Justin Brannan

Music career

Before entering politics, Justin Brannan was a hardcore punk guitarist for the bands Indecision from 1993 to 2000 and Most Precious Blood from 2000 onwards.^[1] Both bands were known for their outspoken commitment to social justice and vegetarianism. The band’s messages focused on social justice, human rights, environmentalism, relationships, individuality and espousing straight-edge views against drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex.^[7][8][9]

Indecision is widely known for their song "Hallowed be Thy Name". The song features a lyric ("For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice") written by Brannan when he was sixteen years old that fans across the world have turned into a tattoo.^[8][10] Most famously, an image of the tattoo was seen on the ribs of a 19-year-old US Army infantryman named Kyle Hockenberry being treated in a medevac helicopter following an explosion that cost him both of his legs and one arm.^[11] The photo was taken for a military newspaper and won photographer Laura Rauch an award from the Society of Professional Journalists.^{[12][11][13][8][14]} Brannan also works closely with the 9/11 Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation commemorating the heroes of 9/11 and "Building for America’s Bravest", a program that constructs Smart Homes for military returning home with devastating injuries^{[citation needed]}.

Brannan also founded the deathgrind band Caninus, known for using two dogs as vocalists.^[15]

Finance career

Brannan was a touring punk rock musician before he landed at Bear Stearns,^[16] working his way up as a clerk in their wealth management division,^[17] and working as a financier^[18] in the venture capital space raising money for start-up alternative energy companies based in Silicon Valley. He later worked as a fundraising consultant for a number of non-profit humanitarian organizations in New York City.^{[citation needed]}

City Council

In 2017, Brannan won the Democratic primary to replace Gentile in the 43rd district. Brannan won 39% of the vote in a five-way race, beating Khader El-Yateem, who garnered 31% of the vote,^[19] by 682 votes.^[20]

Brannan drew criticism from The Indypendent newspaper during the campaign for accepting certain campaign contributions from real estate interests.^[21] Contributors to Brannan's campaign included $2,000 from Sal Raziano, a senior realtor of the real estate firm Casandra Properties and Anthony Constantinople (an amount under $1,000) of Constantinople & Vallone, a lobbying firm under investigation in 2017 for accusations of conflicts of interest and payroll discrepancies at its Sports & Arts program at a Lower East Side public school.^[22] During the campaign, two of his opponent’s opponent’s employees and a third supporter of his opponent filed a complaint with the New York City Campaign Finance Board in which they accused Brannan of neglecting to disclose campaign expenses when he failed to alert election regulators that Gentile’s campaign for Brooklyn DA paid the $2,000 rent for Brannan’s campaign office; Brannan’s campaign called the claims baseless.^[23]

In the general election, Brannan won with 51% of the vote to the Republican candidate, John Quaglione's 47%. Brannan won by a slightly smaller margin in the 2021 election.

In the 2024 general election for a redrawn 47th district, Brannan defeated his Republican colleague Ari Kagan by 58 to 41 percent after they were drawn into the same district. ^[24]

2025 Comptroller campaign

Following the decision by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander to challenge incumbent Eric Adams in the 2025 Democratic primary for mayor, Brannan opened a campaign account for Comptroller.^[25][26] During the campaign, Brannan also sponsored some surveys for Public Policy Polling.^[27]

Politico declared Mark Levine the winner of the Democratic primary for City Comptroller on June 24, 2025.^[28]