In New York’s first citywide election since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 gave a green light to independent campaign spending, the city’s real estate industry dove into the primary headlong. Their bid to help elect industry-friendly members to the City Council racked up many wins, along with a few notable losses.
All told, Council races saw $6.1 million of outside independent spending by new political action committees. The biggest player by far was Jobs for New York, a group funded by some of the city’s major real estate companies, which was responsible for about 80 percent of the outside spending – flooding primary campaigns with $4.9 million.
The real estate PAC won more than three-quarters of the races where it backed candidates, records show.
