New York Election Day Real Estate Winners and Losers

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Election day is finally in the rearview and voters across New York came out in droves to support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s reelection, along with a raft of state legislators who will shift the balance of power in Albany next legislative session and have greater influence over market-shaping policy for the real estate industry. Democrats also made significant gains in congressional races, setting the stage for a shake-up in federal policy with implications for the industry. But some of the biggest winners and losers in New York real estate weren’t even on the ballot.

Below is The Real Deal’s rundown on where the industry stands after Tuesday’s election.

The winners

New York State Tenant Bloc: A tenant-backed political group is flexing its muscle beyond New York City. The New York State Tenant Bloc, a 501(c)(4) launched last year by a coalition of tenant organizers and advocacy groups affiliated with Housing Justice for All, was created to influence elections and elect candidates who support tenant-friendly policies.

This cycle, the group scored several wins, including in two key upstate Assembly races. Tenant Bloc backed Democratic Socialist of America-endorsed candidates Maurice “Mo” Brown in Assembly District 128, which covers part of Syracuse, and Adam Bojak in District 149, which covers part of Buffalo.

Both candidates won their races and support the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST, Act — a priority for the group. The legislation would make it easier for localities outside of New York City to adopt rent stabilization. Progressive lawmakers and tenant advocates built momentum behind the measure during the last legislative session, but it failed to garner enough support to reach the Assembly or Senate floor. Brown and Bojak’s victories gave the effort two more backers in Albany, while underscoring the growing political reach of the tenant movement upstate.

In the five boroughs, the Tenant Bloc also issued a legislative scorecard that effectively backed five first-time, DSA-aligned Assembly members who clinched their seats Tuesday night: Samantha Kattan in Queens’ 37th District; David Orkin in the 38th District; Christian Celeste Tate in Brooklyn’s 54th District; Eon Huntley in the 56th District; and Illapa Sairitupac in Manhattan’s 65th District. Together, the wins give tenant advocates a stronger bloc of allies in Albany.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: One year ago, Mamdani was riding high off a long-shot win, bringing the storied Cuomo political dynasty to a close and putting many in the industry on their heels. This time around, the Democratic socialist mayor has emerged as an electoral kingmaker across the state, with a slate of left-leaning allies heading to Albany to carry his agenda in the legislature. Gov. Kathy Hochul has already recognized Mamdani’s campaign efforts on her behalf. Their mayor-governor collaboration is poised to continue, as the unlikely pair work on expanding universal childcare, preserving an embattled pied-à-terre tax and reforming policies to spur more affordable housing development across the five boroughs.

“The conventional wisdom for so long was that as long as there was a governor in Albany and a mayor in New York City, they would be mired in ego struggles and petty feuds,” Mamdani said at Hochul’s victory party on Tuesday. “Governor Hochul and I are working together to rewrite what that convention looks like.”

Voters approved all five charter revisions placed on the ballot by the independent Commission on Government Efficiency convened by Mamdani, which the mayor not so subtly encouraged New Yorkers to consider a “vote on faster government” ahead of election day. Ballot measure three streamlines the process for the city to sell or lease small lots and air rights adjacent to city-owned landmark sites, while ballot measure four establishes a central permitting hub overseen by the Department of Buildings, also bringing waterfront permitting under the agency’s purview.

Congressional wins also showed the mayor’s own campaign strategy resonating across the country, as progressives who ran on many of the same affordability issues carried the day, with New York City sending the Mamdani-backed trio of Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier to Washington.

“We have begun the work of transforming our party and making it belong to working people once again,” Mamdani told the crowd of Hochul supporters on election night. “It feels not only that we have a city to win, not only that we have a state to win, but also that we have a country to win.”

Steve Cohen: Unlike his Mets, Cohen enjoyed some home runs on election night, as more favorable political forces coalesced in the districts around his recently approved Metropolitan Park casino project.

Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, who supported Metropolitan Park as an Assembly member, will step up to the State Senate. She will replace incumbent Jessica Ramos, whom she beat in a bitter primary battle that centered on Cohen’s plans to build a Hard Rock hotel and casino next to Citi Field. Cohen’s donations to the state Democratic Party also paid off with a win for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has called Metropolitan Park a “good neighbor” in Queens.

State Sen. John Liu notched an uncontested general election win as a supporter of the casino development who struck a deal with Cohen and Hard Rock to connect downtown Flushing to Willets Point. Metropolitan Park enlisted ex-State Senator Michael Gianaris as senior vice president of external relations shortly after he retired from his legislative role in August.

Democratic socialist Aber Kawas, who won his former State Senate seat, campaigned on holding Cohen accountable, vying for community input on what is included in the broader park plan.

The losers

James Dolan: A one-time Hochul supporter turned Blakeman’s major backer, Dolan already hoisted one trophy this season to celebrate his Knicks’ historic championship, but bet big on the losing candidate for the governor’s seat.

Dolan hosted a Blakeman fundraiser at Madison Square Garden (with Witkoff President and Chief Investment Officer Scott Alper), funneled more than $108,000 directly to the campaign and gave $2 million to the pro-Blakeman Strong and Safe New York PAC, plus $1 million to the Nassau County Republican Committee.

But Dolan’s downfall came on election day, when Blakeman fell to the incumbent governor, who holds sway over many key aspects of a Penn Station redevelopment plan that will impact MSG.

NIMBYs: New York’s anti-development forces just lost an ally with Republican Bruce Blakeman’s defeat. Suburban towns and villages that hoped a Blakeman victory would shield them from pressure to build more housing have lost a potential political backstop.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, conversely, has pushed policies and zoning reform to spur new housing construction across the state. She stumbled in 2023, however, when she proposed the ambitious New York Housing Compact, which would have required New York City and its suburbs to increase their housing stock by 3 percent every three years, while upstate communities would have faced a 1 percent target. The proposal ran into opposition from suburban and upstate lawmakers, and Hochul ultimately abandoned the push.

But on the campaign trail, Hochul seemed to be signaling a renewed appetite for sweeping housing reform. During the race’s sole debate, Hochul pointed to housing as one of her regrets, saying, “I wish I had fought harder to get more housing built in my first year.” Though she didn’t name the Housing Compact, the remark suggested she may be ready to revisit policies aimed at increasing the state’s housing supply.

Multifamily landlords: Several state legislative races boosted the ranks of socialists in Albany, putting the legislature on track to nearly double its socialist contingent next year. And they’re no friends of landlords.

The gains give tenant advocates more allies in Albany and set the stage for a new round of fights over market-shaping policies for the real estate industry — from expanding rent regulation and tightening tenant protections to giving tenants statewide the first right to buy their buildings when they hit the market, effectively creating a state-level version of COPA.

How much sway they’ll ultimately wield remains unclear. But DSA-backed lawmakers will at the very least have a bigger bully pulpit in Albany to push their anti-landlord agenda.