How much did Zohran Mamdani’s call to action help Adrienne Adams’ fundraising?

New York City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams’ campaign is projecting that she will qualify for public matching funds this week, just in time to use them for the final month of the Democratic primary. Though she didn’t ask for his help, she may have her opponent, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, to thank – at least in part. 

Adams received an influx of campaign donations on the last day of the fundraising cycle after Mamdani posted a video on X on the evening of May 18 urging his supporters to contribute to her campaign. The video, which generated 830,000 views on X, coincided with the end of the latest campaign finance cycle on May 19 – a critical deadline for Adams to qualify for the city’s generous public matching program after her late entry into the race. The Campaign Finance Board is expected to officially announce whether Adams qualified on Friday.

The speaker accrued about $117,000 in donations on May 18 and 19, which was about 30% of her total fundraising since the cycle began two months prior. 

A City & State analysis of campaign finance records comparing Mamdani’s donor list to the list of people who donated to Adams on May 18 and May 19 turned up about 370 overlapping donors. (Our numbers matched those found first by this X sleuth.) Those people were the most likely to have donated in response to Mamdani’s call to action, but that list almost certainly doesn’t capture everyone who donated because they saw Mamdani’s video. Just those overlapping donors gave Adams’ campaign $18,000, and the campaign submitted roughly $14,300 of those donations for the 8-1 match with public funds. That’s about 16% of Adams’ estimated matched funds for those two days.

Eleventh hour contribution surges are not unprecedented, however. Adams’ campaign spokesperson attributed the surge to her “broad coalition building” despite not yet spending on TV ads and other fundraisers and phonecalls close to the deadline. 

“She doubled her support without spending any money, not spending a dime (on paid media), and she is building a really broad coalition better than any other candidate in this race,” said Lupe Todd-Medina. “I think we look at it more that way than look at what may or may not have transpired with respect to a social media posting,” Todd-Medina said.  

Mamdani called on his supporters to donate to Adams as all of the candidates are “running together to defeat Andrew Cuomo,” and candidates need the resources to “share that message with as many New Yorkers as possible,” he said in the X video. 

Mamdani was the first candidate to “max out” or reach the maximum fundraising limit for the 2025 mayoral primary, followed by Andrew Cuomo and Brad Lander. Mamdani did not coordinate his fundraising plea with Adams, according to Todd-Medina. Earlier in the month, Politico reported that the Assembly member backed out of talks to pool campaign funds for negative Cuomo ads to pursue his own strategy, instead spending about $100,000 on five days of ads targeting Cuomo. 

Mamdani’s efforts to raise funds for Adams plays to the strategic advantages of ranked-choice voting. Adams and fellow candidate state Sen. Zellnor Myrie have both told Black voters to support Black candidates from their neighborhoods rather than Cuomo, who currently leads the demographic at 74%, according to the most recent poll. If Adams successfully meets the threshold and is perceived as a more viable candidate for Black voters to support, it could narrow Cuomo’s margin. 

Mamdani’s team did not provide comment for this story in time for publication.  

“Adrienne is known as speaker to be very collaborative. And I think that is what even the other candidates in the race can attest to when it comes to her. She's very collaborative. She is the one that has a candidacy that is looking to unite all New Yorkers,” Todd-Medina said.

The city Campaign Finance Board will meet on Friday to review and finalize public matching fund estimates to see who meets the threshold. Until then, Adams can hold off on sending anyone flowers.