Mayor Eric Adams of New York was again denied public matching funds for his re-election campaign on Wednesday, a major setback as he competes against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to emerge as the strongest challenger to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee.
The city’s Campaign Finance Board said that Mr. Adams was not eligible for public funds because his campaign had provided “incomplete and misleading” information, and the board believed that the campaign had violated the law.
The board did not provide details about its findings, but said the decision was based on “all of the available evidence, including but not limited to its own independent investigation.”
Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for Mr. Adams’s campaign, called the decision “vague and unsubstantiated” as well as “deeply concerning and potentially damaging.”
“We strongly disagree with the Campaign Finance Board’s decision and reject both the tone and substance of its statement,” Mr. Shapiro said.
The board denied Mr. Adams’s request for public funds after he was indicted on federal corruption charges late last year. That decision prevented him from receiving millions of dollars under the city’s program, which gives qualifying candidates an eight-for-one match of small-dollar donations.
Mr. Adams sued the board in May in an effort to overturn the ruling after his charges were dropped by the Trump administration. The lawsuit was dismissed last month, with a federal judge noting that Mr. Adams had been late to provide information regarding conflicts of interest and that more information was still outstanding.
The federal indictment accused Mr. Adams of soliciting and accepting straw donations for both his 2021 campaign and his 2025 re-election campaign. Prosecutors said that he conspired with foreign nationals to illegally funnel money into his campaign coffers.
The board’s latest decision comes as Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo squabble over who is best positioned to beat Mr. Mamdani in the general election in November. Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo are both running as independents and courting wealthy donors.
Mr. Mamdani was approved for an additional $1.6 million in public matching funds on Wednesday; he previously unlocked millions of dollars in matching funds. Jim Walden, a lawyer who is running as an independent, received an additional $237,000.
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, will receive nearly $2 million in matching funds in his first payment after qualifying for the money. Mr. Sliwa, who won nearly 28 percent of votes in the 2021 general election against Mr. Adams, has said that the money would help him compete as a serious contender.
“This campaign is powered by working people who want real change, and now we have the resources to win,” Mr. Sliwa said in a statement.
Mr. Cuomo, who chose to run in the general election after losing the Democratic primary to Mr. Mamdani, was not approved for matching funds on Wednesday. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for his campaign, said Mr. Cuomo had paused his fund-raising after the primary, and that now that he was raising money again, the campaign expected to receive a payment at the next deadline.
The animosity between Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams has heightened as they compete for the same sets of donors and moderate voters. Mr. Cuomo told business leaders on Wednesday that Mr. Adams appeared to be on a “suicide mission.” An adviser to Mr. Adams, Menashe Shapiro, said that it was Mr. Cuomo who had no shot after losing to Mr. Mamdani in the primary.
Frank Carone, who has led Mr. Adams’s fund-raising, posted on social media that the campaign would return to court to fight the public matching funds decision and would raise enough money to be competitive “in any event.”
“Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor who has delivered for New York, will win — full stop,” he said.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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