Could Andrew Cuomo use his state campaign funds to run for NYC mayor?

Rumors are swirling that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be eyeing a potential run for New York City mayor. For someone long regarded as one of the strongest fundraisers in the Democratic Party – and with no shortage of money still on hand – he could bring with him a significant cash advantage. But would campaign finance laws allow Cuomo to use his nearly $8 million war chest for a New York City mayoral run? What of the other state elected officials looking to get in on city races? 

Transferring money from a state campaign into a city one is complicated – so much so that most candidates don’t even bother trying. But it is ultimately possible, according to campaign finance and election experts. The first step is to file with the city – which Cuomo has not done.

“The rules for who can contribute in the state are different than those in New York City so a whole new committee under the Campaign Finance Board would have to be opened,” election and campaign finance lawyer Jerry Goldfeder said.

After that, the law permits the transfer of funds between two committees if authorized by the candidate, but the process is both difficult and time intensive. To do so, a candidate would need to get all contributors from their state account to sign an agreement that their donation will be used for a different campaign. Given that there are different expenditure limits on the state and city level, the candidate would also need to report the costs associated with raising said donations from their state account, according to New York City campaign finance rules. Any transferred funds would not be eligible for the city’s matching funds program. They’d also be subject to the doing business limit if the contributor was listed in the city Doing Business Database at the time their contribution was made. Even if Cuomo wanted to try and transfer all of his funds, these rules would whittle down which contributions would be eligible.

The same rules would apply to other state candidates who are looking at a New York City run. There’s quite a few already. As for New York City mayoral candidates, that includes state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who has opened an exploratory committee, and even potentially state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani. There’s also Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, who is running for City Council District 2, and Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, who is running for city comptroller. Of course all of these individuals have far less in the bank than Cuomo, so the inconvenience of transferring may not be worth their time. Historically, many candidates in similar positions don’t bother. 

But back to Cuomo.

While nothing is official, Cuomo is hungry for a political comeback three years after he resigned amid a barrage of sexual harassment allegations and claims he covered up COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. Cuomo denies wrongdoing. There are signs he’s testing the waters. His campaign paid a polling firm nearly $68,000 to test his popularity earlier this year, the New York Post recently reported. He’s penned a number of op-eds about city issues in recent months. He’s started an advocacy organization aimed at quelling antisemitism and has started regularly speaking at Black churches. The list goes on.

Not being eligible for matching funds wouldn’t matter too much in Cuomo’s case. The former governor left office in August 2021 with a staggering $18 million war chest. Thanks to Cuomo’s spending on his ongoing legal challenges, that number has been carved down to about $7.9 million as of July 2024, according to recent campaign finance filings. That’s still a lot of money. To put that number in perspective, Adams’ campaign has more than $2.9 million in the bank before matching funds. Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Myrie – who’ve each announced exploratory committees – reported raising $412,000 and $326,000 respectively as of July. There’s an $8 million spending limit for the mayoral primary for candidates participating in the matching funds program.

Rich Azzopardi, a representative for Cuomo, declined to say whether Cuomo would transfer any of his funds if he decided to run for mayor. Instead, he pointed to an interview the former governor did with Bill Maher in June. “I have no current plans to make plans,” Cuomo said when asked about his political future.

It’s unlikely that Cuomo would come out and challenge New York City Mayor Eric Adams in 2025. Some of his supporters have said he’s told them as much. The mayoral field also already looks fairly crowded. But perhaps more than that, Cuomo and Adams share an overlapping base of support in the city of business leaders, labor unions and Black voters. With that being said, the ongoing federal investigation into Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign has cast at least a measure of uncertainty around the mayor’s political future. (Adams has not been accused of any wrongdoing.) Potential future developments in the investigation could create an opening for Cuomo.