Former Bronx State Assembly Member Rev. Michael Blake (D) announced Tuesday that he will run for NYC Mayor in 2025.
Blake, who represented Assembly District 79 from January 2015 to the end of 2020, said he aims to expand social programs, help nonprofits and focus on justice.
“I am running for mayor with a bold Our City, Our Home, Our Dreams policy platform, which advances universal child care, faster payments to nonprofits, tax incentives for college graduates and businesses to return to the city, and a balanced approach to public safety, public housing and public schools in our neighborhoods,” Blake said in a statement.
He joins a long list of 2025 Mayoral hopefuls including NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (D) and Former NYC Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer (D). They aim to unseat the embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams (D).
Blake was critical of Adams who was indicted in September on charges of bribery and accepting illegal campaign donations, saying that Adams put his own interests above his mayoral duties. At his campaign launch event, Blake talked about the time last year that Adams suddenly canceled a trip to meet with President Joe Biden about the migrant crisis on the same day the FBI and NYPD raided the home of one of his top campaign staffers.
“Eric Adams decided that getting answers about his campaign was more important than New Yorkers getting answers,” Blake said. “He chose his campaign over the people. He decided that it was more important to protect himself than to protect you.”
Adams has denied all charges.
Blake’s campaign announcement highlighted his political record, especially his efforts to reduce the reimbursement period for Small, Minority and Women owned Business Enterprises with city contracts. He also pushed for the “Raise the Age” law in New York, which raises the age of criminal responsibility to 18 in all but a few circumstances.
But Blake, who didn’t seek reelection in 2020, is not the only politician from the borough to throw their hat in the ring. At the November meeting of the Bronx Conservative Party, Vice Chairman for the party Gonzalo Duran (R), officially announced his candidacy for Mayor in 2025. Duran failed to unseat Congressman Ritchie Torres in the 2024 election for District 15. As of Nov. 27, Duran’s name was not yet listed on the NYC Campaign Finance Board’s registry of official 2025 candidates.
Blake too unsuccessfully ran for the District 15 seat when he was defeated in 2019 by Ritchie Torres in the Democratic primary.
