One mayoral candidate took the unusual step on Sunday of asking his supporters to donate to an opponent in a bid to block the front-runner, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, from winning the June 24 Democratic primary.
Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who is placing second to Cuomo in the polls, posted a video Sunday night on social media asking his network of supporters to donate to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ mayoral campaign before a critical fundraising deadline on May 19. The date marks the speaker’s last chance to unlock public matching funds — something she has yet to do — and begin broadcasting her message through TV advertising in the last few weeks before the primary.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist representing part of western Queens, framed the request as a way to strengthen his, Speaker Adams’s, and other competitors’ efforts to defeat Cuomo next month.
The lawmaker, who was endorsed alongside the speaker by the New York Working Families Party, is in the rare position of being able to encourage his supporters to donate to another candidate because of the city’s ranked-choice voting system that allows voters to rank up to five candidates. Furthermore, Mamdani he already maxed out his own fundraising, having raised up to the city Campaign Finance Board’s (CFB) $8.3 million limit.
“I’m actually asking you to donate to another candidate running for mayor,” Mamdani said in the video. “Her name is Adrienne Adams. She’s the speaker of the City Council. And she’s facing a critical matching funds deadline by the end of tomorrow. Now you might be asking, ‘I’m running for mayor, she’s running for mayor, why would I be asking you to donate to her?’ Because we are all running together to defeat Andrew Cuomo.”
Adams gaining momentum
While Mamdani did not formally endorse the speaker, his video marked the first instance this cycle of one candidate telling their voters to also throw support behind one of their competitors. In 2021, one contender, Andrew Yang, encouraged his supporters to rank one of his rivals, Kathryn Garcia, number two behind him.
It comes after Speaker Adams appears to be gaining some momentum. According to a Marist College poll conducted earlier this month, she moved into third place last week and has picked up a string of notable endorsements from officials, including state Attorney General Letitia James.
“Adrienne has doubled her support without spending a dime and is building the broadest coalition of any candidate in this race,” said Lupe Todd-Medina, Adrienne Adams’ spokesperson, in a statement. “She’s uniting all New Yorkers – and is now the first candidate in city history whose opponent chose to fundraise for her because her strength is undeniable.”
But unlike the other WFP-endorsed candidates — Mamdani, city Comptroller Brad Lander, and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie — the speaker has not yet raised enough money to run TV ads introducing herself to voters and broadcasting a negative message against Cuomo.
A bid against Cuomo’s strength
With five weeks to go until the primary, Cuomo—who resigned in 2021 amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment that he denies—still holds a double-digit lead over his opponents, according to the Marist poll. The former governor is running on the message that the city is “in crisis” and that his 11 years managing the state make him the best person to “save” it.
While Cuomo’s campaign has made mistakes in trying to unlock matching funds, it is supported by a super PAC known as “Fix the City,” which has raised the most money of any outside entity backing a candidate in a city election—over $8 million.
However, Cuomo’s campaign has had a couple of notable missteps in its efforts to unlock matching funds, including paperwork errors that led the CFB to deny it any public money last month and suspected illegal coordination with Fix the City that led the board to withhold over $600,000 from it last week.
Cuomo’s campaign released its first TV ad on Monday, although Fix the City has been running commercials touting his bid for weeks. The 30-second spot, titled “Crisis,” points to what it portrays as Cuomo’s effective leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic to show that he is best equipped to handle issues like the high cost of living and fears around crime.
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