The New York Apartment Association isn’t just backing Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to be New York City’s next mayor, it’s putting millions of dollars towards the effort.

A super PAC representing the landlord lobbying group is set to spend $2.5 million on advertising supporting Cuomo, Politico reported. The money will go towards advertisements in multiple languages on television, the radio and the web.

The ads are expected to have a pro-Cuomo slant rather than an anti-Zohran Mamdani lean as the latter emerges as one of Cuomo’s biggest rivals in the Democratic primary. The ads have yet to be finalized, giving NYAA limited time to mobilize as early voting begins in a week.

“In this two person race, Andrew Cuomo is the best candidate to increase the supply of housing. The alternative choice is unacceptable and will decimate the housing stock,” NYAA CEO Kenny Burgos said in a statement.

“I would expect nothing less from a group that represents the landlords of those rent-stabilized units,” Mamdani said of the NYAA’s spending. “Because ultimately, I’m running to freeze the rent, he’s running to raise it.”

Mamdani’s pledge to freeze the rent on regulated apartments has turned him into a problematic figure for the real estate industry. Nevertheless, the socialist candidate has run a spirited campaign and given Cuomo — largely considered the Democratic favorite — a run for his money.

On Friday morning, supporters of Mamdani rallied outside the NYAA offices in response to the latest spending.

Cuomo has earned real estate support, particularly around his plan to build or preserve 500,000 housing units over a decade by upzoning transit-oriented neighborhoods. The Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York endorsed Cuomo. As of late last month, approximately 70 individual donors working in real estate or construction donated the maximum $2,100 directly to Cuomo’s campaign over two months, filings with the city’s Campaign Finance Board showed.  

But Cuomo also presided over the 2019 law that crushed — and continues to destroy — rent-stabilized building owners. His campaign spokesperson recently spoke of the “unintended consequences” of the bill, a statement that likely doesn’t add up to the affected owners.

The outlay for the Housing for All super PAC makes the NYAA the largest single donor for Cuomo in the race. Another super PAC supporting Cuomo has raised $11 million, but its largest donor, DoorDash, only contributed $1 million.

— Holden Walter-Warner

Read more Politics New York The Daily Dirt: “Have you no shame?” Politics New York Building Trades endorses Andrew Cuomo for mayor Politics New York Cuomo’s sad excuses for 2019 rent reform don’t add up