City & State\u2019s 2025 Winners & Losers of the Year were selected \u2013 as they are every year \u2013 after much deliberation. In those discussions, many New York politicos arise as possible honorees, and in a year as wild and wacky as 2025, there was a lot to talk about. But with only five winners and five losers, many other people fell off the final list. Here are this year\u2019s special awards, recognizing those who didn\u2019t quite win 2025, but maybe didn\u2019t lose 2025 either.<\/p>\n
AI slop we ate up: \u201cLet\u2019s Go With Eric Adams\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Why was half of this AI song in French? Does Eric Adams lead \u201cwith a vision so true\u201d? It doesn\u2019t matter, because the \u201chopeful sound\u201d of this jam left us inspired.<\/p>\n AI slop we threw up: @CityDeskNYC<\/a><\/p>\n Tweet anything remotely related to the New York City mayoral race and CityDesk is going to be in the replies bashing Zohran Mamdani. We get that a Canadian guy<\/a> is trying to sell this AI service, but no one needs to tweet 150,000 times.<\/p>\n Priciest cameo: Ingrid Lewis-Martin<\/p>\n She may have only had one line, but her appearance<\/a> on \u201cGodfather of Harlem\u201d alongside Forest Whitaker could be part of what costs Ingrid Lewis-Martin her freedom after being charged with corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n Honorable mention: George Santos<\/p>\n Second-worst failed comeback<\/a> of the year: Anthony Weiner<\/p>\n It was not a great year for scandal-scarred men in New York politics. Wait, did something good actually happen in 2025?<\/p>\n \u201cEt tu, Brute?\u201d Award: Alicia Vaichunas<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n New York City Council District 30 Republican nominee Alicia Vaichunas made it clear who she believes betrayed her: Bob Holden. \u201cI had somebody\u2019s back for eight years who put knives in my back,\u201d she said in her election night speech. A Shakespearean tragedy.<\/p>\n Well, well, well, it\u2019s not so easy to find an LG who doesn\u2019t suck shit award: Brian Benjamin<\/a><\/p>\n Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin\u2019s indictment that forced his exit from office was fully dropped<\/a> this year. Meanwhile, his successor, Antonio Delgado, is primarying the governor, lost his office and isn\u2019t able to do much official LG work. But maybe the best revenge is to live well.<\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani Award for Excellence in Political Advertising: Brad Lander<\/p>\n The mayor-elect may have gotten much of the glory when it comes to virality, but we cannot get the image of Brad Lander eating a hot dog on the Cyclone out of our heads.<\/p>\n First Blood Award: Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n Gov. Kathy Hochul has been finding her groove in standing up to the Trump administration, and her role model is \u2026 Rambo? \u201cBut once you draw first blood on us, we\u2019re coming back hard,\u201d she said<\/a> about potential federal intervention. If Hochul campaigns as the Sylvester Stallone movie catalog next year, she\u2019ll win with dictator-like margins.<\/p>\n Look Up Award for Screen Time Heroics: Frankie Focus<\/p>\n Unshackled from the algorithm, the children are learning again!<\/p>\n Living Rent-Free Award: Chris Sommerfeldt<\/p>\n Eric Adams has had his foils as New York City mayor: Brad Lander<\/a>, Curt Menefee<\/a>, rats<\/a>. But no one may have gotten under his skin like Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt. He temporarily banned Sommerfeldt from press conferences, claiming he was \u201cdisruptive.\u201d And Adams recently called him \u201ca dark, sick person.\u201d Maybe Adams should ask for a refund on his Donald Trump media training classes.<\/p>\n The Quote GOAT: Curtis Sliwa<\/p>\n From \u201cslapping fannies and killing grannies\u201d to \u201cevery parade has the right to exist,\u201d New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa lit up the internet<\/a> throughout the campaign.<\/p>\n Honorable mention: Eric Adams<\/a><\/p>\n Excellence in Friendship Award, brought to you by Herr\u2019s: Winnie Greco\u00a0<\/p>\n Handing an envelope of cash directly to one of New York City\u2019s most dogged reporters would be one thing, but stuffing it first into a potato chip bag<\/a> is truly inspired. As Greco said, \u201cI just wanted to be her friend<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Up Your Butt Award for Most Memorable TV Appearance: Tom Homan<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s border czar said three words on \u201cFox & Friends\u201d that humiliated himself, New York City, Eric Adams and everyone watching.<\/p>\n Faith Restored Award: Danielle Sassoon<\/p>\n It turns out some people still have integrity: Danielle Sassoon, then-acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, chose to resign rather than heed President Donald Trump\u2019s demands to drop the federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Her \u201cReputation\u201d Era Award: Jessica Ramos<\/p>\n Listen to \u201cLook What You Made Me Do\u201d by Taylor Swift and tell us it\u2019s not the perfect metaphor for the arc that state Sen. Jessica Ramos<\/a> has been on since she bizarrely endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor. The question now is, will Ramos, like Swift, rise from the dead?<\/p>\n Squeaky Wheel Award for Success in Advocacy: Marianne Pizzitola<\/p>\n What\u2019s a political candidate\u2019s worst nightmare? An advocacy group full of people with nothing but time to agitate. Marianne Pizzitola successfully marshaled New York City retirees to block Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 plan to have them switched over to Medicare Advantage. Plus, the issue is now so politically toxic, future mayors may not broach the idea again.<\/p>\n All the News That\u2019s Fit to Make Up Award: Jonathan Rinaldi<\/p>\n When Jonathan Rinaldi is covered by the media, they point out his harassment<\/a> of elected officials and his lewd nickname<\/a>. When Rinaldi makes up his own news using AI<\/a>, he gets fake endorsements and flattering headlines. Really seems like a big difference there.<\/p>\n Stay In Your Lane Award: Bill Ackman<\/p>\n Not everyone is meant to be a political pundit. And no one should write thousands of words in a single tweet<\/a>. When billionaire Bill Ackman was wrong at virtually every turn of the New York City mayoral race, no one took greater pleasure in that than Curtis Sliwa, who coined this gem<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City & State\u2019s 2025 Winners & Losers of the Year were selected \u2013 as they are every year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,49,63,7159,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-73040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-nyc","tag-personality","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}