4 takeaways from the first fundraising haul of the NYC mayor general election

Still catching your breath from the Democratic mayoral primary? New York City’s donor class hasn’t taken much of a break.

In the latest campaign finance reporting period – which stretched from the final two weeks of the Democratic primary to the first couple weeks after it – general election contenders continued to raise money, some of them quite aggressively. 

From Mayor Eric Adams’ strong haul to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s well-oiled grassroots machine, here’s what you need to know in the latest campaign finance filings. 

Eric Adams, powered by real estate, surges

Mayor Eric Adams hoped that Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary would give his reelection campaign a much-needed boost. His campaign coffers received one, bringing in the vast majority of a $1.5 million haul for this fundraising period after the primary on June 24. Adams had the best fundraising period of any of the five major candidates for mayor in November, including Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden. A significant piece of that came from the real estate industry – not just SL Green, which hosted a fundraiser for him last week and is renting his campaign office space – but also from dozens of employees at major brokerage firms including CBRE and Newmark, as well as Cushman & Wakefield. After skipping the expensive Democratic primary, Adams now has the most cash on hand of the general election candidates: roughly $4.3 million. Several major hitches for Adams’ hopes at reelection remain, including the fact that he was again denied public matching funds by the city’s Campaign Finance Board this week.

Cuomo lags post-primary

While industry rallied around Adams in this last period, Cuomo stagnated. In fairness, it was only this week that Cuomo officially announced that he would mount a real campaign for mayor in November. Still, he brought in only $2,000 and change since the primary on June 24. His total haul for the period was roughly $64,000. Cuomo now has roughly $1.2 million in the bank.

Keep an eye on IEs

The Democratic primary demonstrated in breathtaking fashion just how quickly candidate fundraising and the city’s public matching system can be overshadowed – and outspent – by independent committees. The Cuomo-aligned independent expenditure committee Fix the City spent a whopping $22.4 million in the course of the primary in support of Cuomo and against Mamdani. The donations to that PAC from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg alone totaled $8.3 million – exceeding the limit on the total amount campaigns themselves could spend in the course of the primary. Deep pocketed spenders are likely to continue to shell out for the general election, with at least one anti-Mamdani PAC looking to raise around $25 million.

While Fix the City has not publicized its plans for the general election, the committee continues to bring in money. Three donations totaling $300,000 were reported between June 26 and July 3 by Fix the City. It’s unclear whether the IE will remain strictly aligned with Cuomo – rather than spending on behalf of one of Mamdani’s other challengers, or spending just in opposition to Mamdani. “Fix The City is currently assessing the evolving situation and has yet to decide what role it intends to play in the general election,” spokesperson Liz Benjamin said in a statement.

Zohran Mamdani grassroots – and out of state – appeal

The Democratic nominee and front-runner in November’s mayoral race maintained his dominance in grassroots fundraising, bringing in more than $816,000 in donations after the primary. His total fundraising haul for the period – roughly $852,000 – came from 10,322 donors, making for an average donation size of $83. That’s much smaller than Adams’ average donation size of $935 or Cuomo’s of $209 this period.

Mamdani’s campaign also continued to attract support from addresses outside New York City, accounting for just over half of his donations. A significant portion of Adams’ donors also came from outside the city and the state. The mayor attended a fundraiser for his reelection held in Florida last week.