Erik Bottcher is surpassing his former boss — at least in the number of campaign contributions he has received.
A candidate for City Council District 3 (Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen), Bottcher announced in the most recent campaign filing that he has raised $133,080 to date, not including public matching funds.
A total of 801 individuals have contributed to Bottcher’s campaign, the most ever recorded in the history of the district for a first-time candidate. The prior record, since data has been tracked, was set by Corey Johnson in 2013 with 626 contributions throughout that entire cycle.
Bottcher currently has $244,132 in cash on hand.
He recently stepped down as Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s chief of staff.
In addition, Bottcher’s campaign received the endorsements last week of Bronx Congressmember Ritchie Torres, former Councilmember Ronnie Eldridge and the Freelancers Union. Bottcher previously snagged the support of the Village Independent Democrats, the Downtown Independent Democrats and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.
“Erik is a proven leader with a keen understanding of the needs and issues impacting residents, and bold vision for solutions to the city’s most pressing challenges,” Torres said. “In the Council, he will fight for more affordable housing, protect workers’ rights and ensure that our city is safe and accessible to all. I am proud to endorse Erik to be the next Council Member for District 3.”
Eldridge represented northern Hell’s Kitchen and the Upper West Side in the City Council from 1989 to 2001.
“Having served 12 years on the City Council, I can tell you that the job requires grit, policy acumen, deep connection to community, and an incredible work ethic,” Eldridge said. “Erik Bottcher has all these qualities, and that’s why I’m supporting him for City Council. Erik has helped so many of us in Hell’s Kitchen with hands-on constituent services over the years, and I’m excited to vote for him on June 22.”
Bottcher was among a slate of candidates recently endorsed by the Freelancers Union.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the detrimental effects of not having a social safety net for all workers,” said Rafael Espinal, the union’s president and a former Brooklyn councilmember. “In New York City, with 1.3 million New Yorkers estimated to have performed independent work and a thriving economy in media and entertainment that depends on freelance creatives, it’s vital that the incoming class of city councilmembers understand the need to fight for freelancers. I truly believe that these candidates not only get it, but will stand up for all independent workers across the city.”
Bottcher said the record number of contributions and his recent round of endorsements reflect a broad base of support.
“This campaign has always been built on broad community support, and this filing demonstrates that the voters of the Third Council District know me well, and have faith in my ability to lead during these extremely difficult times,” he said. “I am also proud to stand with Congressman Ritchie Torres, former Councilmember Ronnie Eldridge and the Freelancers Union as we rebuild our economy and our neighborhoods and build a New York that works for everybody.”
Bottcher is not accepting contributions from real estate developers, from anyone employed at a lobbying firm, corporate political action committees (PACs) or the fossil-fuel industry. As part of his efforts in the community, he has been leading weekly neighborhood cleanups.
I can’t believe what I’m reading in the comments above!
Erik Bottcher is one of the most conscientious and effective public representatives I’ve ever known – he champions all the issues I care about with tenacity and positivity. Not sure what axe the above commenters have to grind.
Is there one single bit of policy that he has written that has helped the district while the chief of staff? Nope!! All he does is show up, smile, shake hands at events…that’s it. He’s got no substance. He’s not solved one single constituent concern. He’s so full of BS. Right now the district is a mess and Corey should have resigned since he has been on siesta. There are no constituent services in Johnson’s office where calls and e-mails go unanswered for months. Who’s managing the office??? and who has a fancy title as chief of staff? and does nothing daily…Erik Bottcher.
How true!
Couldn’t have said it better.
How many small businesses in Greenwich Village and Chelsea died, lost their lease, went under during Corey’s reign? Bottcher was complicit in all of them!
My experience with Erik is he talks slow, careful with every word, anxiously not wanting to commit to a position he is not sure won’t bite him rather than standing tall for the courage of his convictions. He is wishy-washy with feel-good platitudes but champions no hard specific issues. He doublespeaked us to death on the 14th Street Busway, running cover for his boss, Corey Johnson, who didn’t have the courage to condemn publicly what he cursed privately as he coveted the support of Transportation Alternatives. Corey failed as a leader and Erik is not even up to that low standard. Ask him for his platform and he can only claim he supports vague milquetoast feel-good generalities. He’s a lightweight not up to the responsibility of the office he seeks. He should look for another job as an admin.
Does Bottcher ever have an independent thought or say anything of substance? This article is essentially a reproduced press release. He says nothing; he does nothing. The weekly neighborhood cleanups … is his taking credit for the work of Catie Savage, who started the Hell’s Kitchen Litter Legion last year.
The hallmark of leadership for lawmakers has always been how quickly, fairly and effectively a lawmaker addresses a crisis. Erik Bottcher’s handling of our small business crisis is shameful and a disgrace to good government. He was responsible for helping organizing the Oct. 2018 hearing on the Jobs Survival Act. a bill giving rights to business owners when their leases expire — rights needed to negotiate fair leases and rights needed to survive. The entire hearing was a sham orchestrated by the real estate lobby REBNY. The true goal of this hearing was not to find the best solution to stop the closings and save businesses, but to continue to do nothing and keep the status quo. Bottcher then proceeded to tell the media he was “working on amending the Jobs Survival Act, tweaking it and fine tuning it,” to be moved to a vote and easily pass with 29 sponsors in the City Council. He purposely gave false statements on the progress of the only real lifeline to save our businesses. He never changed the bill or intended to ever do anything that would change the status quo, which was denying economic justice to the Village small business owners.