Raj Goyle, a New York City entrepreneur and attorney, says his campaign for New York state comptroller has collected and filed more than enough petition signatures to secure his name on the Democratic primary ballot, his campaign announced Monday.

Goyle is challenging longtime incumbent Tom DiNapoli for the position of the state’s top fiscal watchdog. His campaign said he has filed more than 31,500 signatures.

“New Yorkers from every part of this state put their name on this petition, and we don’t take that lightly,” Goyle said in a statement. “They want a comptroller who is willing to use every ounce of the strength of this office to fight for working families through investing in childcare, affordable housing, and giving our retirees the best returns on their pensions. As comptroller, I will also lead historic divestments from Palantir, foreign bonds that lead to war crimes abroad, and dirty fossil fuels. The time is now for new leadership and a bold vision and I will bring this energy to the comptroller’s office on Day 1.”

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Goyle worked with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. He co-founded a legal defense company that he later sold. He served as a Democratic state legislator in Kansas and founded Phone Free New York, which helped secure passage of the state’s bell-to-bell ban on cellphones. 

Goyle launched a campaign last year to challenge DiNapoli, who is currently the longest serving non-congressional statewide officeholder, having been comptroller since 2007. He was nominated by state Democrats for another term at their convention in February.

Goyle is the second DiNapoli challenger to announce he has the signatures to appear on the Democratic ballot. Drew Warshaw, a former assistant secretary to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, is also running for the nomination and his campaign said on Friday he had the required signatures. Should signatures from the candidates be verified, it would be New York’s first competitive Democratic primary for comptroller in quite some time. The victor will face Republican nominee Joseph Hernandez, a biotech entrepreneur and Cuban American immigrant in November.

Primary elections in New York will be on Tuesday, June 23.