Heard Around Town
Curtis Sliwa reports his best fundraising period yet
The Republican nominee’s campaign is trying to make the mayoral race “Mamdani vs. Sliwa” though Sliwa is still far behind Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and behind independent candidate Andrew Cuomo in polls.
New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa is projecting his strongest fundraising stretch so far, reporting more than $421,000 raised in the last filing period.
The Republican previously had raised about $4.2 million for his campaign, including city matching funds, and a spokesperson said they hope to reach the $8 million general election fundraising limit by the end of the month. The latest filing is set to bring his total private contributions to just over $1.3 million from a little more than 14,300 contributors, according to numbers shared with City & State ahead of Friday’s filing deadline. The fundraising period spanned from Aug. 19 to Sept. 29, the day after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams announced he would no longer seek reelection.
With three main candidates in the race – Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Sliwa – the Republican nominee’s campaign is hoping this fundraising haul will help shift the narrative from “Mamdani vs. Cuomo” (who are polling in that order) to “Mamdani vs. Sliwa.” Mamdani has maintained a dominant fundraising lead throughout the race. He raised more than a million dollars in the last reporting period, and his campaign “maxed out” and stopped fundraising in early September, a full two months before Election Day.
“Everyone is pegging Cuomo as second. We all know he isn’t placing second in this race,” Sliwa campaign spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna wrote in a text to City & State. “This is Curtis vs Mamdani. And the press will finally realize that soon.”
Neither Mamdani’s nor Cuomo’s campaign shared fundraising numbers ahead of Friday’s deadline. Mamdani had $6.8 million on hand as of the last filing period in August. Cuomo has trailed far behind Mamdani in public matching funds, but had nearly $1.6 million in his campaign account and is expected to benefit from spending by independent expenditure committees. As of the last filing period, Sliwa had 3.4 million cash on hand.
Record spending by one IE to boost Cuomo in the Democratic primary, however, proved ineffective.