Adams Leads Mayoral Candidates in Fundraising; Yang Close Behind in Dem Pack

By:  Hadassa Kalatizadeh

New fundraising disclosures have revealed that Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams raised the most over the past two months, compared to the other candidates for New York City Mayor.   As reported by Crain’s NY, based on preliminary info Adams raised close to $1 million over just these two months, as the Democratic primary edges closer.

Last week, public polling also showed that he was slowly gaining speed over former front-runner Andrew Yang.  On Friday, even an internal poll by the Yang campaign revealed that Adams and Yang are basically tied following five rounds of ranked-choice voting.  “I think it’s clear that polls are beginning to show Yang no longer in first place, and winnability and inevitability were core to his rational along with positivity,” said Scott Levenson, president of the Advance Group, a political consulting firm in New York. “If you don’t have positivity and don’t have winnability, you call into question whether there’s rationale for his candidacy.”

Over the course of the campaign, Adams has raised a total of approximately $11 million, thanks to the matching funds system.  Since his campaign is publicly funded and eligible for the program, all contributions he receives below $250 are matched 8-to-1 dollar from the Campaign Finance Board for every.  The $1 million, which he raised most recently, grows to a total of $1.6 million after matched funding.

As per Crain’s, Yang’s campaign disclosed that it raised $1.4 million in the latest two-month filing period.  After matched funding, that total could come to $2.4 million, if approved by the Campaign Finance Board.  In all, Yang’s campaign said it raised a total of roughly $11 million.  Yang’s campaign also boasted that it had 21,137 individual donors, coming close to the city’s record of 23,287 donors who supported David Dinkins’ successful mayoral bid in 1989.

Still, critics say Yang is falling behind. “The support he’s had has diminished,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York City political consultant.  “He can’t count on the young voter turnout, simply because they don’t turn out,” he said of Yang.  “I think Adams’ campaign has got momentum simply because the issue now is crime, and Yang has been incapable of dealing with it,” added Sheinkopf.

With only four weeks left and a generous amount of funds available by multiple campaigns, Levenson said he expects to see a flood of campaign ads.  “We’re going to see a flurry of activity that I think is unprecedented in New York mayoral spending,” said Levenson. “There’s no time for any vacuum. It’s an all-out blitz now.”