With just weeks to go before early voting in the June primary for mayor, new campaign disclosures show the Democratic field’s fundraising coalescing around five candidates — with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo advancing a juggernaut and rivals amassing resources to stand out on the ranked-choice ballot.
After a sputtering start, the disclosures filed Friday with the Campaign Finance Board show City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has experienced a surge in campaign dollars, putting her in position to likely obtain public matching funds.
Cuomo, meanwhile, got a big financial boost from well-connected fundraisers known as intermediaries — among them attorney Arthur Aidala, a longtime supporter of Mayor Eric Adams who’s now backing Cuomo, consistently the front-runner in every poll.
Speaker Adams, Cuomo, city Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and state Senator Zellnor Myrie all appear to have made the “leading contenders” cut for the second and final debate before early voting begins June 1, either by hitting at least 5% in key polls or by raising and spending at least $2.37 million.
Former Comptroller Scott Stringer and ex-Assembly member Michael Blake appear potentially eligible to qualify for the final debate based on the volume of his small donations eligible for the board’s public matching funds program, which provides $8 for every $1 raised from New Yorkers up to $250.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos does not appear to qualify under any of the criteria. THE CITY will be co-hosting that debate on June 12 with Spectrum News NY1, WNYC/Gothamist and other partners.
Mayor Eric Adams — who is skipping the primary to run as an independent in November’s general election — has meanwhile revived his stalled campaign fundraising, reeling in a significant cache of contributions following the Trump Department of Justice’s dismissal of his criminal corruption case. In the previous fundraising period, covering mid-January through mid-March, Adams managed only to raise a paltry $19,000. In the weeks since a federal judge agreed to dismiss his case, he hauled in $155,000.
He also continued his regular payments to Brianna Suggs, his campaign fundraiser whose home was raided by the FBI and who figured prominently in Adams’ indictment on bribery and campaign finance fraud charges. Through mid-May the campaign has paid her more than $460,000.
Speaker Adams entered the race late and got off to a slow start, pulling in just $126,000 in February through mid-March and failing to reach the threshold to qualify for public funds. Since then, she’s netted more than $390,000. Her campaign now claims she’s raised $300,000 in donations from 4,000 city residents that will qualify for matching funds.
She appears to have benefitted in part from Mamdani’s recent message to his supporters encouraging them to give to her campaign, since he had already raised the maximum amount he can spend under the matching funds program, nearly $8 million. It’s a tactic to take advantage of the ranked choice voting to combat Cuomo’s strong showing.
The Campaign Finance Board is set to vote on the next round of matching funds requests on Friday. Cuomo has already run into problems with the board, which awarded his campaign $1.5 million but withheld more than $620,000 over allegations that he improperly coordinated with an independent spending committee called Fix The City. Cuomo has said his campaign did nothing wrong and he will seek to obtain these funds.
In the latest round of fundraising, Cuomo has continued to win strong financial backing, outpacing his initial $1.5 million haul by pulling in nearly $2.4 million since mid-March.
He had a little help from some well-connected fundraisers who bundled multiple donations for his campaign. Aidala, who raised money for Adams in his 2021 bid for City Hall, this time around raised $10,650 for Cuomo.
Some of these money raisers are longtime Cuomo pals, including Jeffrey Sachs, for years an advisor to Cuomo on health issues, who pulled together $82,800. Public relations executive Dan Klores, another longtime friend of the former governor, raised $31,700.
Some of these well-connected rainmakers won’t help Cuomo net more public funds. Nick Spano, a former Republican state senator and now an Albany-based lobbyist, appears to have outdone all of Cuomo’s bundler pals, pulling together $117,450 in donations.
But because he’s a lobbyist, all of these donations are ineligible for a public match.
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