Eric Adams denied public campaign funds for reelection bid

New York City Mayor Eric Adams will not receive millions of dollars in public matching funds  this month and potentially not at all, striking a weighty blow to his reelection campaign, the Campaign Finance Board ruled Monday morning.

“After thoroughly reviewing all available information, including the details of the indictment of Mayor Adams, the board has determined that there is reason to believe the Adams campaign has engaged in conduct detrimental to the matching funds program in violation of law, including the Campaign Finance Act and board rules,” Campaign Finance Board Chair Frederick Schaffer said at Monday’s meeting. “His campaign also failed to provide documents and information requested by the board. Accordingly, Mayor Adams’ campaign for reelection has failed to demonstrate eligibility for public funds payment at this time.”

Schaffer said that candidates who were denied payments on Monday have the right to appeal the decision to deny funds. Vito Pitta, Adams’ campaign attorney, called the ruling “disappointing” in a statement. “We will continue to work with the board to address any issues so that funds can be appropriately disbursed,” Pitta wrote. “The mayor’s campaign continues to have far more resources than his opponents’, and we are very confident we will have the support we need to spend the maximum amount allowable in the upcoming primary.”

The long-awaited decision comes after months of speculation that the mayor’s federal indictment – and other extenuating issues related to his 2021 campaign – would disqualify him from receiving as much as $4 million in public matching funds. Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was the only mayoral candidate to receive funds Monday after a filing error deemed Comptroller Brad Lander – the challenger who has the most money in his account – ineligible for the first payment.

Stringer celebrated the news immediately following the board vote. “This is a critical moment for our campaign after raising the most money of any mayoral candidate in the last 10 months and relying on thousands of low dollar donors to fuel our message,” Stringer told City & State. “We did it the right way. We actually knew how to file our paperwork,” he added – a dig at Lander.

Dec. 16 was the first in a string of dates where CFB will vote to release public matching funds for qualifying candidates throughout the 2025 election cycle. 

These funds – made available through the city’s taxpayer-funded 8-to-1 public matching funds system – can spell the difference between victory and defeat for candidates. Fundraising isn’t everything, but Adams received more than $10 million in public funds during his election bid in 2021, accounting for over half of his spending in that cycle. 

This time around, Adams has brought in more than $4 million in donations for his reelection bid – though very little since his indictment – and had more than $3 million on hand as of mid-October, the last campaign finance filing deadline. Fundraising is a key element to mounting a successful campaign in a competitive race where get-out-the-vote efforts and advertising are essential. It’s also highly time-consuming – something receiving public matching funds can help cut down on. But while the denial puts Adams at a disadvantage in a field rife with competitive candidates, the decision certainly isn’t guaranteed to strike a fatal blow to his 2025 campaign either.

“He can still run a campaign for mayor with the money that he has – especially because he’s in the public eye every single day as the incumbent mayor,” said Sarah Steiner, a New York City attorney who specializes in election law. “The damage would be more reputational.” 

If Adams opts out of the matching funds program, he would no longer be beholden to CFB rules that prevent candidates from accepting a payment maximum of $2,100 per donor. Nor would he be subject to spending caps. In an indication the mayor may have anticipated Monday’s CFB ruling, he attended a campaign fundraiser in Puerto Rico last week in which guests were asked to donate a maximum of $3,700, Politico New York recently reported. 

The CFB’s decision is not without precedent. Roughly a decade ago, members voted to withhold $3.5 million in public matching funds from John Liu’s 2013 mayoral campaign after two of his campaign staff were convicted in a straw-donor scandal. Liu, at one point a leading mayoral candidate, came in fourth place in the Democratic primary, but he didn’t have the power of incumbency like Adams – and it also wasn’t a death knell to the state senator’s political career. 

Steiner noted that the grounds on which CFB denied Adams’ 2025 campaign matching funds “are so far beyond” that which led to the denial of Liu’s funds. “I don’t see how they could possibly have made any other decision,” Steiner said of Adams.

Candidates for mayor, and all city offices, will file their next campaign finance report on January 15.

City Council Member Lincoln Restler, who has for months urged CFB to disqualify Adams from receiving matching funds, lauded the board for holding the mayor accountable. 

“This is a good day for the matching funds program in New York City – the reputation and credibility of this program remains intact,” Restler said. “There is accountability against a candidate who consistently disregarded the rules of the program and it sends a strong message to future candidates who lack the best intentions.”