‘Even While Losing,’ Councilman Sees a Way to Win: As Public Advocate

NEW YORK — Jumaane Williams, who turned a long-shot candidacy into a close defeat by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul in last month’s Democratic primary, has quickly set his sights on another office: New York City public advocate.

Williams said that his campaign for lieutenant governor served not only as a political springboard to running for public advocate, but also as a logical next step. He has often said that the lieutenant governor position should be more than a “ribbon-cutting role.”

“I’d been using the public advocate as an example of what the lieutenant governor should be,” Williams said. “If I’m not public advocate for New York state, I could be the public advocate for New York City. The message we have is transferable.”

If Letitia James, the current public advocate, wins her race in November to become New York’s attorney general, she will vacate her current position by year’s end, and a special election will be held.

Williams lost the nomination for lieutenant governor by more than 6 percentage points, yet he outpaced Hochul, the party’s choice, by more than 60,000 votes in New York City: 414,000 to 354,000.

“What was shocking was, he said he wasn’t thinking about running for anything else,” Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, said about a conversation he had with Williams the morning after the primary. “There’s an adage that someone could win even while losing.

“I thought to myself that it will be very difficult to leave 400,000 votes on the table.”

The public advocate presides over City Council meetings and can introduce legislation, but has few defined responsibilities. The position is largely seen as a gateway to run for mayor, a path taken by Mayor Bill de Blasio. A dozen or more elected officials and politicians are thought to be interested in running for the office.

Among them are Michael Blake, a Bronx assemblyman who announced Sunday that he was running for the position, and Daniel O’Donnell, a Manhattan assemblyman.

Several City Council members, including Ritchie Torres, Antonio Reynoso, Robert Cornegy Jr., Eric Ulrich, Ydanis Rodriguez, Donovan Richards, Rafael Espinal Jr. and Joseph Borelli are also said to be interested. Two former City Council speakers, Christine Quinn and Melissa Mark-Viverito, are also considered contenders.

“Some of them have very good name recognition,” said Gale Brewer, the Manhattan borough president. “But people will know Jumaane’s name because of the recent election.”

Williams, a former tenant advocate, refers to himself as an “activist elected official.” He is known for co-sponsoring legislation that helped create an inspector general for the New York Police Department.

Williams has another distinguishing characteristic: He has been arrested at least six times while protesting issues such as immigrant rights and President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court choice.

His most recent arrest led to a misdemeanor conviction for obstruction of an emergency vehicle, after Williams had blocked an ambulance at an immigrants’ rights protest. He was found not guilty of disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration; the misdemeanor conviction did not affect his ability to run for office or vote.

If James, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, defeats the Republican, Keith Wofford, in the Nov. 6 general election, de Blasio would call a special election to be held in early 2019; the contest would be a nonpartisan free-for-all, with no party primaries.

The winner of the special election would serve a one-year term; a primary and general election would be held in September and November to fulfill the remainder of James’ term, which runs until the end of 2021.

Williams’ entry into the potential race could be jarring. Just more than 272,000 ballots were cast when James ran for re-election in 2017, and she received just less than 187,000 votes. Williams received almost 167,000 votes for lieutenant governor in Brooklyn alone.

Kirsten John Foy, northeast regional director of the National Action Network, said he decided not to run for public advocate, in part because of Williams’ potential candidacy and a larger concern about gender diversity in the city’s top leadership.

But despite Williams’ showing in the lieutenant governor’s race, the wide-open nature of the nonpartisan contest could negate some of his advantages.

“No disrespect to Jumaane, but this race is different,” Blake said Sunday, while on the last leg of a five-borough tour to kick off his campaign.

Jeanne Zaino, a professor of political science at Iona College, said Williams is a “formidable candidate” who is aligned with the city’s leftward-shifting Democratic electorate. “He is someone who could set himself up to run for mayor,” Zaino added.

Williams said that won’t happen. “There are no ifs and buts about it,” he said. “In 2021, Jumaane Williams will not be running for mayor.”

That stance could help Williams gain the support of potential mayoral candidates like Diaz, who would be happy to have fewer opponents to contend with.

Williams said he would push for the public advocate to have more power to sue to hold de Blasio accountable.

“I still consider the mayor an ally,” Williams said. “My hope is that at some point he will live up to what people expected of him. There are so many areas where that is not happening.”