Lander Hires Alison Hirsh to be Campaign Manager for Mayoral Campaign

NEW YORK - Brad Lander announced today that he has hired renowned political veteran Alison Hirsh to run his campaign for Mayor of New York City. Effective December 31, 2024, Hirsh will leave her role as Chief Strategy Officer in the Office of the Comptroller to manage the campaign full time. 

“I’m thrilled to welcome Alison Hirsh onboard to manage my campaign to deliver New Yorkers the safer, more affordable, and better-run city they deserve,” Lander said. “Alison is a fierce, brilliant, experienced campaigner who knows how to win. I can’t wait for her to hit the ground running.”

“New Yorkers are fed up with a government that doesn’t deliver and Brad Lander is the candidate who brings the experience, integrity and vision to deliver a safer, more affordable city with leadership that works for all of us,” Hirsh said. ”I’m honored and so excited to get to work to help him become our next Mayor.”

Alison Hirsh brings over two decades of experience in politics and communications in the labor and progressive world. As the Chief Strategy Officer in the Comptroller’s Office, Alison oversaw agency-wide strategic planning and execution, represented the Comptroller as his trustee on the five NYC pension funds, oversaw the pension funds’ robust ESG programs, and was responsible for rebuilding and expanding the Bureau of Labor Law, developing the first Workers’ Rights Bureau in the Comptroller’s Office.  

“We’ve worked together in tough fights to win living-wage pay, good benefits, and decent working conditions for building service workers, fast-food workers, for-hire drivers, and hundreds of thousands of New York’s working families,” Lander said of Hirsh. “She’s been central to the success of our responsible investing work, working closely with the trustees of the City’s five pension funds to align around strategies that have delivered top-tier returns for our retirees and saved taxpayers $2.5 billion, while investing in affordable housing, climate solutions, and good jobs. Her political and strategic judgment, hard work, and experience winning make her the perfect person to lead this campaign.”

Prior to joining the Comptroller’s Office, Alison was Senior Advisor on Maya Wiley’s mayoral campaign, responsible for all voter contact and political strategy for the campaign.   

As Senior Advisor for Strategic Planning for Mayor Bill de Blasio, Alison oversaw the communications and press operations for the City of New York. In that role, she led the public communications strategy for the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic.  This included ongoing research to determine which messages would move people most effectively, a $60 million paid media campaign in over 24 languages, utilizing all forms of digital and traditional media to communicate with hard to reach communities. Prior to the COVID crisis, she led rebranding processes for the City’s affordable housing and education departments. 

Prior to joining City government, Hirsh spent 12 years at 32BJ SEIU, most recently as Vice President and Political Director. She led and organized campaigns up and down the east coast including the Fight for 15, Airport Workers organizing, Fair Workweek legislation and prevailing wage protections. While at 32BJ SEIU, Alison was the 2008 Ohio State Director for SEIU and Change to Win, working closely with the Obama campaign to win Ohio for President Obama. She served as the SEIU Coordinated campaign Director in both the 2012 and 2016 Presidential campaigns.  

In addition to running campaigns, Hirsh revamped the 32BJ member political program to make it one of the best in the country. She launched the 32BJ Social Justice Leadership Academy, which trained approximately 100 member political leaders each year, and spearheaded a revamp of the member communications and political program that led to record participation with 20% of members participating in at least one political volunteer opportunity in 2016. As political director, the local also tripled its annual COPE program from approximately $2 million to $6 million.   

Prior to joining 32BJ, Hirsh served as Policy & Legislative Director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Chief of Staff in the New York State Assembly.

She was raised in Baltimore, MD, and has a degree in Religion from Columbia University. 

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