New York comptroller race: DiNapoli, Hernandez have sharp differences over state's top fiscal job

ALBANY — Four-term Democratic incumbent Thomas DiNapoli and Republican challenger Joseph Hernandez have vastly different perspectives on how the state Comptroller’s Office should be run.

The comptroller is one of the most powerful offices in state government. In addition to being the state’s chief fiscal officer, the position serves as the trustee of the $300 billion pension fund and is responsible for auditing state agencies.

For the past 19 years, DiNapoli has served in that role, being elected four times after being appointed to the position in 2007 following the ouster of Alan Hevesi.

DiNapoli, 72, of Great Neck, is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines.

This year, DiNapoli survived his first Democratic primary challenge. His pitch now is very much the same as it was in the primary: his low profile and focus on consistent, steady returns for the state pension system is the best way to run the office.

"For the office that’s in charge of accountability and transparency, I think the steady hand that I've had is what's needed to navigate the challenging times we're in," he said in an interview.

Hernandez, 54, is running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines. His campaign for state comptroller is his second effort at elected office. In 2025, he ran as an independent candidate for mayor of New York City.

Hernandez, an entrepreneur who has worked in biotechnology and finance, promises to bring a more aggressive oversight role to the office and utilize a portion of the pension fund to invest in companies.

He said in an interview he wants to rein in the state’s tax-and-spend policies.

"We need to bring some sanity to not only how we manage the pension fund, but also how we run government and how we oversee the financials of the state, which are out of control," he said.

DiNapoli said if reelected he wants to help New Yorkers with the high cost of living by eliminating government waste, fighting corruption and returning lost funds to their owners.

"I've worked hard every day without drama, without rhetoric to deliver results for the people of our great state," DiNapoli said earlier this month at the only debate between the two men.

He served on the Mineola school board for 10 years and spent 20 years in the Assembly representing Nassau County, focusing on environmental, education and local fiscal issues.

Hernandez was born in Cuba and immigrated to Miami as a child. He has degrees from the University of Florida, Yale University and the University of Oxford in England.

If elected, Hernandez is proposing to bring some state pension fund investment decisions in-house to cut down on fees paid to outside firms.

He also wants to create a new team dedicated to rooting out fraud in New York.

"What we’re going to do is we're going to really focus on fraud and abuse. We think it's a massive issue," he said.

And he is pitching voters on the creation of $10 billion fund, using money from the state pension fund, to invest in companies in New York that would create more jobs and housing, echoing similar proposals DiNapoli's primary opponents made.

DiNapoli pushed back on Hernandez’s investment fund proposal, saying the state comptroller’s office does have investments in New York companies and housing.

"My big argument with what my opponents have been saying is that they put a priority on economic development or creating housing when the priority has to be on getting the return for the pension fund," he said. "We are not a substitute for what the state budget should be doing, and we're not a piggy bank for the pet projects of whoever the controller is."