The New York City Campaign Finance Board announced that independent NYC Mayoral Candidate Jim Walden was one of only two candidates in the race for New York City Mayor to receive a new round of public matching funds, on Tuesday, July 15th. This new match drives the former prosecutor’s growing campaign to a total cash on hand of over $1.3 million. Walden says he plans to “continue to build a groundbreaking independent campaign that rejects corruption and special interests.”
Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani also raked in a huge wave of campaign donations and secured another $1 million in public matching funds for the general election. Mamdani’s June to July haul is his biggest score to date. It included 69 donations of $2,100, the maximum allowed in the public financing system, totaling more than $144,000. Mamdani has made a point of highlighting the extraordinary number of small donations he’s received and criticizing Cuomo for the tens of millions of dollars in outside money wealthy donors have spent promoting him.
The Campaign Finance Board program provides $8 for every $1 donated to a candidate by a New York City resident, up to the first $250.
Adams and Cuomo Strike Out on Matching Funds.
With only 16 weeks until the final contest on November 4, Mayor Eric Adams, who skipped the primary in the wake of a federal criminal indictment and its extraordinary cancellation by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, lost his chance to continue pleading for public funds from the Campaign Finance Board as an independent candidate.
After his staff cheered a court ruling they believed would help fill his campaign coffers, Adams was denied millions of public matching money, the latest setback to his arduous independent reelection campaign. During Tuesday’s meeting, the Campaign Finance Board declined to disburse $3.4 million, stating that the campaign has not yet given the oversight body the information and records it needs to complete its investigation into potential wrongdoing from his first campaign four years ago.
“The board investigation is ongoing,” said board chair Frederick Schaffer, adding the cache of documents remaining “outstanding.” Mayor Adams’ campaign has failed to qualify for matching funds,” he continued.
Additionally, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had initially been considered the frontrunner in the Democratic primary but was beaten handily by Democrat Mamdani, did not get any matching funds because he did not request them. After spending the whole almost $8 million primary spending maximum, Cuomo ceased fundraising in May. He was unclear for weeks about whether he planned to run in November on a third-party line he had put up after losing to Mamdani by 12 points on June 24th.
On Monday, Cuomo jumped back into the race in a 90-second video announcement, and on Tuesday his spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said he planned to begin fundraising again immediately. “Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that the Democratic primary did not go the way that I hoped,” Cuomo said in a video, featuring him looking relaxed in a park and shaking hands around Manhattan.
“Today, we are proud to be one of only two only candidates for Mayor awarded public matching funds. It puts our surging, independent campaign at the top of the heap when it comes to one essential factor: integrity,” Walden shared with Black Westchester. “While my extreme, indicted and despised opponents continue to get support from special interests, our innovative campaign continues to be supported by working New Yorkers of all backgrounds who believe that I am the only candidate who can fix, defend, and unite our great city and save us from the extremists, partisans, and crooks. This latest filing again illustrates that we are running a truly independent, unifying, people-powered campaign that all New Yorkers can trust.”
In the June 24th Democratic Primary, Mamdani defeated Adrienne Adams, Speaker of the New York City Council (2022–present) from the 28th district (2017–present), Selma Bartholomew, educator, Michael Blake, former state assemblymember from the 79th district (2015–2021), candidate for Public Advocate in 2019, and candidate for New York’s 15th congressional district in 2020, Andrew Cuomo, former Governor of New York (2011–2021) and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1997–2001), Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller (2022–present), Zellnor Myrie, state senator from the 20th district (2019–present), Paperboy Prince, artist and perennial candidate, Jessica Ramos, state senator from the 13th district (2019–present), Scott Stringer, former New York City Comptroller (2014–2021) and candidate for mayor in 2021, and Whitney Tilson, hedge fund manager.
NYC Mayoral Candidates L-R: Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, Curtis Sliwa, and Jim Walden.
And Then There Were Five
The election for the mayor of New York City is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Incumbent Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat, is seeking re-election to a second term as an independent. He is being challenged by Democratic state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Republican activist Curtis Sliwa, Independent former governor Andrew Cuomo, and Independent, first-time candidate and former prosecutor Jim Walden.
Stay tuned to Black Westchester for more on the 2025 NYC Mayoral race. We interviewed Jim Walden, Sunday, July 13th, and are extending an invitation to the other four candidates to appear on People Before Politics Radio.
