ALBANY — Democratic challengers are revving up their bids to unseat incumbent state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, who is facing his first primary fight in his nearly 20 years in the job.
DiNapoli’s campaign announced Wednesday it is engaging a $2.1 million digital and television ad campaign, which will run across New York through the June primary.
The incumbent’s first in a series of scheduled advertisements will highlight union members — DiNapoli has received a plethora of endorsements from labor unions – who voice support for the state comptroller. He has been at the helm of the comptroller’s office since 2007.
The advertisement highlights his work as comptroller, including what the campaign describes as his clashes with the administration of President Donald J. Trump and his former senior advisor Elon Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the office’s efforts to expose public corruption and bolster the state’s pension fund. The fund is now worth almost $300 billion and is one of the largest public pension funds in the U.S.
The ad also includes images from a massive public sector rally held in Albany in early March, where participants demanded changes for Tier 6 pension members. DiNapoli supports those proposed changes and spoke at the rally.
The ad buy this election cycle has almost eclipsed DiNapoli’s campaign spending in 2022, when he faced Republican challenger Paul Rodriguez.
That year, campaign finance records show, DiNapoli’s campaign purchased a combined $76,500 in online advertisements from the Amsterdam News and Brooklyn-based Red Horse strategies. His campaign also paid Chicago-based AKPD Message and Media just over $2 million for television ads.
DiNapoli won 57% of the vote in that contest. Details of his campaign’s latest expenditures are not available yet.
Democratic challenger Drew Warshaw placed a major statewide ad buy in April, the first of any candidate running statewide this year, he said. Raj Goyle, a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives, is the other Democratic challenger.
Warshaw’s ad, which takes aim at DiNapoli’s handling of the state pension fund for public workers and where that money has been invested by the comptroller, is running on broadcast, cable and digital platforms.
The ad highlights a few investments made by that fund, including in bonds offered by Israel. As of 2023, the pension fund had invested more than $267 million in Israel bonds.
The state comptroller is New York’s chief fiscal officer and considered an independent watchdog. In addition to managing the state’s pension fund, the office also is in charge of auditing government agencies.
Despite being in office for nearly 20 years, DiNapoli is not a widely known as many other statewide office holders.
A Siena University Research Institute poll in March found that DiNapoli has low name recognition, with 65% of voters saying they did not know enough about him or have never heard of him. The poll reported that 30% of voters are prepared to reelect him, while 29% prefer someone else, and 41% are undecided.