January 15 marked the first campaign finance filing of the 2025 New York City local elections. Among the races with significant filing reports include several council candidates who have been supported by NYSN members. These include incumbent Councilmembers Shaun Abreu, Susan Zhuang, Eric Dinowitz, Lynn Schulman and Julie Menin and challengers Maya Kornberg, Ling Ye and Dermot Smyth.
In the Citywide races, New York State Assemblymember and Socialist Jew hater Zohran Mamdani posted the highest fundraising totals ($641,816 from6,518 donors) for the three month filing period, which puts him in position to be fully qualified for the City’s $8-to-$1 public matching program.
When totaled, he will haveover $3 million to spend, nearly equaling the total hauls of candidates who have been running for significantly longer, including Mayor Eric Adams ($4,394,140/ineligible for public funding), Comptroller Brad Lander ($1,188,981/$2,977,758 match), and former comptroller Scott Stringer ($788,543/$2,157,123 match).
Race newcomer Whitney Tilson posted an impressive six-week fundraising haul of $424,968 from 1,400 donors, while State Senator Zellnor Myrie raised $183,000 in this period (for a total of $647,998 from 3,300 donors overall). All are expected to have similar cash-on-hand positions heading into petitioning, which begins on February 25.
The next filing period will encompass all fundraising from January 12 through March 13 and will be released on March 17, 2025.