Who are the consultants behind the 2025 NYC mayoral campaigns?

After Tuesday's election, America will have a new president and New York City candidates for office next year will have to focus on their own elections. The 2025 campaign cycle is just days away from being in full swing, and the more than half a dozen candidates pursuing runs for mayor are starting to build out campaign teams to show it. A (possibly still growing) group of challengers to Mayor Eric Adams have carefully launched their exploratory committees and campaigns over the last year, and some have started to fundraise aggressively to take on the embattled incumbent.

Not all campaigns are fully staffed just yet, but here’s who the mayoral candidates are working with so far, according to campaign finance reports and information provided by campaigns.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Campaign manager: TBD. Adams has directed all campaign related questions to his campaign attorney, Vito Pitta, who did not respond to a request for comment on the members of the campaign team. 

Highest paid firm so far: Suggs Solutions LLC. 

Where do I know them from? Brianna Suggs’ firm, which has billed the Adams campaign for both fundraising and consulting services, has raked in roughly $317,000 since the beginning of 2022. Adams said that Suggs was no longer doing fundraising for the campaign after her home was raided by federal authorities last November in the investigation into Adams’ 2021 campaign – in which Adams now faces criminal corruption charges. But Suggs did bring in $40,000 in consulting fees from the campaign between January and April of this year.

Other consultants: Pitta’s law firm has brought in $240,000. Bedford Grove, a firm that Adams is already working with to fundraise for his legal defense fund, has also been paid over $26,000 for fundraising services on his reelection campaign. Adams’ campaign has also worked with Tulchin Research on polling, including $67,500 spent on a poll this July.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander

Senior campaign adviser: Rebecca Rodriguez

Highest paid firm so far: BerlinRosen

Where do I know them from? A longtime partner for Lander, the behemoth firm BerlinRosen has brought in more than $43,000 from Lander’s mayoral campaign. That’s just since his official launch on July 30, though BerlinRosen was already on the payroll for his preexisting comptroller campaign.

Other consultants: Since its official launch in July, the Lander mayoral campaign has already spent $16,500 on fundraising services from JLG Strategies – plus more on fundraising work by Anastasia Leahy. The consulting firm Authentic Campaigns has been paid just over $29,000 for digital work, plus additional digital work by Sophie Ota, who was responsible for much of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s incredibly successful campaign social media. Eamon Marlowe and James LLC is also listed as a consultant, bringing in $30,000 so far, while Rodriguez’s Eos Consulting has brought in over $17,000. John Bartos has been paid as a treasurer, while Nicholas Smith has been paid for outreach work and Stephanie Wheaton for scheduling work.

Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer

Campaign manager: None yet. Elaine Fan, formerly the director of Asian Affairs in the governor’s office and an alum of Stringer’s comptroller office, is serving as chief of staff on the campaign. Other positions have not been named.

Highest paid firm so far: Foglamp

Where do I know them from? The digital strategy firm Foglamp has already been paid nearly $65,000 by Stringer’s campaign. The firm works on races and campaigns all around the country, including on email strategy, branding and advertising. More recently in New York, they worked on a non-electoral campaign to pressure former Rep. George Santos to step down from office. 

Other consultants: Slingshot Strategies is doing communications work for the Stringer campaign, bringing in nearly $34,000 so far. Left Rising, the progressive fundraising firm, has brought in north of $54,000 from the campaign. Blueprint Interactive is working on texting and email management, while Switchboard has also worked on campaign texting and messaging. Laurence Laufer has been paid for legal fees and Leah Carter has been paid as a consultant on compliance issues. 

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie

Campaign manager: TBD. Myrie has yet to hire for the role, but Monica Klein of Seneca Strategies and Mark Guma have been on the team as consultants since the campaign launch.

Highest paid firm so far: Van Ness Creative Strategies

Where do I know them from? The New York-based digital strategy firm Van Ness Creative Strategies has been paid just over $77,000 by the Myrie campaign so far, for work including digital ads and consulting, video production, and email and text strategy. Other recent local campaign work includes Jumaane Williams’ public advocate campaign in 2021, Vanessa Gibson’s Bronx borough president campaign in 2021 and Shekar Krishnan’s City Council campaign the same year.

Other consultants: The Myrie campaign has also paid Rowen Strategies nearly $35,000 for its work on fundraising, and Seneca Strategies $30,000 for communications consulting. Maya Handa has also been paid as a consultant, while the law firm Stoll, Glickman, and Bellina has been paid for legal work.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos

Campaign manager: Charlene Obernauer, who recently stepped down from leading the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

Highest paid firm so far: HZQ Consulting

Where do I know them from? Ryan Adams’ HZQ Consulting, which is doing digital and communications work for the Ramos campaign, had been paid $12,000, as of the latest campaign finance filing deadline in early October. (Ramos launched her campaign shortly before that deadline, and she’s both raised and spent a smaller amount in that time compared to other campaigns.) HZQ worked on City Council Member Yusef Salaam’s campaign and Assembly Member Sam Berger’s special election race last year.

Other consultants: Jess Lara from Momentum Campaigns is also working on digital strategy. Molly Murphy and Luis Escobar are working on the fundraising operation. And former City Council Member Ben Kallos’ firm has been hired to work on compliance issues, while Addison Post has done videography work and Virginia Baez-Ponce is serving as treasurer.

Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani

Campaign manager: Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s chief of staff in the Assembly

Other consultants: Mamdani launched his campaign after the latest campaign finance filing deadline, so the campaign has not yet reported expenditures. According to communications director Andrew Epstein, however, Mamdani’s campaign team also includes Katie Riley as deputy campaign manager and Sathvik Kaliyur of NWF Strategies as finance director. The campaign is also working with Morris Katz of the firm Technicolor Political, and Forge Co-Op on design.

Jim Walden

Jim Walden, a lawyer who has worked on cases for and against major New York political figures, is also running for mayor, Politico New York first reported late last month. Walden said that he hasn’t hired many campaign staff, including a campaign manager, yet, though the firm New Heights Communications has helped with his press work. Walden told City & State recently that he wants to focus on building out a policy platform for his campaign.