Like seemingly everywhere in the US, questions about housing conditions and costs in Hoboken are among the most important issues heading into the 2025 mayoral election. In the time since our last mayoral election, we have seen buildings hit with massive rent increases, a ballot question where voters overwhelmingly chose to preserve rent control, a struggle for rent control in Marineview Plaza, and major redevelopment plans moving forward at the Hoboken Housing Authority and Garage B.

While tenants are certainly watching the upcoming election with interest, the real estate industry is doing a lot more than watching. Through June of this year, 30% of the campaign contributions made to our five mayoral candidates (excluding any self-funding) have come from real estate. Hoboken United Tenants dug into the campaign finance reports to determine where the money is coming from, and who it is going to.

Who is Real Estate money going to?

As part of our analysis, we attributed individual donations to firms based on the employers listed in the campaign finance reports, as well as information found via searches on Google and property tax records (this extra step is necessary because many landlords list their employers as ‘self’, and, for example, Mario Fini of Maridian lists his employer as the Hoboken Fire Department, though the bulk of his income surely comes from his real estate portfolio). We then further categorized those firms as either a developer, real estate investor, large landlord, small landlord, real estate agent, property manager, or landlord PR. The definitions of these categories are listed at the bottom of this article.

Councilman Michael Russo leads the way with over $160,000 in contributions from the real estate industry. He is the clear preference among developers and real estate investors, who tend to have the most money to spend, while also garnering significant support from landlords, real estate agents and property managers.

Councilman Ruben Ramos is also a major recipient of real estate industry cash, collecting $54,900 in campaign contributions. While not as popular among developers when compared to Councilman Russo, he leads the way with large landlords at $18,500.

Councilwoman Emily Jabbour has also received significant real estate money ($37,653), but a large chunk of that (32%) comes from small landlords who own four or fewer units in Hoboken. While small landlords are often just as bad for tenants as large landlords are, leasing out their real estate holdings is less likely to be their primary source of income, which means they may not be making campaign contributions with their real estate portfolio in mind.

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher and Dini Ajmani have not received much real estate money, though they have raised less money in general as they are able to self-fund to a significant extent due to their personal wealth. It should be noted that Councilwoman Fisher is a retired real estate executive, and that property tax records indicate that Ajmani is a small landlord herself.

Where is Real Estate money coming from?

Which real estate firms are investing the most in this mayoral race? Most of the real estate money flowing into this mayoral race comes from a handful of large donors. The top 5 donors account for 51% of all real estate spending, and the top 15 donors, depicted in the chart below, account for 71%.

By far the largest donor is the developer Ironstate/Applied (they are also a large landlord, but count as a developer for the purposes of this analysis). Eleven different members of the Barry family (who own the company) have contributed a total of $72,550, the vast majority of which has gone to Councilman Russo.

Developers and real estate investment firms account for 61% of the total real estate spending on this election, and occupy the top 5 spots on the chart above. It’s interesting to note that none of these firms seem to be all-in on one candidate: all five have contributed to both Councilmen Russo and Ramos, while JLL, a large real estate investment firm, also contributed a significant amount to Councilwoman Jabbour.

In the lower portion of the chart we see more landlords and property managers. Academy Bus owns land slated for a major redevelopment project, and they seem to be cozying up to everyone, donating to all the candidates except Dini Ajmani, though they gave by far the most ($4,750) to Councilman Ramos. Another owner of a large redevelopment site, Poggi Press, fell outside the top 15 donors, but they also contributed to both Councilman Ramos ($1,500) and Councilman Russo ($1,000).

These mid-size contributors also tend to spread their money around to multiple candidates, but we do see a few who seem to have chosen just one favorite. Councilmen Russo and Ramos are again the top choices among donors who have chosen to give to only one candidate, with Russo receiving $33,500 from such donors and Ramos receiving $17,950. Jabbour ($2,350), Fisher ($2,500) and Ajmani ($1,000) do not have any significant real estate backers who have gone all-in on their candidacies.

How dependent are the candidates on real estate money?

While the real estate industry is a significant source of campaign financing in this election, they are not the only one. We are also interested to know which candidates depend on real estate most to finance their campaigns. The chart below depicts the share of a candidate’s total contributions, excluding any self-funding, that came from real estate:

While Councilman Russo has received far and away the most real estate money this election cycle, a slightly higher share of contributions to Councilman Ramos’s campaign come from the real estate industry. So while real estate donors may favor Russo, Ramos and Russo are roughly equally dependent on these donors to finance their campaigns.

This dependence may help explain their behavior during the rent control ballot question campaign in 2024. Councilman Russo nominally endorsed a NO vote (which would preserve rent control in Hoboken), though he did so pretty quietly, not putting in any extra effort to secure a win. Councilman Ramos did not even go that far, essentially sitting out the election entirely. Meanwhile, Councilwomen Jabbour and Fisher were vocally in support of a NO vote, spending both money and time to help get the word out.

Checking in an old friend (MSTA)

Many will remember that the Mile Square Taxpayers Association, led by Ron Simoncini, were behind last year’s attempt to gut Hoboken’s rent control ordinance via ballot question, and were the authors of many similar attempts over the last decade-plus. Who are they backing in this election? While the organization itself does not typically donate to candidates, Ron Simoncini does. In this cycle, he has donated $500 to Ruben Ramos. He has been more active in previous cycles, donating $3,100 to Russo and $1,000 to Ramos for the 2023 city council runs.

Conclusion

The three data points discussed above tell a consistent story: Councilman Russo is the clear top pick of the real estate industry in this election, with Councilman Ramos as the runner-up. Councilwoman Jabbour, perhaps the frontrunner alongside Russo, has also received significant contributions from real estate, though not at the same level as Russo and Ramos.

While we do not believe that one’s choice in whom to vote for should be entirely dictated by where real estate money is going, it is clear that real estate is organized and determined to play a role in this election. If tenants want to strengthen our rights under the next administration, regardless of who wins, we will need to be organized too. We can’t flex the same financial muscle as developers and landlords, but as we proved last November, we’ve got the people.

A note on categorization

As a tenant organization, we see ourselves as organizing against real estate capital, which is personified in many different ways from financiers to developers to landlords and their agents. These categories are fluid, and many firms fit into multiple groups. For the sake of this exercise, we have categorized these groups as follows: Developers are people or firms who develop new housing. In many cases, these entities also act as landlords of the properties they have built (for example, Ironstate/Applied is a major developer, but also the largest landlord in Hoboken), but we are lumping them together as developers. Real estate investors are people or firms who finance the development and management of real estate assets. They often have diversified portfolios, acting as developers in some cases, landlords or property managers in some cases, and mortgage lenders in others. Large landlords are people or firms who own more than 4 housing units (other than their own) in Hoboken, and do not develop new housing. Small landlords are people or firms who own 1-4 housing units (other than their own) in Hoboken, and do not develop new housing. We differentiate between large and small landlords not to say one is better than the other, but to point out that small landlords likely do not see property ownership as their primary business, and may or may not be donating with their real estate portfolio in mind. Real estate agents help landlords find tenants, or help home sellers find buyers. Property managers maintain properties (often poorly) and collect rent on behalf of landlords. Landlord PR in this case refers specifically to Ron Simoncini, who acts as the head of the Mile Square Taxpayer Association, the primary political organ of Hoboken landlords. We have lumped these last three categories together, as none of them directly own real estate capital, but act as its agents.

Real Estate Money and the Hoboken Mayoral Race