Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has modeled himself as the candidate of working New Yorkers, but his candidacy has largely been funded by record donations from billionaires and other wealthy business interests.
Fix the City, a super PAC led by one of Mr. Cuomo’s closest advisers, has raised $25 million to boost his comeback bid for mayor and bury Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, his chief rival, in withering attack ads.
The group is the largest super PAC ever created in a New York City mayoral campaign, a financial juggernaut on track to spend three times as much as Mr. Cuomo’s actual campaign legally can. The group has hired canvassers to take Mr. Cuomo’s message directly to voters, and one of its ads calling Mr. Mamdani a radical has been aired more than any other in the race.
As of Monday, former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg alone had given the group $8.3 million. DoorDash, the food delivery company, had given another $1 million; and Bill Ackman, an investor and supporter of President Trump, had donated $500,000.
Some were motivated by Mr. Cuomo’s record, others more out of fear how Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who wants to raise taxes on businesses and the rich, would change the city if elected.
Mr. Mamdani has denounced the outside spending and has tried to incorporate it into his critique of Mr. Cuomo. He argues that the former governor is in the pocket of corporate interests and shares donors with Mr. Trump.
“These are billionaires who are giving hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to Andrew Cuomo precisely because they know we are going to tax them to make life a little bit more affordable here, in the most expensive city in the United States,” Mr. Mamdani said last week.
He added: “They know they can count on Cuomo because Cuomo has a track record of rewarding the political donors.”
Mr. Cuomo has rejected that description, saying no donor would ever influence his decision-making as mayor. But he has not criticized or denounced the groups.
For his part, Mr. Mamdani has benefited from a far smaller super PAC, New Yorkers for Lower Costs, which has spent around $1.2 million in the race. A super PAC associated with the left-leaning Working Families Party has spent another $500,000 attacking Mr. Cuomo.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums, but only if they are entirely independent of the candidates they are supporting. Mr. Cuomo’s campaign was penalized this spring after the New York City Campaign Finance Board found that his campaign and Fix the City were most likely colluding in violation of city rules. They both denied it.
Fix the City is not the only group that has helped him. Housing for All, a super PAC representing landlords’ interests, pledged $2.5 million to help elect Mr. Cuomo, and a super PAC connected to the hotel workers’ union chipped in $1 million.
Mr. Cuomo also seems to be benefiting — albeit indirectly — by another mysterious group, Restore Sanity NYC, that has spent money on commercials and mail that echo his campaign priorities without explicitly mentioning him.
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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