NEW YORK — The New York City Campaign Finance Board denied Mayor Eric Adams millions of dollars in matching funds for the tenth time Wednesday — and suggested in a strongly worded statement that Adams will not be getting a penny anytime soon.
The regulatory body denied Adams the public funding he's seeking for his general election bid on two grounds: His campaign has not submitted required paperwork, and the board has reason to believe the campaign violated the law.
“The board finds the campaign has provided incomplete and misleading information to the CFB and has impeded the CFB staff’s ability to complete its investigation,” Board Chair Frederick Schaffer said during Wednesday morning’s board meeting. “With respect to the second ground, the board’s conclusion is based upon its review of all of the available evidence, including, but not limited to, its own independent investigation.”
The board’s decision escalates a long-simmering standoff with the incumbent and hobbles Adams’ ability to compete at a time when he is already at a severe disadvantage. The mayor dropped out of the Democratic primary after the controversial dismissal of a federal bribery case against him. He is now running in the crowded general election as an independent.
Fellow independents Andrew Cuomo and Jim Walden are hoping to take down the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has solidly staked out the left lane in the general election. So is GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Cuomo’s base overlaps with Adams’, as does Sliwa’s, although to a lesser degree. Should the multimillion-dollar hole in his war chest persist, the mayor will be forced to continue the time-consuming process of fundraising long after his opponents, placing yet another obstacle in the way of his longshot comeback bid.
Adams’ campaign did not immediately comment on the board’s latest decision.
The CFB has regularly denied Adams matching funds since December 2024, in part because of allegations of a straw donor scheme laid out in a federal bribery indictment against him. That case was dismissed this spring at the behest of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
Last month, Adams sued the board in hopes of forcing the release of the funds, but he lost. United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote in his decision that the CFB was within its rights to deny Adams matching dollars based on paperwork shortfalls.
Adams' campaign, however, rejoiced at the decision: Garaufis also wrote the CFB should not rely on allegations laid out in the bribery case because the mayor, like anyone facing criminal charges, is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
For Adams’ legal team, the logic was simple: Produce the paperwork. Get the matching funds.
Wednesday’s meeting turned that thinking on its head.
In doubling down on its reasons for denying Adams the millions of dollars he needs to run a serious citywide campaign, the board appeared to take steps to insulate itself from any further legal salvos. Schaffer specifically noted that the board’s suspicion of illegal activity is based, in part, on its own internal investigation — a foundation that would circumvent the federal judge’s wariness of relying on unproven allegations in an indictment.
Adams’ competitors, meanwhile, were showered with cash Wednesday.
Mamdani was awarded around $1.7 million in public matching funds. Sliwa scored around $1.9 million. And Walden was granted more than $200,000.
Cuomo, who has been polling in second place behind Mamdani, was not awarded any matching funds for the second time since the June 24 primary. His team said the former governor did not apply for a payout, but that fundraising is picking back up and that Cuomo will be ready for the next opportunity later this month.
Comments