Abbey Laurel-Smith

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Abbey Laurel-Smith

Independent

Education

Bachelor's

Oxford Brookes University, 2000

Personal

Religion

Christian: Protestant

Profession

Artist

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Abbey Laurel-Smith (independent) ran for election for Mayor of New York. He will not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 4, 2025.

Laurel-Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Abbey Laurel-Smith earned a bachelor's degree from The University of Buckingham and Oxford Brookes University in 2000. His career experience includes working as an artist, heritage manager, and cloud banker. He has been affiliated with ChowBanQ Corp and FreshEddy Inc.

Elections

2025

See also: Mayoral election in New York, New York (2025)

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Mayor of New York

The following candidates are running in the general election for Mayor of New York on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Eric Adams (Safe&Affordable / EndAntiSemitism)
		Zohran Mamdani (D / Working Families Party)
		Curtis Sliwa (R / Protect Animals)
		Irene Estrada (Conservative Party)
		Andrew Cuomo (Fight and Deliver)
		James Walden (Integrity) (Unofficially withdrew)
	Submit photo	Joseph Hernandez (Quality of Life)
		Montell Moseley (Independent) (Write-in)
		Karen Stachel (Independent) (Write-in)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kyle Gutierrez (Independent)
• Abbey Laurel-Smith (Independent)
• Gowri Krishna (Working Families Party)
• Jean Anglade (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for Mayor of New York

Select round: Round 3 Round 2 Round 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Zohran Mamdani in round 3 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Zohran Mamdani	56.4	573,169	103,414	Advanced (3)
		Andrew Cuomo	43.6	443,229	55,852	3
		Brad Lander	0.0	0	-120,707	2
		Adrienne Adams	0.0	0	-44,359	2
		Scott Stringer	0.0	0	-17,894	2
		Zellnor Myrie	0.0	0	-10,648	2
		Whitney Tilson	0.0	0	-8,525	2
		Michael Blake	0.0	0	-4,389	2
		Jessica Ramos	0.0	0	-4,294	2
		Paperboy Prince	0.0	0	-1,628	2
		Selma Bartholomew	0.0	0	-1,505	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Zohran Mamdani	43.9	469,755	113	Advanced (3)
		Andrew Cuomo	36.2	387,377	240	3
		Brad Lander	11.3	120,707	73	2
		Adrienne Adams	4.1	44,359	167	2
		Scott Stringer	1.7	17,894	74	2
		Zellnor Myrie	1.0	10,648	55	2
		Whitney Tilson	0.8	8,525	82	2
		Michael Blake	0.4	4,389	23	2
		Jessica Ramos	0.4	4,294	21	2
		Paperboy Prince	0.2	1,628	68	2
		Selma Bartholomew	0.1	1,505	16	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Zohran Mamdani	43.8	469,642	0	Advanced (3)
		Andrew Cuomo	36.1	387,137	0	3
		Brad Lander	11.3	120,634	0	2
		Adrienne Adams	4.1	44,192	0	2
		Scott Stringer	1.7	17,820	0	2
		Zellnor Myrie	1.0	10,593	0	2
		Whitney Tilson	0.8	8,443	0	2
		Michael Blake	0.4	4,366	0	2
		Jessica Ramos	0.4	4,273	0	2
		Paperboy Prince	0.1	1,560	0	2
		Selma Bartholomew	0.1	1,489	0	2
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.1	1,581	0

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,071,730
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Deirdre Levy (D)
• Cleopatra Fitzgerald (D)
• Corinne Fisher (D)

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for Mayor of New York

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Curtis Sliwa in round 1 .

		Candidate
✔		Curtis Sliwa

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kris Lord (R)
• Joe Alny (R)
• James Manning (R)
• Gonzalo Duran (R)
• Naomi Coley (R)
• Fátimazöhra Nouinou (R)
• John Harris (R)
• Ronen Nahom (R)
• David Rem (R)
• Darren Dione Aquino (R)
• Montell Moseley (R)

Conservative Party primary election

Conservative Primary for Mayor of New York

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Irene Estrada in round 1 .

		Candidate
✔		Irene Estrada

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Working Families Party primary election

Working Families Primary for Mayor of New York

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Gowri Krishna in round 1 .

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Gowri Krishna

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Abbey Laurel-Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Laurel-Smith's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Full name is Abbey Laurel-Smith, but everyone calls me "Smithie". I am a professional artist, but now work as a cloud banker and a fintech financier. Currently, I am engaged with building "PalmPay" - a palm id/screening payment platform that is aimed at defeating rampant shoplifting, theft, all kinds of petty crimes, terrorism as well as identity fraud. I grew up around Columbia University area in the Upper West side of New York City.

My main goal - as at now, is to use the full power of blockchain to put the city of New York on a solid digital economical footprint. Make the city of New York safe, secure and sustainable by: - bringing down hyper inflated cost of living by slashing rent and rates by 30% for all New Yorkers'. - make sure retirees are not taxed on their retired income. - aggressively tackle homelessness, vagrancy, petty thefts and crimes on our streets. - set up a citywide agritectural initiative, so we could grow 30% of food and drinks we consume in the city. - adjust payroll to make way for universal healthcare/insurance trust that will fund itself outside city's budget. - adjust zoning law to make way for affordable housing as well as freeze rampant development in Manhattan.

