Roughly two months before New York City’s mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani has raised enough money to hit the $8 million fund-raising cap, his campaign said on Friday.
Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and the front-runner in polls, will announce the fund-raising achievement in a video on Friday morning, thanking his supporters and asking them to consider donating time to his campaign rather than money.
“We can’t take any more of your money,” he says in the video. “Truly, you need to stop.”
Mr. Mamdani’s three main rivals trail him in fund-raising. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is second in the polls, has about $1.5 million in his campaign account and will have to keep raising money in the weeks ahead.
Mayor Eric Adams, who is in fourth place in polls, has repeatedly been denied public matching funds and has about $4 million. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, has about $3.4 million.
Outside spending by super PACs could raise far more money to help one of Mr. Mamdani’s challengers. Many big donors have held back so far, strategizing over how best to oppose Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and a democratic socialist.
Mr. Mamdani’s fund-raising milestone comes as President Trump moves to clear the field to try to defeat him. Mr. Trump said on Thursday evening that he wants to see just one candidate challenge Mr. Mamdani in a head-to-head competition.
“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one,” Mr. Trump said.
Some business leaders are also hoping to clear the field, preferably for Mr. Cuomo, not just to consolidate moderate votes behind one candidate, but to give donors a single alternative to Mr. Mamdani instead of three. Unlike candidates, outside groups have no fund-raising or spending limits.
A super PAC that supported Mr. Cuomo during the Democratic primary raised $25 million — the largest super PAC ever created in a New York City mayoral campaign.
The race has been jolted by advisers to Mr. Trump, who have discussed giving Mr. Adams a position in the president’s administration as a way to clear the field and hurt Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Adams has told a small group of friends and advisers that he is seriously considering suspending his campaign under the right circumstances.
Mr. Mamdani has taken advantage of the city’s generous public matching program, which gives candidates an eight-to-one match for smaller donations. He announced that he reached the spending cap in the primary in March.
Progressive donors in the city and across the nation appear eager to defend Mr. Mamdani. More than half of his donations during the recent fund-raising period came from outside the city.
His buzzy social media presence has helped. A video Mr. Mamdani posted last week asking for help meeting the cap raised $150,000 in 48 hours, which is expected to reach more than $500,000 with matching funds, his campaign said. In recent weeks, the median donation to Mr. Mamdani was only $25.
Hitting the cap will allow him to spend time on the campaign trail instead of raising money. He plans to hold a town hall with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Saturday as part of Mr. Sanders’s “Fighting Oligarchy” national tour.
Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, said that his recent fund-raising demonstrated his momentum.
“While Donald Trump and his billionaire allies scramble to handpick a candidate for mayor, today’s announcement underscores that grass-roots support for Zohran and his affordability agenda is stronger than ever,” she said.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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