NYC’s Yang and Garcia Reap Most Public Mayoral Campaign Funds

(Bloomberg) -- New York City mayoral aspirants Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia brought in the most money in public matching campaign funds among a crowded field of Democratic candidates, the city Campaign Finance Board said Thursday.

Former presidential contender Yang got almost $2.2 million and former city Sanitation Commissioner Garcia, who recently scored endorsements by the New York Times and Daily News, got $2.1 million in public financing, representing nearly half of the $8.8 million disbursed Thursday for the June 22 Democratic mayoral primary.

The public funds, which provide an 8-to-1 match of individual contributions from New Yorkers up to $250, are intended to help offset the influence of independent outside political action committees, which have spent about $15.7 million in the mayoral election, board Chairman Frederick Schaffer said in a Thursday board meeting. That’s nearly double what was spent in the 2013 race for City Hall, when Mayor Bill de Blasio was elected.

“These disbursements allow candidates to respond to unlimited outside spending,” Schaffer said.

Among the biggest money hauls from PACs include multimillion dollar donations from the father of mayoral hopeful Shaun Donovan, the city’s former housing commissioner, and PACs supporting former Citigroup Vice-Chairman Ray McGuire, who is not participating in the public matching program.

Just over two weeks before the city begins early voting toward the June 22 mayoral primary, the board issued disbursements of more than $20 million to about 160 candidates for offices citywide, based upon a total of about 80,000 recorded donations, in this latest campaign cycle ending May 17, said Executive Director Amy Loprest. The board has issued a total of more than $96 million so far this year, she said. A final spending round scheduled is for June 17.

The board is also sponsoring a June 2 debate in which the candidates will appear live in a WABC television studio, the first such event to be held in person.

The Campaign Finance Board awarded civil rights lawyer Maya Wiley and Dianne Morales, a nonprofit executive and political activist, each about $1.4 million. City Comptroller Scott Stringer got $824,482, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams $618,976, and Donovan $315,675.

Adams was ranked first by 18% of likely Democratic voters in a May 13-15 poll by Core Decision Analytics and Fontas Advisors, a political consultancy. Yang got 13% and Garcia got 11% in the poll. Roughly a quarter of those polled said they were “truly undecided.”

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