Long Islanders giving most to Zohran Mamdani in New York City mayoral race

Long Islanders most recently donated more money to back Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani than for all his opponents combined, a Newsday analysis of the race's latest fundraising shows.

The haul from Long Islanders for Mamdani, an Assembly member from Astoria, was $104,079, according to the analysis, and covers donations from July 12 to Aug. 18. The donations were disclosed by law to New York City’s Campaign Finance Board. 

The analysis includes contributions directly to a candidate’s campaign as well as to any super PAC — which is technically unaffiliated with the candidate and can skirt traditional limits on donations — backing only one mayoral candidate. Newsday’s analysis excludes donations from anyone who doesn’t list one of Long Island’s 199 ZIP codes as a full time residence, such as the ultrarich who summer in the Hamptons but live most of the time elsewhere, or those who otherwise have Long Island connections.

Take, for example, Elizabeth Simons, of Palo Alto, California, daughter of the late Stony Brook University mathematician and billionaire hedge funder James Simons: She gave $250,000 on Aug. 12 to the pro-Mamdani super PAC New Yorkers for Lower Costs.

Waning enthusiasm

Candidates are legally required to file details of direct donations to their campaigns, following a schedule released by the board: The latest period covers July 12-Aug. 18. Super PACs, which the board calls independent expenditures, have a more stringent reporting requirement, now every Tuesday.

Compared with Mamdani's popularity, enthusiasm for the establishment candidates — including Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — withered during the latest period among donors from Long Island, home to the lucrative Hamptons and Gold Coast fundraising circuit.

Among Long Islanders, the "Anyone but Mamdani" sentiment — from a set of the wealthy hoping to stop a democratic socialist from becoming mayor of Wall Street’s hometown — was out-fundraised this period by Mamdani and those groups backing him.

Cuomo — who had dominated both the polls and Long Island fundraising before losing the June 24 primary to Mamdani — drew $46,506 in the latest period, less than half the cash for Mamdani.

Also striking in the latest disclosures is the absence of a repeat of any of the six-figure contributions from Long Islanders to the Cuomo-supporting super PAC Fix the City that came in the weeks after March 1, when he declared his would-be doomed run.

Cuomo continues on

On July 14, amid weeks of intrigue and speculation following his loss, Cuomo announced he’d keep campaigning — as an independent.

Adams, whose fundraising had surged on the Island in the aftermath of Mamdani’s win, this period drew $28,835, barely a quarter of Mamdani’s haul.

Long beset with scandals over fundraising and corruption allegations, Adams had withdrawn from the Democratic primary months before it took place and like Cuomo is running as an independent.

The Republican nominee, talk radio host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, drew $22,105.50, and independent Jim Walden, a lawyer, $500.

Supporters of Sliwa’s candidacy gave the most number of donations among Long Islanders during the latest disclosure period at 294. Next was Mamdani, with 210; Cuomo, with 52; Adams, 35; and Walden, 6.

Syosset’s Saadat Raja, 67, an ex-Brooklynite, said he gave $100 on Aug. 14 to Mamdani because he’s the only mayoral hopeful who will give "relief to regular, working-class people," and that’s why he’s leading the pack.

"He’s connected more to the general public and regular New Yorkers than any other mayoral candidate we have in this race," said Raja, a bell captain at a Manhattan hotel.

'It is a shame'

Raja said he also likes Mamdani’s idea to use vacant storefronts and other unused spaces throughout the city’s subway system as drop-in centers for people with mental illnesses and those who are homeless.

"It is embarrassing, this big city we have, and all that money, and all those rich people, and it is a shame that there are a lot of homeless in this city and they have no place to go but the subways," Raja said. 

Mamdani got $5 from Jaclyn Dagnall, 37, of Rocky Point, on July 15.

Dagnall, an operations director in e-commerce, said that while she’s never lived in the city, "it’s always been a part of my life" and often visits.

She likes Mamdani’s plans to make housing more affordable, as well as to deploy mental health specialists for certain calls currently handled by the NYPD.

Dagnall said she attributes his success to appealing to younger New Yorkers, a demographic she says other candidates ignore and leave feeling unheard.

"He’s taking what matters to us seriously, like the housing crisis, that groceries aren’t affordable," Dagnall said.

And she dislikes Cuomo, particularly over the sexual harassment allegations, which he denies, that drove him in 2021 from the governorship.

Leading the polls

In all, over the latest period hundreds of Long Islanders gave at least $202,125.50 to help elect city mayoral candidates. Over half of those contributions went for Mamdani, who in June stunned the political establishment when he trounced Cuomo, who had been the favored-to-win and all-but-inevitable front-runner, boosted by billionaires and big corporations and a juggernaut family name.

Mamdani’s margin of victory in the primary was 12.8 percentage points, according to the New York City Board of Elections. 

Opinion polls now show that Mamdani — whose platform calls for an expansion of social programs and tax hikes for the rich — is likely to win on Election Day, which is Nov. 4.

Newsday reported this summer that Mamdani’s primary victory had inspired Long Island’s Democratic Socialists of America, which saw a surge in interest.

Since the beginning of the race, Long Islanders have given over $3 million to city mayoral candidates or super PACs.

The ZIP code that gave the most in the latest period is 11040, which includes New Hyde Park, Manhasset Hills and Herricks.

Now underdogs in the race, both Cuomo and Adams have been back fundraising again and again in the Hamptons this summer.

Across all ZIP codes nationwide, Cuomo and super PACs supporting him are leading with donations since July 12, with $2.13 million, followed by Mamdani with $1.74 million, then Adams with $1.2 million, and Sliwa at $407,000, the analysis shows. The total contributed is about $5.5 million.

Only Sliwa’s campaign agreed to comment; the other four wouldn’t.

In a statement issued by that campaign, Sliwa spokesman Daniel Kurzyna criticized Mamdani because "much of his support and fundraising comes from outside New York City," and Cuomo over having "fled Albany for the Hamptons in 2021 and has since spent much of his time and effort there."

"It has at times seemed," the statement said, "like he was running for mayor of Southampton rather than mayor of New York City."

Newsday's Caroline Curtin contributed to this story.