Two leading candidates in the 2021 race for mayor of New York City are already beginning their ground game.

Corey Johnson, the speaker of the New York City Council, and Scott M. Stringer, the city’s comptroller, will soon begin hosting fund-raising house parties, seeking to plant a stake in what is certain to be a prolonged race for City Hall.

Neither Mr. Johnson nor Mr. Stringer have formally declared their candidacies, but the small, intimate gatherings were designed with the city’s new campaign finance rules — which increase the power of small donations — in mind.

Mr. Johnson said that a year ago he had no plans to undertake an underdog run for mayor in 2021.

“I love this city. I love New York,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview with The New York Times.

“I don’t want to be public advocate. I don’t want to be comptroller. And this is potentially about a run for mayor,” he said. “You have to be prepared and that’s why I’m preparing.”

Mr. Johnson, 36, vowed to go further than any candidate ever to run for mayor in restricting the sorts of money that fuels his campaign. He said he would not take donations of more than $250 — meaning he would need at least 7,286 contributors to reach the maximum spending limit. He also said that he would not take money from corporate political action committees or from anyone who worked for a lobbying or real estate development company. (During his 20s, Mr. Johnson once worked at a real estate firm.)

“I think this is the future of the Democratic Party,” he said. “I think a lot of anxiety in New York City about gentrification and over development and people don’t like any appearance of influence based off of contributions. This is a way to totally eliminate that.”

He said his first house party would likely take place in March.

Mr. Stringer, 58, is in his final term as comptroller. Without yet declaring his candidacy, he spoke in broad terms about a 2021 campaign that would engage New Yorkers “in living rooms throughout the city to have the kinds of conversations that we need to have about the future of New York City.”

He said in an interview that the house parties — what he called “thought-raisers” — would focus on issues, and that he would “ask at the end of the night that people throw a couple of dollars into the tin.” Mr. Stringer’s campaign said an email invitation sent Friday, which also asked for volunteers to host the gatherings, had reached 85,000 people.

“These thought-raisers are not just going to fund our 2021 race,” Mr. Stringer said. “It’s going to elevate the conversation that we should be having in this city.”

The 2021 race does have a formally declared candidate — the Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr. — and others have been more or less campaigning behind the scenes, including the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams.

The expected large field to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio, who must step down because of term limits, will likely include the winner of next month’s special election for New York City public advocate. With the primary election more than two years away, others will also have plenty of time to jump in.

The wide-open contest bears certain similarities to the 2013 race, in which Mr. de Blasio, then the public advocate, survived a freewheeling contest punctuated by heavy spending by horse carriage opponents and the second implosion of the former congressman Anthony Weiner.

As his first major push in a second term, Mr. de Blasio spearheaded changes to the City Charter that lowered maximum contributions to $2,000 from $5,100, but increased the power of small-dollar donations, which are now matched 8-to-1 for the first $250 given to a campaign by a resident of New York City.

Candidates in 2021 can run under the new system, or stay in the old one. They have until July to decide, though Mr. Johnson and Mr. Stringer said they have already decided on the new one.

A spokesman for Mr. Adams and a spokeswoman for Mr. Diaz said their candidates were still evaluating the new rules.

Mr. Diaz, Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer all have significantly more campaign cash in their accounts than Mr. Johnson, who did not raise money during the last fund-raising period.

“With the great matching system we have in New York City you can actually raise money from small donors,” Mr. Johnson said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but it’s still doable.”

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