Brad Hoylman-Sigal

New York's 27th State Senate district before 2023

On June 11, 2012, Hoylman declared his candidacy for the 27th District of the New York State Senate, running for the seat of retiring State Senator Tom Duane. He won Duane's endorsement,[24] as well as the support of numerous local politicians and unions.[25] In the Democratic primary election held on September 13, 2012, he won 68% of the vote in a three-candidate field.[26][27] Hell's Kitchen activist and bar owner Tom Greco was his closest competition, winning 24% of the vote.[28] In the general election in November he was unopposed.[29]

Hoylman won the Democratic primary and general election (with 80% of the vote) in 2014,[30] 2016 (with 96% of the vote),[31] and 2018 (with 99% of the vote).[26][32] As of 2019, Hoylman was the only openly gay member of the New York State Senate.[33]

In December 2016, Hoylman sponsored legislation known as the Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public (T.R.U.M.P.) Act, prohibiting New York State electors from voting for a presidential candidate who has not publicly released at least 5 years worth of tax returns no later than 50 days prior to a general election.[34] Lawmakers in 25 other states followed suit in producing legislation to compel presidential candidates to release their tax returns.[35] The idea was praised by the editorial board of The New York Times.[36]

After the 2018 midterm elections, Hoylman was appointed Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.[37] In the majority, Hoylman passed multiple pieces of legislation including the Child Victims Act,[38] the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act[39] (or GENDA), and a ban on so-called 'gay conversion therapy.' [33] Hoylman also sponsored the TRUST Act, which was passed by the state Senate.[40] The bill would allow certain Congressional committees to perform oversight by reviewing the New York State tax returns of senior government officials; members of Congress suggested this could allow Congressional committees to review Donald Trump's tax returns. City & State, a New York-based political news organization, characterized Hoylman as "the person behind state Senate’s progressive bills."[41]

In 2019, the Child Victims Act that Hoylman sponsored was adopted.[42] It extended New York's statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse and created a one-year lookback window within which survivors would be able to initiate claims against their abusers in cases where the statute of limitations had expired, and allowed them to bring a civil lawsuit against their abuser or institutions that enabled or protected their abuser by the age of 55 (up from the age of 23).[43] Over 9,000 lawsuits have been filed under that law, including against the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and other groups that cared for children.[44]

In early 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill, sponsored by Hoylman, to repeal New York's ban on paid gestational surrogacy. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin introduced the bill in 2012. As of the bill's passage, only two other states (Louisiana and Michigan) retained laws explicitly banning paid surrogacy.[45]

In June 2021, Mark Levine defeated Hoylman in the Democratic primary election for Manhattan Borough President.[26] Levine won by 7.4 percentage points. This was the first year that ranked-choice voting was implemented for most New York City election and primary contests.[46]

In June 2021, the New York Senate passed the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), which was sponsored by Hoylman and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal.[47] The bill failed to pass the Assembly in 2021. However, Rosenthal and Hoylman introduced the ASA again the following year.[48] This time, the legislation was enacted: it unanimously passed the Senate in April 2022, passed the Assembly on a 140–3 vote in May 2022,[49] and was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul.[50] The bill established a one-year "lookback period" that allowed adult victims of sex abuse or sex crimes to bring civil lawsuits that were previously barred due to the statute of limitations.[49]

In 2021, Hoylman asked U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, engage in oversight of the United States Center for SafeSport, and step in to ensure that SafeSport is adequately conducting investigations.[51] He referred to what he called SafeSport's failure to carry out impartial and thorough investigations and ensure the safety of athletes it is charged with protecting.[51] He highlighted serious outstanding allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual coercion, and other violent behaviors by former friends, peers, and current teammates, and an ongoing investigation, and criticized SafeSport's decision to allow fencer Alen Hadzic to Tokyo as an alternate for the 2021 U.S. Olympic fencing team.[51]

In 2021, City & State ranked Hoylman #11 on its annual list of the 100 most powerful people in Manhattan.[52]

In 2021, Hoylman proposed legislation to ban landlords convicted of criminal activity from doing business with state-chartered banks such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Signature Bank and New York Community Bank are not state banks. Steven Croman, a landlord notorious for harassing his tenants in New York, was the inspiration for this bill.[53]

In 2021, to address New York's housing crisis, Hoylman proposed legislation to remove a number of zoning regulations in New York that he viewed as onerous. The legislation would eliminate parking requirements; prohibit localities from requiring large lot sizes for homes; and allow for the construction of up to four housing units on lots that were previously exclusively zoned for single-family housing.[54]

In 2023, Hoylman became the New York State Senator for the 47th district, which was redistricted from the 27th district. While Hoylman's old district included Chelsea, Midtown, and the East Village, up to north of Columbus Circle, the new and more compact 47th district excluded the East Side, and covered the West Side, from Chelsea through the Upper West Side.[55]