Five Takeaways From Our Reporting on the Bronx Democratic Party

In the Bronx, Democrats lose elections to Republicans about as often as the Yankees miss the playoffs. So why is the Bronx Democratic Party suddenly smashing fundraising records?

Earlier this week, New York Focus examined the party’s eye-popping $812,000 haul over the final six months of 2025. Here are five key takeaways.

1. THE PARTY IS RAISING UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNTS

The Bronx Democrats received $250,000 from Airbnb, $100,000 from Uber, and $100,000 from the state Laborers’ PAC. Those are the three largest donations to any Democratic party “housekeeping” account in the state’s most populous counties, according to online records that go back more than two decades.

Housekeeping accounts can take donations of any size, but they must be spent on “party-building” activities. Good government groups have long criticized the accounts as a way for special interests to get around donation limits and curry favor with politicians.

Airbnb did not respond to questions. Uber said its donation was to support the party’s role in supporting candidates focused on “affordability, economic opportunity, and job creation.” The Laborers’ PAC said its donation “reflects the borough’s emergence as a major development hub — and the need for leadership that backs the union construction industry.”

2. SENATOR JAMAAL BAILEY, THE PARTY’S CHAIR, IS A RISING STAR

Before Carl Heastie became one of the three most powerful people in Albany as Assembly speaker, he chaired the Bronx Democratic Party. His protégé, Senator Jamaal Bailey, is the party’s current chair — and may be in line for a similar ascension.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins will reach the end of an eight-year term limit for her position in December, though the rules could easily be amended to allow her to stay on longer.

In an eventual race to succeed Stewart-Cousins, Bailey would have the same built-in advantages that helped Heastie win an internal battle in 2015 to become Assembly speaker while serving as Bronx Democratic Party chair. Bailey would have a bloc of votes among Bronx senators and could lean on Bronx Democrats’ longstanding alliance with the Queens Democratic Party.

If Bailey led the Senate while Heastie led the Assembly, it would mark an unprecedented concentration of power in the Bronx Democratic Party.

3. PARTY OPERATIVES LOBBY BRONX LAWMAKERS FOR MAJOR DONORS

Jason Laidley, founder of the political consulting and lobbying firm London House, is a close friend of Bailey’s and stands to benefit from his rise. Laidley is a campaign consultant for Bailey and London House has also been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in once-hidden consulting fees by the party.

Arianna Collado, a lobbyist at London House, was paid nearly $50,000 over the last six months to run the party’s day-to-day operations as executive director. The party housekeeping account Collado helps oversee spent $440,000 over the period on expenses including a Netflix account and a number of sizable dining tabs. New York Focus sent questions to Bailey, Laidley, and Collado but received no responses.

London House employees are paid to run the day-to-day operations of the Bronx Democratic Party, an organization that helps make or break local politicians’ political fortunes. They’re also paid by clients to lobby those same Bronx lawmakers on pressing government business. This unusual arrangement allows them to potentially benefit personally from some of the donations they helped secure.

4. LONDON HOUSE HAS TIES TO CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER JULIE MENIN

When Airbnb donated $250,000 to the Bronx Democrats last September, London House — Airbnb’s lobbying firm — was in the midst of a major push in the New York City Council to roll back restrictions on short-term rentals in the city.

London House lobbied five Bronx members of the City Council on two proposals pushed by Airbnb, including one that would significantly soften the restrictions. Airbnb’s push gained traction but ultimately failed.

Since the bill’s defeat, Julie Menin has assumed the top position in the City Council, and Collado and Laidley were part of a core group of supporters and advisors. So was US Representative Gregory Meeks, the chair of the Queens Democratic Party, which teamed with the Bronx Democrats’ leadership to make Menin speaker.

Meeks is also Jason Laidley’s father-in-law, family ties that have further cemented the longstanding alliance between Queens and the Bronx and expanded London House’s sphere of influence.

Airbnb has since hired a lobbying firm founded by Ebony Meeks-Laidley — Meeks’s daughter and Jason Laidley’s wife. That means both members of the Bronx power couple could push Airbnb’s agenda before a speaker their family helped seat.

5. OTHER DONORS TO THE PARTY ARE CLIENTS OF LONDON HOUSE

Other Laidley clients who have donated to the Bronx Democrats have their eyes trained on Albany, where Bailey chairs the Senate Insurance Committee.

The car-sharing rental company Turo donated $10,000 to the party late last year, and its director of government affairs, Kenny Montilla, contributed another $20,000.

Before the donations, Bailey co-sponsored a bill dramatically decreasing insurance liability requirements for peer-to-peer car sharing companies like Turo, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law in December.

After the donations, Montilla reported lobbying Bailey on a bill the senator himself introduced in February. It would significantly increase liability coverage requirements for traditional car rental companies — Turo’s competitors.

Uber, which donated $100,000 to the Bronx Democrats last year, is spending millions to lobby for Hochul’s controversial budget proposal to reduce auto accident payouts.

Uber isn’t a London House client. But two days after the Senate Democrats released a budget proposal that excluded the proposal, an Uber-funded lobbying group hired Ebony Meeks-Laidley. She declined to answer questions about whether she’d now lobby Bailey.

Bailey has been publicly skeptical of Uber’s main Albany lobbying push this session, but did introduce legislation in January that benefits Uber by dramatically easing liability limits for car-sharing companies.