Since launching his mayoral campaign earlier this month, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo has raised more than $1.5 million in private donations, cementing his status as the race’s early front-runner, though some other, lesser-known candidates pulled off large hauls in the latest reporting period, too.
Cuomo’s campaign, which shared the top-line dollar figure ahead of its first detailed public fundraising disclosure due Monday, said $330,000 of the money came from 1,700 New York City residents.
That means Cuomo has met the thresholds to be eligible for public matching funds, making his estimated fundraising total for the most recent reporting period $4.1 million, according to his campaign.
The flood of private cash — the largest, single-period haul out of any of the 2025 mayoral candidates to date — flowed into Cuomo’s coffers between his March 1 campaign launch and this past Friday, the close of the last reporting period.
“I’ve been humbled by the depth and breadth of the outpouring of support we’ve received upon entering this race,” Cuomo said in a statement on his first fundraising performance. “New York is the greatest city in the world and those who live here deserve a New York that is better, stronger, safer and more affordable than the New York we have today.”
Mayor Adams. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
Though Cuomo’s full filings weren’t immediately available, his spokesman Rich Azzopardi said among those who contributed to the fundraising rally was Geoffrey Berman, the ex-Manhattan U.S. attorney fired by President Trump in 2020, Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy and Jessica Seinfield, cookbook author and comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s wife.
Cuomo’s major money moves come after polls have for months shown him as the favorite to win June’s Democratic mayoral primary by double digits.
Cuomo has also recently lined up support from several prominent backers of Mayor Adams, whose reelection bid is sputtering amid accusations that he’s beholden to Trump’s administration amid its attempt to drop his federal corruption indictment in exchange for immigration enforcement assistance.
A campaign lawyer for the mayor, who’s reeling from record low approval ratings and has struggled to raise money for his reelection in recent months, declined to provide a snapshot of his latest campaign finances ahead of Monday’s public disclosure. Complicating matters further for the embattled incumbent is the fact that the Campaign Finance Board has denied him any public matching funds due to his indictment.
Though Cuomo — who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations he denies — is polling ahead of the rest of the mayoral pack, several of his challengers have noted surveys also show he’s netting high disapproval ratings, a wrinkle that could complicate his path to victory as campaign season begins heating up.
Among the most vociferous of Cuomo’s challengers is Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who’s social media-heavy mayoral campaign has garnered significant support from younger, left-leaning voters.
According to Mamdani’s campaign, that momentum has also reverberated on the fundraising front, with the lawmaker drawing in $845,000 from nearly 11,000 new donors in the most recent reporting window. With matching funds factored in, Mamdani’s campaign said he raised more than $4.3 million in the latest stretch, adding to the nearly $3.5 million he has previously raked in, putting him close to the $7.9 million spending cap for the June 24 primary.
Also in the latest period, Comptroller Brad Lander raised about $228,000 for his mayoral run, putting his total haul to date at over $6.7 million with matching funds included, according to his campaign.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, whose late entry into the mayoral race earlier this month stands to shake up the dynamic of this spring’s campaign, didn’t raise enough money this period to qualify for matching funds. But her campaign said she’s still in a good position, having pulled in $128,000 from 1,128 individual donors in the five days after launching her campaign.
