The NYC mayoral field is growing. The number of prominent women in the race is not.

While the field of candidates lining up to challenge New York City Mayor Eric Adams is growing ever larger, state Sen. Jessica Ramos is still the only politically viable woman who has entered the race. 

Wall Street investor Whitney Tilson and former Assembly Member Michael Blake both announced they would run over the past week, joining the crowded field of Democrats looking to succeed Adams in 2025. Comptroller Brad Lander, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, former comptroller Scott Stringer, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Walden – all men – are other serious contenders. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after facing sexual harassment allegations, is rumored to be seriously considering a run.

“Usually you have to ask a woman three to five times to run and a mom five to seven times before they’ll say yes,” said Yvette Buckner, president of government relations group Buckner Group and New Majority NYC board co-chair. “It makes it even more challenging when you have women and mothers who are interested, but there’s just a lot of other calculations that they have to take into consideration.”

Of course a lot can change between now and the June 24, 2025 primary – particularly in wake of Adams’ indictment and his upcoming legal trial. State Attorney General Letitia James is also being discussed as a possible candidate. Still, it’s hard not to notice the lack of women in the mayoral race. While the New York City Council became a women majority for the first time in 2021 – and Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley came second and third to Adams in the last Democratic mayoral primary – the fact remains that of the 110 mayors who’ve led the city, New Yorkers have yet to elect a woman. New York City isn’t alone in this regard. As of 2021, 12 of the 37 cities with over 500,000 people in the U.S. had never been run by a woman, but that too has started to shift. Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Boston have all since elected a woman as mayor. 

“The things that are being thrown at me as the only woman in the race are nothing I haven’t dealt with before,” Ramos said in a statement. “But I’m running with the kind of focus all working moms can relate to, and I’m going to fight like a mother to serve my city.”