Brannan and Levine spar over Mayor Adams and Trump in NYC comptroller debate

The two leading Democrats in the race for city comptroller clashed Thursday night over who would be a tougher watchdog for New York’s finances and a stronger check on both the next mayor and President Donald Trump.

A study in contrasts and campaign styles

City Councilmember Justin Brannan from Brooklyn and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine are a study in contrasts. Levine, a soft-spoken policy wonk who is fluent in Spanish, highlighted his record of pushing for affordable housing and pandemic public health measures. Brannan, a former punk rocker, touted his role negotiating the city’s annual budgets as the chair of the Council’s finance committee.

However, the one-hour debate hosted by WPIX-11 surfaced scant policy differences between the candidates. Both said they were determined to fight Trump’s attempts to cut federal aid to the city, and both supported policies that promote affordable housing — including favoring a one-year rent freeze — and the expansion of free childcare.

The veteran elected officials are fighting to win over voters for a citywide position that could be especially important under Trump. New York City is facing billions in potential spending cuts in the next fiscal year, as well as the looming possibility of an economic slowdown or recession tied to Trump’s ambitions related to tariffs.

Adams becomes the flashpoint

The evening really came alive when the candidates sparred over who had been tougher on Mayor Eric Adams.

“This mayor has tried to cut CUNY, our parks, our libraries,” Brannan said. “Mark Levine was nowhere to be found, never spoke up, never came to a rally. If you're going to fight Donald Trump, you need to do more than send a couple of strongly worded letters.”

Leading up to the debates, Brannan had been assailing Levine for failing to call on Adams to resign in the wake of his federal corruption indictment last year. The case was dismissed in April.

Levine appeared to anticipate those attacks, saying, “I have a feeling you're going to hear this multiple times today. I just want to say the truth is, I have stood up to Eric Adams again and again and again.”

Later in the debate, Levine pounced by pointing out that Brannan had endorsed Adams for mayor in 2021.

“There’s only one person on this stage who endorsed Eric Adams for mayor, who campaigned passionately for him, who sought his endorsement for re-election, who received his endorsement for re-election, that is the Council member,” Levine said. “It's not me,”

As a member of the City Council in 2021, Levine initially backed Scott Stringer, whose mayoral campaign was upended following sexual misconduct allegations. He later threw his support behind Adams when he became the Democratic nominee.

The exchange underscored how the city comptroller serves as a check on the mayor. The office, which employs roughly 900 people, reviews city contracts, performs audits on spending and manages the city’s pension funds, which are currently valued at $279 billion.

Neither Brannan nor Levine has endorsed a mayoral candidate in the upcoming primary. And both seemed uncomfortable when asked to talk about concerns they may have over frontrunner Andrew Cuomo’s record as governor of New York – a position he held for a decade before resigning amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment.

“There's some stuff in COVID that was concerning,” Brannan said. “There's a lot of things that were concerning.”

Both candidates said they would support Cuomo for mayor should he win the primary and become the Democratic nominee.

Polls, money and a Coney Island casino

An Emerson/PIX11 poll released on Wednesday found Levine leading the first round of voting with 51% support and Brannan placing a distant second at 23%. They were trailed by two other candidates who did not qualify for the debate: Brooklyn state Sen. Kevin Parker with 16% and Ismael Malave with 10%.

But around 29% of those surveyed said they were undecided, suggesting the race is still up for grabs.

Both candidates have been relatively well-funded. As of Thursday, Levine had $2.6 million in his coffers, while Brannan has $1.8 million, according to their latest public disclosures. Brannan also has a super PAC called New Yorkers for Accountability that is run by a lobbyist working on a proposed casino on Coney Island.

Brannan, whose district includes Coney Island, will have a critical say in whether that project moves forward. He initially opposed the casino plan, which requires a zoning change to move forward. But he recently told Politico that he wants to allow the approval process for the casino to play out.