In 1978, Albanese ran for
New York State Assembly in the
50th district, losing 44.25% to 55.75% to Republican Florence Sullivan. Four years later, he ran for City Council and defeated
Angelo J. Arculeo 51.44% to 48.57%. Arculeo was a 21-year incumbent and Republican-Conservative Minority Leader. Albanese won reelection four times and represented the
43rd district in the City Council until 1997, when he became a candidate for
Mayor of New York City. He also initiated legislation requiring police to publish response times to emergency calls and led a successful effort to update the City's antiquated
9-1-1 system. Despite objections from Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, Albanese passed the New York City Living Wage Bill in 1996, which "required some city contractors to pay higher minimum wages to their employees." He was also the original sponsor of a Campaign Finance Reform Bill, stating that "If the present system stays in place, you will continue to have a city run for a few wealthy interests and by big business." In 2008, he was part of then-Senator
Barack Obama's New York delegation to the
Democratic National Convention. On December 14, 2012, Albanese opened a campaign for mayor in the
2013 New York City mayoral election. He placed eighth out of nine candidates in the Democratic Party primary, receiving 0.9% of the vote. Albanese again ran for mayor in the
2017 New York City mayoral election. He finished second in the Democratic primary with approximately 15% of the vote, but secured the
Reform Party's nomination and appeared on the general election ballot where he placed third behind incumbent
Bill de Blasio and eventual Republican Congresswoman
Nicole Malliotakis. Albanese became the Democratic candidate for a City Council seat representing Staten Island in 2021, but conceded defeat to Republican
David Carr. ==References==