By: Ilana Siyance
New York State governor Kathy Hochul’s overwhelming success in the Democratic Primaries to be named the Democratic candidate of choice, has led the Real Deal to take a peek into the contributors beefing up the candidate’s impressive war chest.
As per the Real Deal, some of NYC’s most prominent real estate executives have contributed generously to Hochul’s campaign. Hochul raised over $34 million since taking office in August 2021. About $12.7 million of that cash was amassed just between Jan. 21 and June 27, state campaign finance filings show. More than $1.1 million of that tally came from checks of $10,000 or more from prominent real estate figures this year. The industry rallied behind Hochul, a moderate Democrat, immediately after she took on the position. The day after Hochul was sworn in, GFP Real Estate’s Jeffrey Gural and SL Green Realty’s Marc Holliday each contributed $10,000 to her campaign.
By January, real estate execs had contributed a total of over $4 million to Hochul’s campaign. Leading professionals from Vornado Realty Trust, Extell Development, Related Companies, Rudin Management, Silverstein Properties,and others each donated tens of thousands of dollars. One family who has been an extraordinary support for Hochul is the Cayre family. The family, which helms Midtown Equities LLC, donated $209,100 from the beginning of April till June, bringing their total contribution since she took office to over $400,000. Developer Scott Rechler of RXR and his wife Deborah together gave over $80,000 in May, and had already donated $50,000 earlier. The Adjmi family and entities linked to their firm, A&H Acquisitions, shelled out more than $227,700 since last year.
Gov. Hochul served as Lt. gov. under ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, stepping up to become the state’s 57th governor last August when the former resigned due to scandal. In the Democratic primary election on June 28, Hochul easily defeated Rep. Tom Suozzi who represents NY’s 3rd district and who formerly served as county executive of Nassau County, as well as NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Based on unofficial data from Ballotpedia.org, Hochul received 67.3 percent of the votes, followed by Williams with 20.0 percent and Suozzi with 12.6 percent of the votes. Republican Lee Zeldin won the Republican primary, so he will be facing off against Hochul in the general election on November 8th.
Zeldin, a Republican nominee who should logically be the big benefactor of the real estate industry, also enjoyed the industry’s generosity but not nearly as much. As per the Real Deal, Zeldin raised over $13 million since announcing candidacy in April 2021, with about $4.7 million coming in since late January. Zeldin has received more than $400,000 in donations of $5,000 or more from professionals in the real estate industry– though most of those contributors were from Long Island and upstate firms. Some suggest that the comparatively lower contributions for Zeldin are because execs know that no Republican has won a statewide election since 2002.
