2025 New York City Mayoral Election
Takeaways from NYC mayoral candidates’ latest fundraising haul
Zohran Mamdani rakes it in, Brad Lander gets a public matching boost, and Brock Pierce is still all in on Eric Adams.
Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani raised the most money in the most recent reporting cycle. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
With five months until primary day, candidates for New York City mayor are deep into the fundraising grind. The latest campaign finance filings show major candidates in the race all over the map.
Former city comptroller Scott Stringer for one no longer bears the lone distinction among his fellow mayoral challengers of qualifying for public matching funds. The Campaign Finance Board awarded City Comptroller Brad Lander nearly $3 million Wednesday through the city’s 8-to-1 taxpayer-funded public matching funds system.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams may not get to participate in the program due to concerns about his previous fundraising practices that led to a federal corruption indictment. But he’s fundraising again and still has a significant amount of money in his war chest. For anyone looking to take him on, having lots of cash on hand will be essential to compete in the crowded field – particularly as it could soon grow to encompass the well-funded former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Here’s how the major mayoral campaigns are stacking up in fundraising, five months before the primary. The latest filing period started Oct. 8 and ended Jan. 11.
Mamdani leads this period, Adams still leads the pack in private funds
As it stands today, Adams still has a slight lead in total haul – even after being denied public matching funds by the CFB – with nearly $4.4 million raised since 2022 from private donations. But Lander is on track to eclipse Adams – and has been awarded matching funds already – bringing in a total of $4.2 million when including matching funds awarded so far. Lander expects to qualify for additional matching funds based on this latest fundraising period when the CFB meets to award them next month. The nearly $1.2 million that Lander has brought in in private donations includes money that he transferred over from his campaign account to run for reelection as comptroller; more than $674,000 of those donations came from before July 30, when he announced his run for mayor.
Despite leading the pack of Adams’ challengers, Lander didn’t top the list of highest private donations in these last three months. Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who entered the race in October, has had the best three months of any candidate in the field, bringing in over $642,000 from roughly 6,500 individual donors.
The matching funds push
The city’s 8-to-1 public matching program can be a boon to candidates without a supply of megadonors. With just two major candidates qualifying for matching funds so far, other campaigns say their eyes have been on that particular prize in the most recent fundraising period.
Based on the previous fundraising period, which stretched from July to October, only Stringer and Lander have been awarded matching funds. Stringer was first approved at the CFB’s meeting last month, while Lander was approved on Wednesday. Stringer has qualified for a total of $2,157,123 in public funds so far, while Lander has qualified for $2,977,758 so far.
The CFB has yet to factor the candidates’ most recent filings, which cover fundraising from October to January, into their determination on eligibility. Those filings will be considered when the CFB next meets to award funds to eligible campaigns at their meeting next month. In the meantime, a couple campaigns – including Myrie’s and Mamdani’s – say they expect to qualify for funds at that meeting based on what they’ve now raised, though the CFB will make the final call.
Myrie touted qualifying for public funds as its main focus – and therefore achievement – in the most recent three-month fundraising period. His campaign brought in roughly $183,000 in the last three months – for a total of 647,449 in private donations – but expects to expects to more than triple that when including anticipated matching funds. Mamdani’s campaign brought in a whopping $642,000 in the last 3 months – he only launched in October – and also expects to have more than triple that with anticipated matching funds.
Outsiders look for an inside track
What’s a mayoral election without a few political outsider candidates? This year’s race has two such candidates so far who have raised serious money in a relatively short time. To really compete in the race with long-shot odds, serious money will be crucial to get on the radar of New York City voters.
Attorney Jim Walden, who is currently running as an independent candidate, raised $630,214 since launching in November. That’s more than several more established candidates in the race. Walden has not made a decision on participating in the city’s public matching funds program yet, the Daily News reported, but his current fundraising wouldn’t qualify him for that yet as he has less than half of the number of New York City donors needed to be eligible for that. He boosted his coffers with a $500,000 loan to his campaign.
Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive and longtime Democratic donor, also brought in $424,968 in just six weeks of fundraising – again, more than some candidates did in the entire most recent period from October to January. His donations came from roughly 1,400 donors, Politico reported, reflecting a higher average donation than some other candidates – Myrie, for example, has raised a total of $647,998 from roughly 3,300 donors. Tilson’s fundraising so far doesn’t put him past the threshold needed to qualify for matching funds.
Ramos picks up a little steam, but remains well behind the pack
State Sen. Jessica Ramos is behind in fundraising. Former Assembly Member Michael Blake, who entered after her and doesn’t currently hold public office, even outraised her in the past three months, with $146,084 in donations to Ramos’ $107,619.
But Ramos’ campaign noted that her fundraising pace has been on steady speed, powered by small-dollar donations from 1,500 people.
Adams gets a jolt of private funds, as public matching slips away
After a slower summer and early fall in the midst of cascading chaos at City Hall, Adams is back on the fundraising grind, bringing in $270,291 in the past three months. That places him among the top fundraisers for the latest period, but certainly not in the lead. Almost half of that is from donors outside the city. A fundraiser in Puerto Rico in early December co-hosted by crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce netted him at least $10,000 from donors with Puerto Rico addresses. That includes Pierce, who donated a combined $3,700 – above the limit for candidates participating in the public matching program. (Pierce gave Adams another $2,100 in 2023.)
Adams’ legal defense fund, a separate fundraising account, isn’t doing so hot. That received just $2,200 from two donations since October, and is roughly $900,000 in debt.
With reporting from Sahalie Donaldson.
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