Heard Around Town
Latest haul: Mamdani posts $1 million+ in private donations
The Democratic nominee for mayor continues to rake it in.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani relaunched his volunteer field campaign in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, on Aug. 17, sending more than 2000 volunteers to knock doors, the campaign said. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Democratic nominee for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is posting a juggernaut fundraising haul this week. During the latest cycle, Mamdani raised over $1 million in private donations, more than he raised in any previous period, his campaign exclusively told City & State ahead of the public filing disclosure. On July 14, the day former Gov. Andrew Cuomo relaunched his independent campaign on X, Mamdani replied with a fundraising link that quickly outstripped Cuomo’s video post in likes (175,000 more) and retweets. The Mamdani campaign raised over $150,000 that day alone, they said.
The total haul came from 8,628 donors who gave between July 12 and Aug. 18. The average donation was $122, though the campaign said half of the donations it received were less than $25. The campaign is expecting about $280,000 to be eligible for the city’s 8-to-1 public matching funds program, coming to more than $2 million in matching funds this cycle. Only donations from city residents of up to $250 are matchable, and the city Campaign Finance Board makes the ultimate determination on awarding matching funds. The spending limit in the general election is about $8 million for the campaigns, though many independent political action committees not subject to spending limits are already getting involved.
Mamdani saw a spike in donations in the previous cycle as well, spurred by his 12-point victory over Cuomo, who had been the front-runner in the June Democratic primary. Cuomo has been hitting the Hamptons hard for fundraisers since relaunching as an independent candidate. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, also running as an independent, this week sued the Campaign Finance Board a second time for withholding public matching funds from his reelection campaign. The board has denied Adams’ requests for matching funds since he was indicted on federal corruption charges that included fundraising fraud. Adams denies wrongdoing, and the charges were dropped after President Donald Trump took office. Republican candidates Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden have both secured matching funds.
“With over 50,000 volunteers, thousands of small-dollar donors, and genuine enthusiasm for Zohran’s vision for a more affordable New York City, our momentum is surging,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement.