Why’s a Finance Titan Dropping $1 Million on Bronx Elections?
The whole thing is just — weird.
![A photo illustration showing the New York Stock Exchange building and the street sign for Wall Street.](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/MNG0oDwmShmlzv3GNInZmyOQQGkWWqKvAkiTa2ff-R8/w:820/h:615/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9KYW5lLVN0cmVldC1Ccm9ueC5qcGc.jpg)
Zachary Groz contributed reporting.
The whole thing is just — weird.
Zachary Groz contributed reporting.
At New York Focus, our central mission is to help readers better understand how New York really works. If you think this article succeeded, please consider supporting our mission and making more stories like this one possible.
New York is an incongruous state. We’re home to fabulous wealth — if the state were a country, it would have the tenth largest economy in the world — but also the highest rate of wealth inequality. We’re among the most diverse – but also the most segregated. We passed the nation’s most ambitious climate law — but haven’t been meeting its deadlines and continue to subsidize industries hastening the climate crisis.
As New York’s only statewide nonprofit news publication, our journalism exists to help you make sense of these contradictions. Our work scrutinizes how power works in the state, unpacks who’s really calling the shots, and reveals how obscure decisions shape ordinary New Yorkers’ lives.
In the last two decades, the number of local news outlets in New York have been nearly slashed in half, allowing elected officials and powerful individuals to increasingly operate in the dark — with the average New Yorker none the wiser.
We’re on a mission to change that. Our work has already shown what can happen when those with power know that someone is watching, with stories that have prompted policy changes and spurred legislation. We have ambitious plans for the rest of the year and beyond, including tackling new beats and more hard-hitting stories — but we need your help to make them a reality.
If you’re able, please consider supporting our journalism with a one-time gift or a monthly gift. We can't do this work without you.
Thank you,
Our team will be descending upon Albany on Tuesday. Here’s what they’ll be watching.
Brandon Bishunauth is an unlikely candidate to pick a fight with a bastion of old-time machine politics.
Our reporting spurred the disclosure of millions in spending and illuminated the networks behind the Bronx political machine.
Chip technology has been standard in credit and debit cards for a decade. They could stop New York’s surging rate of stolen benefits.
Prosecutors have urged the governor to roll back some of New York’s discovery reforms. Public defenders worry about reverting to a time when they had to fight their cases “blindfolded.”
Student performance in math and reading is still below pre-pandemic levels, according to new data — but on par with the national average.