Mayoral aspirant and former governor Andrew Cuomo was denied more than $2 million in public matching campaign funds Tuesday, which could hurt his primary election chances two months before the June primary.
The former governor was conspicuously not on the list of mayoral candidates that will receive millions of dollars in 8-to-1 public matches of the small-dollar donations they raised on their own from city residents, the Campaign Finance Board revealed at their public meeting Tuesday morning.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi blamed the withholding on a technical error and noted the campaign raised $1.5 million in 13 days.
“Last Friday, the campaign was informed by the Campaign Finance Board that, due to a technical software error, contributions collected on one of our vendor platforms, NGP, were missing one of the fields required by the Campaign Finance Board, and so while we met the thresholds necessary to receive matching funds, the campaign had to remedy this technical matter,” he said in a text message to THE CITY. He said they expect to fix the issues and receive eligible funds at the next CFB meeting on May 12 — just a month before early voting begins on June 14.
On Sunday, the Cuomo campaign sent an frantic email to its entire mailing list, not just donors, with the subject line, “Urgent – Action Required” — requesting additional documentation from donors to qualify for matching funds.
“THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT,” the email read in all caps, adding later that further documentation they planned to send should be filled out “TODAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.”
Cuomo, who was ousted from his job as governor in August 2021 after an investigation found he harassed at least 11 women, has led nearly every poll for the upcoming Democratic mayoral election.
He’s received the endorsements of top unions, most recently 32BJ SEIU and Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and several local politicians.
His campaign is also getting a major financial boost from the super political action committee Fix the City, where billionaire Trump supporter Bill Ackman just donated $250,000. Super PACs can support a candidate, but cannot officially coordinate with their campaign.
Fix the City, which is running television ads for Cuomo, has raised more than $4.8 million as of Tuesday, records show, but so far has only spent $645,000.
He also has more than $8 million in his state fundraising account, but it’s a complicated process to use that for the citywide race.
The Cuomo campaign was also criticized this week after releasing a housing plan that apparently utilized ChatGPT — and was still filled with bad grammar and misspellings, Hell Gate reported.
The campaign also misspelled the names of the head of 32BJ and HTC after announcing the endorsements.
On Tuesday, the board approved payments to five other candidates running for mayor.
Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani led the pack and was awarded $3,832,987 in funds, with Jim Walden, an independent, receiving $1,903,504. Comptroller Brad Lander $861,831, Scott Stringer $696,942, and State Sen. Zellnor Myrie $527,147.
The city’s Campaign Finance Board has repeatedly denied requests from the now-independent Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign for matching funds, citing missing paperwork and documentation.
Former assemblymember Michael Blake and state Sen. Jessica Ramos also did not receive matching funds. Neither met the matching funds threshold, and Blake was also cited for other issues including not submitting required paperwork.
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