Airbnb Spends $100K on Bronx City Council Race

Airbnb’s local super PAC is making moves in election races in the Bronx.

Affordable New York, a political action committee affiliated with the short-term rental company, has spent $100,000 on a City Council race to replace Democrat and Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala with her chief of staff Elsie Encarnacion for the district that covers the South Bronx and East Harlem, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

But this isn’t Airbnb’s first donation in the borough’s political contests. In fact, the company has spent roughly $654,000 on local campaigns in the Bronx recently, representing more than half of its total $1.1 million political donations across the city so far this year, according to The City, which first reported the news.

That includes $186,120 for Councilmember Kevin Riley’s re-election bid against Andy King; $74,738 for Councilmember Oswald Feliz’s re-election; $99,862 for Councilmember Althea Stevens; $65,000 for Councilmember Eric Dinowitz; and $27,692 for Council Majority Leader Amanda Farias, according to The City.

In addition, Affordable New York donated $100,635 for Rafael Salamanca’s bid to replace Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, The City reported.

“Airbnb is just getting started,” Nathan Rotman, director of policy strategy for North America at Airbnb, said in a statement sent to Commercial Observer.

“We are planning additional major investments in primary and general election races across New York City in 2025 and the state in 2026 to support candidates who champion common-sense solutions that address the affordability crisis head on, promote neighborhood safety, and empower homeowners to share their homes,” Rotman added.

But some of the candidates Airbnb has thrown support behind said they don’t want it.

“We didn’t ask for this support, and the record is clear: Councilmember Eric Dinowitz has always been a steadfast supporter of tenants, not tourists — and will always be in the corner of hard-working families and seniors of the north Bronx,” Matthew Rey, a spokesperson for Dinowitz’s campaign, said in a statement sent to CO.

Spokespeople for Encarnacion, Riley, Feliz, Stevens and Farias also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Airbnb’s donations come after Riley, Salamanca, Feliz, Stevens and Ayala co-sponsored a bill in November that would allow homeowners of one- and two-family homes to use their properties as short-term rentals, one year after Local Law 18 took effect.

Local Law 18 requires short-term rental hosts on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo to register with the city as landlords and bans owners from renting out a house for less than 30 days. Lawmakers hoped the restrictions on short-term rentals would return more housing supply to renters.

After seeing more than 80 percent of its New York City listings get wiped out in a year, Airbnb announced in January it would spend $5 million on two political campaigns to elect candidates who support homesharing into city and state offices this year with hopes of overturning the law, as CO previously reported.

Ayala cannot run for re-election because of term limits, and her chief of staff Encarnacion, a first-time candidate, faces several other contenders in the Democratic primary for the seat. Other candidates include nonprofit lawyer Wilfredo López and Raymond Santana, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five.

Airbnb now plans to spend up to $10 million on City Council races this year, but it isn’t the only company dropping cash on political races. Other companies like Uber and DoorDash are also spending millions of dollars to influence the city’s Democratic primary.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.