An election was held on November 5, 1989 to elect the New York City Public Advocate, an office created for this election following reforms to the city charter which held some of the devolved powers of the defunct office of New York City Council President. Democratic incumbent City Council President Andrew Stein initially did not seek re-election to the office, opting instead to challenge incumbent mayor David Dinkins in the Democratic primary. However, he dropped out of the mayoral race and ran for Public Advocate before withdrawing from that race, too. Mark Green won the Democratic primary over a large field led by Harlem state senator David A. Paterson.