Disgraced former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday was slapped with another campaign finance setback as the June 24 New York City mayoral primary election approaches.
On Monday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board decided to withhold over $622,000 in public matching funds from Cuomo’s campaign to be the Big Apple’s mayor, claiming that it illegally coordinated with Fix the City, a super PAC supporting his bid. The campaign finance regulators’ decision comes after Cuomo’s mayoral campaign faced a slew of finance hurdles in recent weeks, including being denied millions in matching funds in April after failing to file the proper paperwork.
“Based on preliminary results of the board’s investigation, the board has reason to believe Fix the City’s $622,056 expenditure for an ad distributed on May 4, 2025, was not independent of the Cuomo campaign,” New York City Campaign Finance Board Member Richard Davis said during a meeting on Monday, Politico reported.
“The board’s investigation into this matter is ongoing, and we will continue to evaluate the issue of improper coordination,” Davis added.
Fix the City has notably secured more than $8.7 million in contributions thus far, marking the largest amount ever raised in city elections, Politico reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, a PAC backing the campaign of Cuomo’s main primary opponent, far-left New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, reported raising almost $106,000 over the past seven weeks, the outlet reported.
“Our campaign has operated in full compliance with the campaign finance laws and rules, and everything on our website was reviewed and approved by our legal team in advance of publication — as I’m sure Scott Stringer, Justin Brannan and others did when they launched similar pages,” Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign, said in a statement to the DCNF. “We look forward to making that clear when we respond to the Board’s preliminary ruling and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled.”
“In the meantime our campaign’s momentum continues unabated: today we receive $1.5 million on top of the over $3.5 million we have raised in 71 days and are gratified to have the broadest coalition of supporters, and lead in every poll with voters in every borough, gender, race and ethnicity,” Azzopardi added.
Cuomo, who served as New York’s governor from 2011 to 2021, resigned in disgrace after he was accused of sexually harassing several women, and a majority of members in the Democratic-controlled State Assembly voiced support for his potential impeachment.
The ex-governor notably came under fire for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic when his administration’s Department of Health in March 2020 banned nursing homes from denying entry to patients “solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” Following the order, at least 4,000 New York nursing home residents died, the Daily Caller News Foundation had first reported in Jan. 2021.
Despite Cuomo’s history of multiple scandals, several recent polls have shown him comfortably leading his Democratic primary opponents in New York City’s mayoral race. A survey from left-wing think tank Data for Progress released in March found that Cuomo was leading in primary polling with 39% of the vote, followed by Mamdani, who was in a distant second with 15%. Incumbent Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking reelection as an independent, and is therefore not participating in the Democratic Primary.
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