NEW YORK — Democratic city comptroller candidate Brian Benjamin is out with his first advertisement of the campaign, focusing on police reform.

 

 

In the ad, Benjamin is seen walking through Harlem, the community he currently represents in the New York State Senate. He promises to audit the NYPD budget as comptroller and investigate 20,000 claims of police misconduct.

“Because Brian Benjamin will be a Comptroller who holds police accountable to all of us,” a narrator says at the end of the 30 second spot.

Benjamin is also rolling out the endorsement of Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died during an encounter with police in 2014. Carr has already endorsed candidate Ray McGuire in the race for mayor.

Benjamin worked closely with Carr last year to pass a bill in the state Senate making the use of chokeholds a felony. Garner was placed in a chokehold by police shortly before he lost his life.

A poll last month by NY1 and Ipsos showed that half of all voters haven’t yet made up their minds in the race for Comptroller, but City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is leading the pack. He was the only comptroller candidate to poll in double digits.

The Democratic primary is June 22.

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