Cuomo’s Campaign Stumbles as $2.5M in Public Funds Denied

New York, USA: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign has been denied approximately $2.5 million in public matching funds, following a review by the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB). The decision, announced on Tuesday, was attributed to what Cuomo’s team is calling a “technical software error” that affected contribution data.

The setback comes despite a strong initial fundraising effort. Cuomo’s campaign, which launched officially on March 1, claims to have raised over $2.5 million from more than 4,100 individual donors — including $330,000 in eligible matching funds — by the March 13 deadline.

In a statement, campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi explained that a glitch in one of their fundraising platforms, NGP, led to missing data fields required by the NYCCFB. While the campaign maintains it met the financial thresholds required for matching funds — namely, donations from at least 1,000 individuals totaling over $250,000 — the software issue resulted in documentation errors affecting more than 20% of the disclosures.

The Cuomo team sent out an urgent appeal last Friday, requesting supporters to complete additional forms to meet public funding standards. However, the effort fell short in resolving the issue before the board’s decision.

Although the campaign has since corrected the technical problem and submitted the necessary documentation, it will have to wait until the next disbursement cycle, starting May 12, to be reconsidered for public funding.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that most of the other leading mayoral contenders received their public funds as scheduled. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, however, faced a similar rejection, missing out on $4.5 million due to a combination of disclosure issues and bookkeeping inconsistencies.

Polling from Siena College places Cuomo ahead among Democratic candidates. Notably, Adams was excluded from the survey, as he is expected to run for re-election as an Independent. His campaign continues to face scrutiny after a now-dismissed federal investigation, which had led NYCCFB board member Richard Davis to recuse himself from related decisions, following criticism of federal intervention in the case.