Incumbent Tom DiNapoli was nominated as the Democratic Party’s pick for state comptroller at the party’s nominating convention on Friday, Feb. 6, in Syracuse.
DiNapoli will now automatically appear on the ballot in the June primary, but after 15 years in office, he is seeing his first primary challenges.
Former Kansas state Representative Raj Goyle, who moved to New York City in 2010, and non-profit CEO Drew Warshaw contested DiNapoli’s re-election.
Warshaw was the only challenger to attend the Democratic nomination and received only 10% of the vote to DiNapoli’s 90%.
“It’s an honor to once again receive the endorsement of state Democrats to be New York’s Comptroller,” DiNapoli wrote in a statement.
“Excited to be on the dream team alongside Tish James, Kathy Hochul and Adrienne Adams. We won today. We’re going to win in June. And we’re going to win in November. Because nobody is better prepared than me to protect our budget, protect our retirement fund and protect our state from Trump corruption.”
Attempts to contact Warshaw were unavailing, but City & State reported that Warshaw will petition to be put on the primary ballot.
The New York State Democratic Committee, the governing body for the state party, votes at the convention for the party’s official endorsement.
Candidates must receive at least 25% of the vote to appear on the primary ballot automatically, but if one does not reach that threshold, they can still be on the ballot if they get 15,000 registered Democrats from across the state to sign their petition.
Goyle said he chose to protest outside a federal immigration court rather than attend the convention.
In a press release, he said, “As state Democratic leaders met behind closed doors with no fanfare, I’m demanding that Tom DiNapoli stop investing New Yorkers’ pension funds in Palantir, a company that helps enable ICE’s reign of terror.”
“New Yorkers deserve better than a state comptroller who is asleep at the wheel. I am demanding Tom DiNapoli immediately freeze and divest from ICE because immigrant families will only continue to live in terror when we continue to fund ICE and its crony allies.”
DiNapoli campaign spokesman Aaron Ghitelman said the DiNapoli campaign welcomes primary challenges, which he said are essential for democracy but objected to what he called misinformation being spread by Goyle and Warshaw.
Ghitelman said Goyle is either misinformed or twisting the facts to fit a narrative around his criticism of what he says is the state’s investment in ICE.
Palantir, which has a contract to provide surveillance services to ICE, is one of many companies that the New York State Common Retirement Fund invests in, and the retirement fund is under the control of the state comptroller.
The primary will be held on June 23, 2026.
