New York City’s deep-pocketed real estate interests are opening up their wallets in the highly competitive race for an open congressional seat covering Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, according to a Gothamist analysis of federal campaign data.
Running in a district that includes the famously liberal bastions of Greenwich Village and Park Slope, many of the candidates have decried the power of real estate. With the exception of Rivera, all haveAlthough the industry mostly relies on local and state approvals, a member of Congress still has an important platform, and donations can blunt criticism of industry leaders who have been under attack for years by New York’s left.
Similarly, Jeff Blau, the CEO of Related Companies, and his wife Lisa, each donated the maximum amounts for Goldman’s campaign in the primary and general elections. Not all of the contributions were in the form of money. De Blasio received $562 worth of food and beverages from David Kramer, another Brooklyn developer with Hudson Companies.