Harlem City Council Race 2023: Who Has Raised And Spent The Most Money

HARLEM, NY — Last week Patch published an interview with the four Democratic candidates competing for Harlem's City Council District 9 seat, but which of the hopeful winners have received and spent the most campaign money thus far?

First-term incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan is being challenged by a strong lineup of Democratic candidates with deep roots in the community: Assembly Member Inez Dickens, Assembly Member Al Taylor and activist Yusef Salaam, one of the five men part of the Central Park Five, all of whom have been exonerated.

Patch took a look through the New York City Campaign Finance Board filings to find which of the four candidates have received and spent the most money so far, what their average donations have been, and what their largest expenditures are.

Overall, Dickens, who held the District 9 Council seat previously from 2006 to 2016, has both raised and spent the most money on the 2023 campaign. Jordan is a close second in the fundraising department, but has spent far less than her three challengers.

Taylor is a close second in money spent on winning the campaign, joining Dickens with over $50,000 in total expenditures thus far.

Salaam, who sits a nearby fourth place in money raised and third in money spent, received more than $7 million in 2014 after the city agreed to pay $41 million to the Central Park Five for the years they spent in prison.

The largest expenditures of each of the candidates ranged from printing campaign literature to paying political consulting agencies to backing fundraising events.

Here is a breakdown of the money spent and received so far.

Click on any of the hyper-linked names below to look through the details of every donation and expenditure by and to the candidates for yourself.

Campaign Money Raised As Of March 15

Inez Dickens

• Total Money Raised: $38,673
• Number of Donations: 332
• Average Donation Amount: $116
• Largest Donation: $1,050 from retired Florida resident Ralph Andrew

Kristin Richardson-Jordan

• Total Money Raised: $22,213
• Number of Donations: 300
• Average Donation Amount: $74
• Largest Donation: $2,900 from herself

Al Taylor

• Total Money Raised: $17,345
• Number of Donations: 208
• Average Donation Amount: $83
• Largest Donation: $1,050 from Sessa Capital employee John Petry

Yusef Salam

• Total Money Raised: $13,975
• Number of Donations: 113
• Average Donation Amount: $123
• Largest Donation: $1,600 from president of Dana Investment Corp Mohannad Malas.

Campaign Money Spent As Of March 15

Inez Dickens

• Total Money Spent: $59,243
• Number of Expenditures: 31
• Largest Expenditure: $8,000 to campaign consultant company Effective Media Stategies on Feb. 24, 2023.

Al Taylor

• Total Money Spent: $55,738
• Number of Expenditures: 40
• Largest Expenditure: $10,000 (two payments) to campaign consultant company George Arzi Communications on Jan. 3, 2023.

Yusef Salaam

• Total Money Spent: $22,320
• Number of Expenditures: 46
• Largest Expenditure: $5,500 to Sole Strategies Zee Cohen-San for fundraisers.

Kristin Richardson Jordan

• Total Money Spent: $14,593
• Number of Expenditures: 64
• Largest Expenditure: $1,337 to print campaign literature on Sept. 29, 2022.

This article has been updated to reflect the March 15 filing period amounts.