Andrew Cuomo penalized $622K in NYC mayor's race for coordinating with big-money group

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo was penalized $622,056 Monday for breaking campaign finance rules by improperly coordinating with a super PAC dubbed Fix the City.

The city's Campaign Finance Board announced its decision to withhold the funds, pending the outcome of its investigation, at a hearing Monday where Cuomo was also awarded $1.5 million in public matching funds. Cuomo had missed out on previous rounds of matching funds due to a series of paperwork snafus.

Earlier this month, Cuomo’s campaign grabbed headlines for an obscure page on his campaign website called “A Message for Voters.” The page featured details on campaign strategy and polling data, noting Cuomo’s focus on the issue of antisemitism and the importance of Black and Latino voters between the ages of 40 and 55. Critics said the page represented “red-boxing,” where a campaign posts information for a super PAC in a location where only the PAC would see it.

While red-boxing is legal in federal races, it’s not permitted by the Campaign Finance Board. Candidates are prohibited from directly sending messages to political action committees that can spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose a candidate's campaign.

“ CFB rules state that the board may determine an expenditure was not independent if the entity making the expenditure utilized strategic information or data that has been made publicly available by the candidate in a manner which the candidate knew or should have known would facilitate such utilization,” Richard Davis, a board member, said at the hearing, reading from a prepared statement.

He said red-boxing undercuts “New York City’s strict spending and coordination limits which are in place to ensure voters, not big money, decide elections.”

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi indicated the campaign would challenge the board's fine.

“Our campaign has operated in full compliance with the campaign finance laws and rules, and everything on our website was reviewed and approved by our legal team in advance of publication — as I'm sure Scott Stringer, Justin Brannan and others did when they launched similar pages," he said in a statement. "We look forward to making that clear when we respond to the Board’s preliminary ruling and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled."

Azzopardi added: "In the meantime our campaign's momentum continues unabated: today we receive $1.5 million on top of the over $3.5 million we have raised in 71 days and are gratified to have the broadest coalition of supporters, and lead in every poll with voters in every borough, gender, race and ethnicity.”

The board’s investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by state Sen. and mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie, who raised concerns about illegal coordination between Cuomo’s campaign and Fix the City.

“The Campaign Finance Board just confirmed what we’ve known all along: Andrew Cuomo is for sale,” Myrie said in a statement. “While Donald Trump works to dismantle democracy on the national stage, Cuomo and his billionaire backers are trying to buy City Hall.”

Public records show the Fix the City committee has currently raised more than $7 million in contributions, including from large real estate developers and hedge fund executives. On Monday, Politico reported that DoorDash made a $1 million donation to the pro-Cuomo super PAC.

Cuomo continues to lead in the polls despite a series of stumbles. In April, his campaign blamed a software error for its failure to collect required information from donors, resulting in him being denied matching funds. Records obtained by Gothamist through a Freedom of Information Law request showed a frantic effort by Cuomo’s compliance team to collect the missing information from donors to qualify for Monday’s partial payment.

The Cuomo campaign has faced criticism for using ChatGPT to write portions of his housing policy, misspelling the names of key union officials when announcing an endorsement and routinely ducking mayoral forums and other public events.

The Campaign Finance Board on Monday voted to reject a petition from Mayor Eric Adams’ 2025 campaign seeking to overturn the board's decision to withhold matching funds. The board had already informed the campaign last month that it would not qualify for additional public payments, citing legal cases connected to his campaign, and filings in the mayor’s corruption case, which was dismissed.

“We respectfully disagree with the Campaign Finance Board’s decision and remain deeply concerned that they are holding back funds from a campaign that is in full compliance and is delivering for the people of New York City," Adams campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro said. He added that the campaign was "exploring all legal options."

In a separate vote by the board, mayoral candidate Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund manager, received nearly $2 million in matching funds.

That infusion of public funds gives Tilson, who was polling at 0% last month, an advantage over some other candidates already serving in elected office, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and state Sen. Jessica Ramos of Queens. Neither Adams nor Ramos have qualified yet for matching funds.

The next opportunity for candidates to receive public funds will come on May 30.

New York City’s campaign finance program matches contributions $8-to-$1 for the first $250 of eligible donations, offering candidates an opportunity to significantly boost their campaign coffers. But candidates must first hit two thresholds, raising at least $250,000 from 1,000 donors in the city, as well as comply with the rules of the program.

This story and headline have been updated to clarify the Campaign Finance Board is withholding $622,056 pending the outcome of its investigation.