Andrew Cuomo loses out on nearly $3M in public campaign funds, dealing major blow to bid for NYC mayor
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo was denied nearly $3 million in campaign matching funds Tuesday in his City Hall bid’s latest stumble — as socialist contender Zohran Mamdani landed the most public dollars.
A paperwork blunder by Cuomo’s campaign led to the decision by Campaign Finance Board members, who dealt a fundraising blow to the former governor’s political comeback.
The campaign sent a panicked email to supporters over the weekend, asking them to fill out last-minute forms and digitally give their signatures to ensure matching funds.
The email came with the subject line “Urgent – Action Required” and stressed, “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.”
“We need you to complete the form included in this additional email, TODAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is critical that we get these forms back as soon as possible.”
But the email evidently came too late, as board members denied Cuomo roughly $2.7 million in matching funds off $332,530 raised.
The city provides 8-to-1 matching funds for donations up to $2,150 from city residents as part of an effort to open up the field to less wealthy candidates.
“Last Friday, the campaign was informed by the campaign finance board that, due to a technical software error, contributions collected on one of our vendor platforms, NGP, were missing one of the fields required by the Campaign Finance Board, and so while we met the thresholds necessary to receive matching funds, the campaign had to remedy this technical matter,” said campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi.
“We have since fully addressed the software issue and have complied with all requirements and will be submitting the proper documentation to the Board within the one week grace period the board allows to remedy technical issues to receive our eligible matching funds on May 12.”
The Cuomo campaign – which has stressed the ex-governor’s reputation for competence – has been made several administrative stumbles this week.
First, the campaign released a typo-riddled housing plan that showed evidence of ChatGPT’s helping hand. Then, it misspelled the names of two prominent union leaders who endorsed Cuomo.
The mistakes also come as the Democratic mayoral primary increasingly looks like a two-person race between Cuomo and Mamdani, a state Assemblyman and proud Democratic Socialists of America member.
Polls consistently show Cuomo as the frontrunner, with Mamdani as a firm second-place finish in the primary. Scandal-plagued Mayor Eric Adams, whose poll numbers show him as a longshot at best, has opted to run as an independent in the general election.
Mamdani, however, by far leads the fundraising race.
Campaign Finance Board members approved enough matching money for Mamdani to have raised more than $8 million – the cap for fundraising. He can now shift from drumming up donations to spending his cash, which largely comes from small donors.
Cuomo’s campaign has raised $1.5 million without matching funds, and has a super PAC that has garnered another $2 million plus.
The board also approved matching funds for Democratic mayoral candidates city Comptroller Brad Lander, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, as well as independent challenger Jim Walden.
Lander has now raised nearly $6 million, followed by Stringer’s $4.5 million, Myrie’s $3.5 million and Walden’s $2.8 million.
Adams raised $4.4 million, but has been denied matching funds amid federal charges – which led to a now controversially dismissed corruption case – claiming he defrauded taxpayers out of $10 million in those dollars during his 2021 mayoral campaign.
The board confirmed Tuesday that Adams’ has yet to even try to claw back the public matching funds.
Beyond mayoral candidates, board members also approved matching funds for a slew of candidates, including disgraced former lawmaker and problem sexter Anthony Weiner.
Weiner got it up to the threshold for public funds and was approved for $143,000 in his comeback bid for city council.
