Brooklyn native Khari Edwards mounts second borough president campaign
New York City’s 2025 local elections are shaping up to be fiercely competitive, with candidates already vying for donations. Such is the case for Khari Edwards, a former Brooklyn borough president (BP) candidate, who is hoping to win his second attempt at getting elected.
Edwards’s first political aspirations were launched in 2021. He ran in a crowded rank-choice voting race with more than 12 other candidates looking to replace then-Brooklyn BP and current Mayor Eric Adams. He subsequently lost to former Councilmember and Brooklyn BP Antonio Reynoso in the primary. Reynoso went on to win the general election in November 2021 with 72% of the votes.
“Looking at the borough presidency and why I ran in the first place, it’s really because our community, everywhere from Coney Island to Bushwick—they need someone who’s really going to listen to folks, pay attention to them, and kind of do the things that are needed,” said Edwards. “Current leadership, I don’t feel, really goes throughout the borough.”
Born and raised in Crown Heights, Edwards was the first vice president of color for external affairs at Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville from 2013 to 2020. After losing the election in 2021, Edwards shifted gears entirely career-wise: He found success as head of corporate and social rResponsibility at AYR Wellness Inc, a multi-state cannabis dispensary company.
“I do so much social justice and restorative justice work around cannabis,” said Edwards about his current job still being relevant to public service. “And when you come home and people are still calling you about emergency room waits, someone’s friend got shot and we’re doing another burial.”
Edwards understands that the city has struggled to establish a legal cannabis market, which has led to an underbelly of illegal smoke shops and public safety issues. He wants to improve the platform and the benefits of licensed dispensaries, especially for Black and Brown justice-impacted communities.
Edwards said he intends to highlight other issues during his campaign, such as the impact of climate change on homeowners and rezoning, creating “true affordable housing” metrics, addressing increasing property taxes and displacement rates in Black and Brown communities, analyzing housing production, potentially abolishing the tax lien sale, forging relationships with the borough’s diverse ethnic and religious communities, and highlighting Brooklyn arts and music fests.
“The key to being borough president—a Howard Goldman, Marty Markowitz, Eric Adams—[is that] you go across the borough, you’re not a district,” said Edwards. “You can’t take care of just one district; how many other folks are suffering?”
Edwards filed his first fundraising disclosure for 2025 with the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) on July 12. He has raised $68,150 in contributions from 306 individual donors and hopes to keep up the momentum into 2025, according to his campaign.
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