- use citywide public works/projects to energize communities outside Manhattan.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Put New Yorkers' first in all things and in every thing.

  Protect family budgets by reducing rent and rates by 30%, so New Yorkers' could once again learn to save, loan cash to banks and help bring down interest rates, as well as having a little extra to pay for after school tuition for their kids. Re-zone some strictly commercial areas, to make way for affordable housing, refurbishment jobs, new stream of revenue for landlords and the city.

  Enact city wide public/community development projects as a way to create jobs, new businesses, new wealth and a source of income for the next generation.
• Cancel congestion charge - so we don't have to be conditioned to pay to go to work. We are not parolees and should in no way be treated as such. Fix transport system in the city by bringing back a network of tramway system in all the five boroughs rather than waste time and money on digging expensive subway tunnels. Tramways are greener, quieter, cheaper to set up, requires little or low maintenance, plus it offers a better way to see the city. Work on alternative energy sources like building waste burning furnaces to provide electricity for the city. Build turbines to be driven by currents in areas where we have constant ocean waves all year round.
• Bring much needed dignity and respect to the NYPD, the FDNY, city workers, union workers, taxi cab workers and air port workers. Robustly fund our education system by reducing the interest of private donors, groups and trust funders.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Tackle criminal justice system by charting a pathway to jobs, education, training, homeownership and other opportunities that has been denied those native New Yorkers' with DUI, DWI and other violations on their ID's and licenses.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Vice Admiral Thomas Cochrane and General Ulysses Grant for their simple and direct focus on duty above anything else..

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

None comes to mind.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Be honest, be humble, be open to new ideas, listen to the will of the people.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am very creative, adaptive and focused.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

General welfare of the city as the city's first executive officer. The well being of the city's residents as a policy maker, and enforcement of legal processes and mandates as a lead officer of the court, because New York and the five boroughs is not only a chartered city, it is also a county.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'd love to be remembered as the Mayor who turned the city around by making it safe, secure and sustainable for the generation coming up behind us.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Watching Berlin Wall being torn apart. I was twenty six then.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Professional artist and heritage manager for almost forty years now.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The English history

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Shrek

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

The swan lake.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Afraid of being bored and not having something to do.

A mayor is a leader in his or her city. What does that mean to you?

It means the Mayor is responsible for advocating and for putting forward policies and administrative decisions that impact lives and well being of the general public.

If the mayor in your city is a member of the city council and there's a city manager appointed to handle the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe should be the mayor's top priority in office?

Following up on policies and legislations that align with city's long term development, vision and goals - especially in areas where the city, the state, other states as well as the federal government is concerned.

If the mayor in your city is not a member of the city council and oversees the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor and city council?

The Mayor is the chief executive in charge of smoothening relations with the public, city departments, other states and the feds whilst the city council is the legislative arm of the city responsible for ordinances, land use and passing city budgets. Both have a working relationship because the Mayor is responsible for making sure that certain policies formulated and adopted by the city council are in the best interest of the city's public.

What do you love most about your city?

It's non-static but always evolving character.

What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Affordable housing or lack of it - with or without green materials. Climate change. Rising sea level. Mental health issues. Homelessness. Aging infrastructure. Public transport issues. Economic disparity. Job and joblessness. Public safety. Quality education and Extremely high cost of living.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?

Relationship would be most ideal if there is a clearly defined line of authority in the areas of transport, funding, investment in energy infrastructure, economic development and public engagements on classroom policies and feedback on the effectiveness of public programs. But lines are blurry. It's hard to know who is calling the shot between city and state.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the federal government?

An ideal relationship is most beneficial to all in the city, it the city and the federal government are aligned together in the areas of politics, economics, culture and even religiosity. But that is tricky because New York City has a fast changing demographic make up of city residents - many of whom have never heard of the constitution talk less of knowing anything about New York city's charter. This alone makes conservatives out of the federal governing body.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Use to live directly next to a burial ground with my girlfriend when I was a student. And she's fond of paging me "miss you Smithie, wish you were here!" any time she gets home before me.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor's office and law enforcement?

The Mayor in New York City doesn't have a given Police power, but the office has the power of a Magistrate. This puts the Mayor's spoil choice of political appointees at loggerheads with who controls the law enforcement department, since the Mayor - at the end of the day is also directly responsible for executing legal processes and mandates issued by the state and city courts.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

ReBuildUSAtoday-HPAC, ReBuildNewYorkCity, The Know-Nothing Party and The PilGrims Alliance Party of America

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I believe it is important for a Mayor or any elected official to make sure public funds are well managed, well administered to, and used for what they were highlighted for. Being transparent - in my opinion, is the best way for the Mayor to make sure his or her administration is responsible to the electorate they are supposed to be serving.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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