5 takeaways from the latest mayoral fundraising haul

It's crunch time for New York City's mayoral candidates, even if two high-profile late entrants would suggest the race is just getting started. 

With three months left to go before the primary, candidates are kicking fundraising into high gear. And those late entrants – former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams – are trying to make up for lost time. On that count, Cuomo was far more successful in the latest fundraising period. 

With matching funds yet to be awarded for the latest period – and some candidates still working on meeting the threshold to qualify for the funds – and untold outside spending still yet to come, nothing in this mayoral dogfight is set in stone.

Here’s what you should know about where the major candidates stand as of March 17.

Cuomo posts seven digits

There’s a reason other mayoral candidates have been laser-focused on Andrew Cuomo’s candidacy. After months of speculation, Cuomo officially launched his campaign on March 1.  And the former governor has not only led most polls, but raked in a whopping $1.5 million in private donations in just 13 days. That's more in private donations than any other candidate brought in for the entire two-month fundraising period between Jan. 12 and March 13.

If approved for public matching funds next month – a determination made by the city’s Campaign Finance Board – the Cuomo camp will have a war chest of roughly $4,175,000 to work with, it estimates. At that pace, the campaign isn’t expecting to have to dip into the roughly $8 million in a state campaign fund that Cuomo still has, which – though a little cumbersome – he could transfer into his city campaign account. 

Cuomo is also set up to benefit from outside spending by a political action committee called Fix the City, which is not subject to spending limits like candidates’ campaigns. The downside of being the frontrunner? A giant target on your back that attracts other outside PACs that are not so supportive.

One socialist, 16,000 donors

Cuomo’s 13-day haul was overwhelming, but no less notable is the continued momentum of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign. The Democratic socialist Assembly member took two months to bring in just over half of what Cuomo did in two weeks, but Mamdani’s roughly $845,000 haul in the most fundraising recent period is still a huge payday compared to the rest of the field, which includes more experienced politicians. Also notable from Mamdani’s campaign is the amount of interest it’s attracted. The campaign reported this week that more than 16,000 individual donors have contributed to the campaign since it launched last October. 

Eric Adams’ missing matching

A three-year headstart might not mean much when you can’t get public matching funds. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has had relatively slow fundraising periods for an incumbent, but thanks to a hefty war chest dating back to 2022, he’s still been at the front of the growing pack of candidates. The incumbent mayor posted another anemic filing on Tuesday – a day after the most recent deadline – reporting netting just under $19,000 since mid-January. (Though he reported $36,000 in donations in this period, he returned roughly $21,000 worth of donations too.) That, on top of his lack of public matching funds – the Campaign Finance Board has so far declined to approve him for the program – is cutting into that headstart. Among the Democratic candidates receiving matching funds who are now catching up to Adams’ $3 million in cash on hand is Comptroller Brad Lander, who has more than $3.7 million on hand, Mamdani, who has just under $3.7 million on hand, former comptroller Scott Stringer, who has $3 million on hand, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who has $2.4 million on hand.

Adrienne doesn’t hit matching funds threshold

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams pulled in $126,000 from over 1,100 donors during the first five days of her mayoral campaign – a solid, swift start for the late entrant but still not enough for her to qualify for public matching funds. That means she’ll have to wait at least until late May to reap the benefits of the city’s 8-to-1 program. At this point, her campaign estimates that roughly $78,000 of her first fundraising haul would be eligible for matching funds, translating to about a $624,000 payout if she qualifies. With the $200,000 she recently transferred into her mayoral campaign account from a City Council account, Speaker Adams has over $276,000 on hand two and a half months out from the June primary – much less than her fellow candidates who’ve had far longer to fundraise (with the exception of Cuomo). While it was always going to be a longshot for the speaker to qualify this month given the narrow window between her campaign launch and the March 13 filing deadline, not receiving the funds could be a setback for her campaign as she works to elevate her profile and build name recognition with voters. One family she doesn’t have to build name recognition with? The Banks. Former New York City schools Chancellor David Banks and his brother Terence Banks both donated to the mayoral rival’s campaign.

Still trailing

It’s slow going for state Sen. Jessica Ramos, who brought in just $70,000 in the most recent fundraising period, and who has yet to qualify for public matching funds. Anemic hauls will hurt Ramos’ ability to compete in the race; she’s already in the red by over $800 and still getting outspent by candidates who have been in the race as long as she has. Former Assembly Member Michael Blake, who brought in roughly $141,000 in the most recent period, still trails too without posting matching funds-worthy numbers just yet.

Update: This story has been updated to include New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ latest fundraising numbers, which the Campaign Finance Board released Tuesday.