Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, widened a fund-raising advantage over his rivals on Thursday, securing another $1.9 million as the city doled out matching public funds.
Mr. Mamdani had reported a surge in small campaign donations last week. But the new funds awarded by the New York City Campaign Finance Board brought his cash total to about $6.3 million, putting him on the strongest financial footing heading into fall campaigning.
The board doled out $1.4 million in matching funds to Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee; $482,000 to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s third-party campaign; and about $35,000 to Jim Walden, another independent.
The numbers suggested that Mr. Cuomo, in particular, had fallen well behind Mr. Mamdani’s fund-raising pace as the former governor sprinted to get back into the race after losing June’s Democratic primary to the democratic socialist upstart.
Even after transferring $68,000 from the state campaign account he used before resigning as governor and hosting several high-dollar fund-raising events in the Hamptons, Mr. Cuomo ended Thursday with only around $1.6 million in cash on hand.
The news was worse for Mayor Eric Adams, whose third-party campaign was once again outright denied any funds under the program. (The city gives qualifying candidates an eight-to-one match of small-dollar donations.)
The board’s chairman, Frederick Schaffer, said on Thursday that the board would continue to hold back millions of dollars until Mr. Adams turned over documents requested by auditors and as long as the board had reason to believe that his campaign had broken the law.
Mr. Schaffer did not provide details of what wrongdoing the board believes Mr. Adams has committed. But it has spent months investigating potential straw donations and other irregularities similar to the ones raised in a federal corruption indictment of Mr. Adams before it was dismissed earlier this year.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for the mayor’s campaign, said it had an open lawsuit challenging the decision and expected to eventually prevail.
“We remain confident that we are on the right road,” he said. Even without the matching funds, Mr. Adams reported just under $4 million in cash last week.
Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams, two centrists competing to be the anti-Mamdani standard-bearer, are hoping that super PACs can still tip the playing field in the other direction. Unlike candidates, the groups have no fund-raising or spending limits.
Super PACs supporting both men — and others for and against Mr. Mamdani — have reported raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent weeks. But after initially promising to fund a flood of attacks on Mr. Mamdani, wealthy business interests and other megadonors have mostly remained on the sidelines through the summer. Privately, many have cast doubt on whether anyone can stop Mr. Mamdani as long as both Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo remain in the race.
Mr. Adams did have a burst of fund-raising success immediately following June’s primary, when it looked like Mr. Cuomo might not continue his campaign. But his pace slowed during the most recent fund-raising period, between mid-July and mid-August, when he brought in $420,000.
Mr. Adams’s spending has also attracted scrutiny. In the most recent filing, he reported a July payment of $177,018.16 to Brianna Suggs, the mayor’s longtime fund-raiser. (Ms. Suggs had briefly been relieved of her duties after the F.B.I. searched her home as part of its investigation into his campaign.)
Mr. Shapiro said that the unusually large payout reflected the campaign’s decision to consolidate several record-keeping, compliance and fund-raising roles into one, now handled by Ms. Suggs. “Her compensation is consistent with her contract and is appropriate given the scope of services performed,” he said.
Mr. Cuomo’s own fund-raising had slowed dramatically after the primary but picked up during the most recent period. Last week, he reported taking in about $500,000 since relaunching his campaign in July, but the public match he was awarded Thursday was relatively small because so much of the money came from large donors.
He now has considerably less cash even than Mr. Sliwa, who reported around $3.4 million in his account after matching funds. The funds probably ensure he will have what he needs to run an active campaign through Election Day, during a period when both Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo will be trying to pick off Mr. Sliwa’s supporters.
Mr. Mamdani’s financial success came from a much broader donor base. He reported taking in just over $1 million during the most recent period from roughly 8,600 donors.
Dora Pekec, a spokesman for the campaign, said the support showed “genuine enthusiasm for Zohran’s vision for a more affordable New York City; our momentum is surging.”
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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