Former U.S. congressional candidate Adem Bunkeddeko announced Tuesday he is running for New York state comptroller in 2026, adding yet another Democrat to the field challenging longtime incumbent Tom DiNapoli.
“For too long, the Comptroller’s office has been on the sidelines – and New Yorkers have paid the price,” Bunkeddeko said in a statement. “It’s time for change.”
Bunkeddeko, from Brooklyn, released a video on YouTube saying his priorities include auditing the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, expanding state housing access vouchers and using clean energy, manufacturing and infrastructure investment to help upstate’s economy.
Bunkeddeko previously ran for Congress, challenging Rep. Yvette Clarke in New York’s 9th Congressional District in 2018 and 2020, narrowly losing to her the first time and finishing a distant second in a five-way race two years later.
He joins Drew Warshaw, a former assistant secretary to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and Raj Goyle, an entrepreneur and attorney, as the Democrats challenging DiNapoli. Biotech entrepreneur and Cuban American immigrant Joseph Hernandez is seeking the Republican nomination.
DiNapoli is currently the longest serving non-congressional statewide officeholder, having been comptroller since 2007.