Mayor Adams’ reelection campaign reports raising $2.6M so far

Mayor Adams’ campaign announced Monday morning it has raised more than $2.6 million for his reelection bid so far, giving him a significant financial edge against any potential challenger he may face in the 2025 election.

Vito Pitta, Adams’ campaign counsel, disclosed the updated total fundraising haul ahead of the city Campaign Finance Board’s expected afternoon release of detailed filings for 2025 candidates.

Of the roughly $2.6 million, about half was raised between Jan. 14 and this past Thursday, according to Pitta.

Pitta did not divulge details on specific donors in the latest reporting window, but said the Democratic mayor’s campaign has taken cash from more than 2,000 individual contributions to date. The official Campaign Finance Board filings will include details on specific donors.

“Our campaign is well on its way to raising the maximum amount it can spend under the city’s campaign finance system — just 18 months into the mayor’s tenure — because New Yorkers see that Mayor Adams is lowering crime, increasing employment, and moving our city in the right direction,” Pitta said in a statement.

Under city law, mayoral campaigns can’t spend more than $15.8 million on the 2025 primary and general election cycles.

Pitta said about $250,000 of the money raised by Adams’ campaign came from local donors who chipped in less than $250 each, meaning that portion is eligible for matching under the city’s public matching program. That in turn means the Adams campaign’s coffers could see an infusion of another $2 million once matching funds kick in, according to Pitta.

Adams does not currently face any 2025 primary or general election challengers.

But progressive Democrats critical of Adams’ centrist policies on housing, public safety and other issues have recently spoken both publicly and privately about the need to recruit a candidate to run against him.

Pitta’s preview of Adams’ latest campaign fundraising report comes at a tumultuous time for the mayor’s political operation.

Inside NYC Politics

Daily

Latest news and more on politics and government in New York City and New York State.

Earlier this month, six city residents, including a retired NYPD inspector with personal ties to Adams, were indicted on criminal charges that they funneled illegal donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign in an effort to curry favor with him and receive favorable city contracts from his administration.

Adams was not implicated in the straw donor scheme.

Adams administration officials revealed this past Friday it had pulled a contract expansion from the firm tied to the suspected schemers days before the indictment.

However, the indictment alleged one of his campaign representatives kept in touch with the retired NYPD inspector, Dwayne Montgomery, over the course of the scheme. That campaign representative was not identified in the indictment.

The indictment came a couple of months after the Campaign Finance Board socked Adams’ 2021 campaign with $19,600 in fines for violating local regulations, including accepting an unlawful amount of money from five donors with business before the city.

Meantime, recent polling indicates Adams is seeing some of his support slipping.

A Siena College poll conducted last month found that 46% of New York City residents hold a favorable view of his performance in office, while 39% hold an unfavorable view. That compares to the 49% favorability-35% unfavorability rating he scored in a similar survey conducted by Siena pollsters in mid-May.