[Runoff Update!] Real Estate Money and the Hoboken Mayoral Race
A few things have happened since our last post on real estate contributions to the Hoboken mayoral candidates. For one, we received 4 more months of campaign finance data, giving us a clearer picture of how the real estate industry is approaching the race. More importantly, we had the general election on November 4, where Councilwoman Emily Jabbour (27% of the vote) and Councilman Michael Russo (24%) finished as the top two candidates and advanced to the runoff election on December 2.
After the dust settled on election night, the rest of the field quickly began consolidating behind Russo. Tiffanie Fisher, who just a few weeks ago called out Russo’s close ties with developers, endorsed him a week after the election. Ruben Ramos and his running dog Paul Presinzano, the only members of city council who did not support HUT’s Vote No campaign in last year’s rent control referendum (and who very likely coordinated with our opposition behind the scenes), followed soon after.
We at Hoboken United Tenants have been asked on numerous occasions, by both voters and campaigns, if we are endorsing a mayoral candidate. In an ideal world, we’d have a candidate that shuns real estate contributions entirely and takes their cues from the tenant movement (a strategy with a strong recent track record and which would likely be popular in a town that is two-thirds tenants). Unfortunately we do not have that, so we are not making an endorsement.
That being said, we are not blind to the fact that Michael Russo is the clear favorite of the real estate industry. He has raised over $160,000 from real estate donors, nearly four times as much as Emily Jabbour.
The chart above indicates that Jabbour and Russo have raised similar amounts from landlords, while Russo’s big lead comes mainly from developers and real estate investors. However, it is important to note that developers and real estate investors are often also landlords. The fact that they also build and invest in housing is an indication of their financial prowess, not a different business model. To further illustrate this point, let’s look at how Hoboken’s largest property owners are approaching the mayoral race.
Of the 25 largest landlords in Hoboken (who collectively own just over half of all apartment units), 9 have made some form of public effort in support of either of the runoff candidates. Here’s how their support shakes out:
Of the 9 major landlords who have made some public demonstration of support in this election, only two (Maridian and Advance) seem to favor Jabbour, and those two have also donated to Russo, just not as much. That means that all nine of these large landlords are backing Russo to at least some extent.
In fact, the real estate portfolio of Russo donors is more than ten times larger than that of Jabbour donors. Russo’s financial backers own 4,852 apartments in Hoboken, which is 27% of all rental units in town (Jabbour’s backers own 2.5%).
Why is it that Hoboken’s major landowners have thrown so much support behind Michael Russo? Maybe they are heartened by his “relentless positivity.” Maybe they appreciate the charm of a born-and-raised Hobokenite as mayor. Maybe they actually believe that he will build a waterfront pool.
More likely though, is they believe they are getting something for their money, whether it is an explicit quid pro quo or simply an alignment of priorities.
It is clear that the real estate industry is organized and determined to make an impact on the next mayoral administration. Regardless of who wins on December 2, tenants will need organization of their own if we want to win a city that is affordable for all. Reach out to Hoboken United Tenants if you would like to get involved in researching and educating the public about real estate influence on our city, fighting for pro-tenant legislation, or organizing your own building for better conditions.
