By: Andrew Carlson

The New York mayoral race has taken yet another dramatic turn, with financial disclosures revealing that a staggering 78% of the nearly $2.4 million raised by a super PAC backing Zohran Mamdani originates not from New Yorkers, but from deep-pocketed donors living thousands of miles away. As The New York Post reported on Saturday, the vast majority of contributions have poured in from Hollywood liberals, Washington insiders, and progressive financiers scattered across the country —  illustrating how the Queens assemblyman’s campaign has become a lightning rod for national socialist movements far removed from the daily struggles of ordinary New Yorkers.

The pro-Mamdani group, New Yorkers for Lower Costs, has quietly transformed into a cash pipeline for left-wing donors eager to see the self-identified socialist capture City Hall. According to campaign finance records reviewed by The New York Post, out-of-state contributors have already supplied $1.83 million of the PAC’s war chest, dwarfing the $526,000 provided by actual New York residents.

“This campaign isn’t about New York City — it’s about fueling a national socialist movement bankrolled by donors in California and beyond,” Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro told The Post, in one of the sharpest critiques yet of Mamdani’s candidacy. “New Yorkers don’t need lectures from California millionaires about how to live, work, and raise their families.”

California alone accounted for $762,000 of the PAC’s haul, with two wealthy individuals responsible for the lion’s share of that sum. Another $212,000 flowed from donors in Washington, D.C., while Illinois donors chipped in $170,000. The outsized presence of coastal elites in Mamdani’s fundraising network has already become a centerpiece of his opponents’ attacks.

As The New York Post report emphasized, the optics are striking: the PAC bankrolling Mamdani relies on Hollywood heavyweights and Beltway operatives rather than the city residents who would live under his policies. By comparison, Adams’ own super PAC, Empower NYC, has sourced 92% of its $1.46 million from local New Yorkers. Former governor Andrew Cuomo’s group, Fix The City, raised an astonishing $20 million of its $27 million total — or 74% — from Empire State residents.

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist, told The Post the out-of-town money surge reflects a larger ambition. “New York is target No. 1,” Sheinkopf said. “They’ve never had an opportunity like this. If he wins, it also will be the beginning of the national crusade for socialists to take over other large cities across the country.”

The numbers confirm Sheinkopf’s point. The PAC backing Mamdani has already spent nearly $1.4 million on political consultants, advertising campaigns, and digital operations — the majority of it outsourced to companies based in Washington, California, and even Canada. The New York Post report highlighted how over $1 million in expenditures were directed to firms outside New York, leaving critics to question whether the so-called “grassroots” movement is little more than a glossy, nationalized campaign run by outsiders.

Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa echoed that critique, telling The Post that “when the PAC propping up Zohran Mamdani gets nearly 80% of its money from out of state, halfway across the country like California, that isn’t grassroots; it’s Astroturf, and he isn’t who he says he is.”

The optics are damning for Mamdani, who built his insurgent campaign on the promise of representing working-class New Yorkers. Instead, the funding trail reveals a candidate whose base of financial support lies well outside the five boroughs.

Mamdani’s sudden national prominence can be traced to his shocking primary victory over Cuomo in June, a political upset that The New York Post described as a “lightning bolt through New York’s political establishment.” That win electrified progressives across the country, who rushed to flood Mamdani’s campaign with cash.

Before the primary, fewer than 20% of his donations came from outside New York. After the upset, more than half of all contributions arrived from out-of-state, a trend now mirrored in the PAC’s fundraising. The deluge of national money is not coincidental: progressive activists view Mamdani as a vehicle to legitimize socialist governance in the nation’s largest city, thereby setting a precedent for other municipalities.

Sheinkopf told The New York Post that such investments are strategic. “If they take New York, they can go after Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond. It becomes a movement, not just a mayoral race.”

The contest now pits Mamdani, a rising socialist star, against two seasoned Democratic veterans turned independents — Cuomo and Adams — as well as Sliwa, the Republican nominee. The financial records spotlight the vastly different profiles of support each candidate commands. Cuomo’s PAC has tapped into longstanding networks of New York power brokers. Adams’ re-election campaign has leaned heavily on local donors. Mamdani, meanwhile, has relied on a national donor base intent on reshaping New York into a model of progressive governance.

For Adams, the irony is palpable. His campaign has framed the race as a struggle between homegrown leadership and coastal elites parachuting into the city’s politics. “This isn’t about New Yorkers deciding their future,” Shapiro told The New York Post. “It’s about out-of-state socialists trying to impose their ideology on our city.”

The financial stakes are not academic. With the PAC’s millions, Mamdani has saturated social media platforms, text messaging networks, and television airtime with sleekly produced ads promising affordability, housing justice, and opposition to President Trump. Yet as The New York Post report noted, many of these ads are scripted and produced by firms with no roots in New York.

Meanwhile, local critics argue that the socialist’s policies — including rent cancellation, the expansion of public housing, and the imposition of steep taxes on wealthy New Yorkers — could drive residents and businesses out of the city. “New Yorkers don’t need Hollywood to tell us how to fix housing or run the NYPD,” one Adams ally quipped to The Post.

The revelations about Mamdani’s funding arrive as progressive activists across the country double down on municipal races. San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston have all seen insurgent socialist candidates ascend in recent years, but New York represents the ultimate prize. The New York Post has repeatedly described the mayoral race as a bellwether for the future of the Democratic Party, with Mamdani cast as both a potential trailblazer and a lightning rod.

Political scientist Lawrence Mead told The Post that Mamdani’s campaign is a test of whether nationalized socialism can take root in a city defined by its ethnic and ideological diversity. “If he wins, it proves that national progressives can override local political realities by sheer force of money and media,” Mead said. “If he loses, it may be a setback for the socialist movement nationally.”

Cuomo’s team has stayed quiet on Mamdani’s financial disclosures, declining to comment to The New York Post. Yet insiders suggest the former governor is privately delighted, viewing Mamdani’s out-of-state ties as an easy vulnerability to exploit. Adams, meanwhile, has leaned into the issue publicly, portraying himself as the only candidate with genuine roots in New York.

Both men are running as independents in the November general election, further complicating the race. Their combined local support could prove decisive in counterbalancing Mamdani’s national war chest.

As the race intensifies, Mamdani’s nationalized fundraising base may prove to be both an asset and a liability. On one hand, it has provided him with the resources to mount a formidable campaign. On the other, it risks alienating local voters who see the socialist candidate as more accountable to Hollywood liberals than to the working-class families of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.

For Adams and Cuomo, the strategy is clear: frame Mamdani as an outsider’s candidate, backed by elites who neither live in nor understand the city’s challenges. For Sliwa, the Republican, the message is even blunter: “Astroturf, not grassroots,” as he told The New York Post.

With less than two months until Election Day, the issue of money — where it comes from, and what it buys — may prove to be the decisive factor. In a city where politics has long been shaped by local loyalties and community ties, the spectacle of a socialist campaign bankrolled by California millionaires and D.C. insiders could become the central narrative.

As The New York Post report indicated, the outcome of the mayoral race may well determine not only New York’s future, but also the trajectory of socialism as a rising force in American urban politics.