(Bloomberg) — Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson plans to run for mayor of New York City, joining a crowded field looking to succeed embattled Eric Adams next year.

“We need a leader who can unite New Yorkers and inspire new thinking,” he said in a letter Tuesday.

Tilson, 58, who once led the $200 million hedge fund Kase Capital Management, is active in philanthropic circles in New York. He is on the advisory board of Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Foundation and serves on the board of KIPP Academy Charter School in the South Bronx.

Tilson is just the latest potential entrant in a rapidly growing field of candidates seeking to challenge Adams in the June Democratic primary, which has expanded to include City Comptroller Brad Lander, former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos. from others.

Tilson isn’t the first Wall Street veteran to run for mayor of New York City — in 2021, former Citigroup Inc. banker Ray McGuire ran in the Democratic primary, drawing celebrity endorsements from Jay-Z and Spike Lee raised millions in private causes. contributions. But McGuire came in seventh in the primary, ultimately earning just 3% of all votes cast in the city’s electoral system.

In September, Adams became the first sitting mayor in New York City’s modern history to be indicted on federal corruption charges. Adams, a former police commissioner who was elected in 2021 on a promise to tackle then-rising crime rates, has since struggled with low ratings and an exodus of top staff.

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