Cuomo raises piles of cash, racing to catch up with rivals in NYC mayoral race

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo posted a commanding haul in his first mayoral campaign finance disclosure filed on Monday, while Council Speaker Adrienne Adams fell short of the thresholds to qualify for the city’s generous matching program.

As the latest entrants to the mayoral field, Cuomo and Speaker Adams had to hustle to compete with their competitors’ existing sums. They reported vastly different results on Monday, with Cuomo raising $1.5 million in less than two weeks, roughly 12 times the $128,000 Adams raised during her five days in the race.

Both candidates were hoping to reach the Campaign Finance Board’s dual thresholds to unlock the city’s $8-to-$1 matching funds for next month’s payment date, which required them to raise at least $250,000 from 1,000 city donors by last Thursday. Only Cuomo is on pace to qualify, claiming $332,350 of his total haul for the match.

“I’ve been humbled by the depth and breadth of the outpouring of support we’ve received upon entering this race,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Matching funds could bring his campaign account to nearly $4.2 million next month, putting him on par with Mayor Eric Adams, who has not received any matching funds. But he would still likely trail other mayoral candidates, including Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander, who have had their campaigns up and running for longer.

Emails to the CFB obtained via Freedom of Information request show that the day before Cuomo announced his candidacy, his campaign was still considering whether to participate in the city’s matching funds program, which is more strictly regulated than the system governing state races.

Cuomo compliance attorney Rachael Harding wrote to the Campaign Finance Board asking questions about how to register “If campaign is undecided on matching at the moment.”

The campaign is currently listed as a matching funds program participant on the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s website. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, insisted the campaign would be participating in the program.

That means Cuomo’s fundraising will be more tightly limited than in his statewide races. Cuomo collected vast sums from deep-pocketed donors for his previous runs as governor and state attorney general.

Campaigns seeking to qualify for matching funds in the city are limited to accepting maximum donations of $2,100. According to his recent filing, longtime Cuomo funders like philanthropist Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky and attorney Joseph Belluck contributed the maximum – after donating more than $200,000 each to his previous state campaigns. The two were among at least 225 people who contributed to Cuomo’s mayoral campaign and had previously contributed to his gubernatorial campaign, according to a Gothamist analysis of his filing.

Others who maxed out to Cuomo’s mayoral campaign and contributed at least six figures to his state runs include Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty; Cuomo's longtime friend Jeffrey Sachs, a health care consultant; Laura Aswad, an opera and theater producer who is married to Belluck; and Jeffrey Gural, real-estate developer and owner of a casino in New York’s Southern Tier.

Altogether, 421 of 2,821 donors gave the maximum $2,100 contribution, with an overall average contribution of $561.

Basil Smikle, a professor at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, said he was not surprised to see Cuomo raise so much given his long-standing ties to big donors, especially considering how many candidates are running to his left.

“They like that he was a more moderating force,” Smikle said. “Does that make him the presumptive winner? No, I don’t think he’s inevitable. There’s still been a lot of conversation about why he resigned from office.”

Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment or misconduct.

And some of the more progressive candidates are proving competitive in their fundraising. So far, Mamdani has raised money from more individual donors than any other candidate in the race.

He has received donations from nearly 18,000 contributors and raised nearly $850,000 in the latest fundraising period. The campaign is filing more than $500,000 in matching claims, which could amount to a more than $4 million public funds payment next month, putting his campaign near the public funds cap for a primary.

Campaigns are capped at receiving $7 million in public matching funds for primary and general election campaigns. Candidates who launched their campaigns last year can spend $8.3 million for the primary. Candidates like Cuomo and Speaker Adams, who entered the race this year, are capped at $7.9 million.

Among the leading candidates who have been in the race, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos has continued to struggle with fundraising. Her campaign raised only $70,061 in the latest period and still has not reached the thresholds for matching funds.

Ahead of the official filing deadline, Speaker Adams’ campaign issued a memo to blunt the news that her campaign had not hit the thresholds required to qualify for matching funds.

“Approximately 60% of the Democratic primary electorate is female and 65% of Black Democratic primary voters are women. They form the energized core of Adrienne’s support,” the memo noted. “As the first Black Speaker of the City Council and a leading candidate to become New York’s first woman — and first Black woman — mayor, her election would deliver a clear rejection of Trump’s divisive politics, both for these voters and for all New Yorkers.”

But the fundraising challenges ahead of her campaign are real. Speaker Adams claimed more than $78,000 of her campaign donations for matching, which means she would need to raise an additional $172,000 from eligible donors in New York City to receive matching money.

Speaker Adams' donors included former city Schools Chancellors David Banks, who gave $250, and Carmen Farina, who gave $100. New York Attorney General Letitia James donated $175.

Only four contributors gave the $2,100 maximum, including a donation listed from the Real Estate Board of New York that will likely need to be refunded or corrected since it is not from an individual donor.

Candidates who didn’t meet targets on Monday will need to wait until May 23 to file their next disclosure statement, followed by a possible payment on May 30 for those who qualify.

Jon Campbell contributed reporting