Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has far exceeded his opponents in the New York City mayoral race in terms of fundraising.
Cuomo has $3 million in his campaign account, half of which comes from 2,704 donors and the other half from Fix the City, a super PAC formed to support his bid.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is still dealing with the fallout from being indicted on bribery and campaign finance violations in September, faces a low approval rating and has not filed his campaign finance records yet. The deadline to do so is 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
New York state Rep. Zohran Mamdani has also pulled in large numbers, raising $846,949 from 13,327 donors over the two-month filing period. He has more contributors than the rest of the field combined, signaling strong grassroots support for the Democratic socialist candidate.
Other lower-profile candidates have far less money than Cuomo.
Some of Cuomo’s donors include his taxpayer-funded defense attorneys, who represented him when facing sexual harassment allegations and a federal investigation into his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo’s lawyers, Rita Glavin, Theresa Trzaskoma, and Elkan Abramowitz, co-hosted a fundraiser for his mayoral bid, according to New York Focus. Other donors include his former top aides Melissa DeRosa, Linda Lacewell, Jeremy Creelan, and Ben Lawsky, according to Politico.
Cuomo also has support from some in the film industry, including movie director Darren Aronofsky, who benefited from New York’s film tax break. Actor Michael Imperioli also donated. He played Cuomo in the Showtime series “Escape at Dannemora.”
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month, if the Democratic primary were held now, Cuomo would receive 31% support and Adams would receive 11%. The poll found that the nine other candidates who have entered the race received single-digit support.
Twenty percent of New York City voters approve of Adams’s job as mayor, according to the poll.
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The pro-Cuomo Fix the City super PAC does not have a campaign contribution limit and has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from various companies. The super PAC also received $100,000 from SkyBridge Capital, an investment firm led by Anthony Scaramucci, one of President Donald Trump’s former communications directors.
Cuomo resigned as governor of New York in 2021 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.