their financial totals.

“I have chosen to leave the city matching funds program, and that is so that I make sure I have the resources to share my story and my future plans," Storch told City & State.

City Council District 4 covers part of Manhattan’s Upper East Side along Central Park and snakes down through Midtown to Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. Keith Powers, the district’s current council member, is term-limited and is running for Manhattan borough president.

The strongly Democratic district has the highest median household income in the entire city: $156,000, according to an analysis from The City. It has approximately 177,000 residents, 70% of whom are white. In 2021, the district chose Kathryn Garcia for mayor over Eric Adams. 

Five candidates are running for the seat: Storch, Vanessa Aronson, a former public school teacher and the president of the Lexington Democratic Club, Ben Wetzler, a former Democratic district leader and current assistant director of policy and program analysis at the state housing department, Luke Florczak, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and attorney Faith Bondy, president of the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club. Politico reported last month that Virginia Maloney, daughter of former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, is considering a run as well. 

“It’s disappointing”

Three candidates who spoke with City & State: Aronson, Wetzler and Florczak, expressed disappointment with Storch’s decision to forego matching funds. 

“It's disappointing that someone would signal that they don’t think that they should be beholden to the same standards or rules just because they happen to be connected to people who have the means to campaign from out of state,” Aronson said. 

Over 40% of Storch’s donations have been from out-of-city residents, especially those residing in Florida, Missouri and Washington D.C. Originally from New York City, Storch is a long-time political representative with experience across the country. She worked for former Democratic Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan for four years, rising to the rank of deputy chief of staff. In 2004, after having worked in Missouri and Washington D.C., Storch ran for a seat in the Missouri legislature and served as a state representative for three terms. She became a deputy whip for the state’s Democratic caucus and in 2008, she served as the Missouri state director for former Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. She returned to New York City in 2010.

The public matching funds program is entirely voluntary, but the majority of City Council candidates choose to participate. To qualify, City Council candidates must have 75 district constituents donate to their campaign, for a minimum donation pool of $5,000, to qualify for the program. For every dollar a campaign receives, a candidate in the public matching funds program can receive $8 in public funds. Only the first $175 of a donor’s total contribution to a campaign can qualify for the public funds. The maximum amount a candidate can receive in public fund donations is $184,000. The maximum donation per individual under the matching funds program is $1,050. Out-of-city donors do not qualify for public matching fund donations. For non-program candidates, the maximum is $1,600 per donor.

City Council candidates in the program can spend a maximum of $55,000 in the years before their election year and $207,000 in their primary election year. If Storch raises or spends more than half of the spending limit ($22,500 in years prior to election year and $103,500 during the primary and general election year), then the spending limit for all candidates in the race who are using matching funds will increase by half (up to $77,500 in years prior to election year and $310,500 during the primary and general election year).

If Storch raises or spends more than three times the spending limit ($165,000 in years prior to the election and $621,000 during the primary and general election year), then candidates in the race will no longer have to adhere to a spending limit.