Cuomo Backers Dumped $87 Per Vote Into A Losing Cause — and Some Donors Are Now Vowing To Spend More

The collapse of Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for City Hall did not come cheap.

Between the $5.5 million his campaign spent and the $26 million that came from generously funded independent expenditure committees that supported him or attacked his chief rival, Zohran Mamdani, his losing effort came to $87 per vote.

Mamdani, by contrast, spent $6 million from his campaign but got far less support ($1.8 million) from independent expenditure committees supporting him or attacking Cuomo — and still managed to best his rival by spending not quite $19 per vote.

In the end, the extraordinary amount of money that flowed into Cuomo’s bid from a handful of independent spending groups — far more than any other mayoral candidate — came up short.

Between the $30 million spent on the mayoral race and another $13 million on City Council races, independent spending committees injected $45 million into the Democratic primary — topping the $40 million spent in 2021.

Cuomo was, by far, the biggest beneficiary of this well-heeled largesse, primarily from Fix the City, a group formed by some of his former advisors, including his chief of staff Steve Cohen.

Fix the City collected six- and even seven-figure donations from billionaires like Mike Bloomberg ($8.3 million) and entities doing business with City Hall such as DoorDash ($1 million). Real estate developers such as RXR Realty, Two Trees and Vornado ponied up checks in the $150,000 to $250,000 range. 

Permitted under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, independent spending groups have no restrictions on donations, offering a way for donors doing business with the city to work around rules that bar corporate donations and limit individuals to giving no more than $400 to a campaign.

All told, the group raised $25 million and spent more than $22 million, blanketing the city with political ads promoting the former governor as a pro-union, get-things-gone kind of guy, while also funding vitriolic attack ads portraying Mamdani as a dangerous “defund the police,” anti-Israel radical who “must be stopped.”

Fix The City wasn’t the only group backing Cuomo or going after Mamdani on his behalf. A landlord group worried about Mamdani’s promises to freeze rent for rent-stabilized tenants formed a committee called Housing For All that spent $2.3 million supporting Cuomo, while a group called Sensible City — angry at what they saw as Mamdani’s anti-Israel rhetoric — steered $106,000 to opposition ads attacking him in ads featuring clips of anti-Israel vandalism and violence.

With Mamdani netting 44% of the vote to Cuomo’s 36% on Tuesday, it didn’t work.

The morning after the primary, Liz Benjamin, a spokesperson for Fix The City, declined comment on its candidate’s stunning loss to Mandami, stating, “We are not issuing any statements at this time.” Sources familiar with the matter say the group’s donors interested in continuing to participate in the election plan to meet soon to discuss how to approach the November general, which at the moment appears will be a four-way race between Mamdani, Mayor Eric Adams, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and attorney Jim Walden.

A spokesperson for DoorDash, one of Fix The City’s biggest donors, tried to look on the bright side. Asked whether DoorDash felt its seven-figure check to Fix The City was a good investment, John Horton, head of the company’s North America Public Policy unit, noted that the group had also supported multiple City Council candidates.

“We believe strongly in supporting policies that help our community of merchants, Dashers, and consumers thrive, including in New York City,” he said. “That’s why we supported a slate of pro-local economy candidates in the June primary and are glad to see the majority of them currently winning their races. We are committed to working with New York City’s new leaders to find pragmatic solutions to the problems facing the city.”

(Through a separate group, DoorDash also steered $150,000 to back Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for mayor, as the Council considers a bill that would guarantee sick leave for delivery workers. Adams received 4% of the vote.)

A spokesperson for Bloomberg did not return THE CITY’s call seeking his take on the ultimate wisdom of his huge Fix The City contributions, including one made last week. At the time, Cuomo had consistently ranked as the frontrunner in poll after poll, but Mamdani was closing the gap. The day before the primary he surged to the lead in an Emerson College/PIX 11 poll that proved to be quite prescient.

During the campaign, Mamdani repeatedly tagged Cuomo as a tool of the oligarchy, noting his support from deep-pocketed donors with ties to President Donald Trump, including Home Depot founder Ken Langone, who gave $100,000 to Fix The City, and hedge funders William Ackman, who gave $500,000, and Daniel Loeb, who coughed up $350,000.

Since the primary, Loeb posted a terse assessment of Mamdani’s victory on social media: “It’s officially hot commie summer.” Ackman, a longtime critic of higher education institutions fostering what he sees as anti-semitism on campus, appeared to criticize Cuomo, writing on X that Mamdani’s “best competitor sat back and did not run a real campaign, relying on name recognition, early favorable polling and keeping a low profile to make it through.”

He also dangled the possibility of major financial support for what he described as a “centrist” candidate with experience to jump into the race, stating, “There are hundreds of millions of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight (believe me, I am in the text strings and the WhatsApp groups), so that a great alternative candidate won’t spend any time raising funds.”

The day after Cuomo conceded the primary to Mamdani, THE CITY sought comment from Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of RXR Realty, who wrote a $400 check to Cuomo’s campaign in April, then gave $250,000 to Fix The City the next day.

Asked whether Rechler felt this was a worthy investment, David Garten, an executive at RXR, responded, “I don’t think we’re commenting for this one.”

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