A host of Wall Street giants are backing former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York City mayoral bid, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Cuomo — who is currently running in the June 24 Democratic primary — and an independent committee backing him have raked in millions of dollars in contributions from hedge fund managers, billionaires and other Wall Street titans, according to the FT. Hedge fund managers Daniel Loeb and Bill Ackman, investor Steven Rattner, financier Anthony Scaramucci and chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group Barry Diller have all contributed to Cuomo’s campaign, the FT reported.
Ackman notably endorsed former President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election cycle, despite donating large amounts of money to primarily Democratic candidates in the past.
“In this field of candidates, Cuomo has the longest track record, and while it is mixed, for some people he is the devil you know,” Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization comprised of nearly three hundred CEOs from New York City’s top corporate, investment and entrepreneurial firms, told the FT.
Cuomo’s mayoral campaign has received $4 million in direct contributions, the FT reported. Meanwhile, Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign has notched $1.7 million in direct contributions, according to the outlet.
Cuomo’s mayoral campaign has notably faced several campaign finance setbacks.
Cuomo, who assumed office as governor of New York in 2011, resigned in disgrace in August 2021 after he was accused of sexually harassing multiple women. Still, Cuomo has since denied the sexual harassment allegations.
“Cuomo is an imperfect candidate, but from a centrist’s perspective, he’s the best option we have,” one anonymous corporate lawyer supporting Cuomo’s mayoral campaign told the FT. “New York needs someone who can manage a complex city, and Cuomo is the only one with the experience and expertise to get things done.”
Cuomo told The New York Times in an interview published June 3 that if he “had to do it again,” he would not have resigned as New York governor in 2021.
The former New York governor also faced a wave of criticism after his administration’s Department of Health in March 2020 issued an order prohibiting nursing homes from denying entry to patients “solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” In the aftermath of his administration’s rule, at least 4,000 New York nursing home residents died, the Daily Caller News Foundation first reported in Jan. 2021.
“We’ve never seen an election like this one: Rich, poor, black, white, Latino, AAPI, from every walk of life, across every borough and — yes- across every industry, they’re all saying the same thing — the city is unaffordable, they don’t feel safe, and they want a real manager in City Hall,” Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “New Yorkers know that Andrew Cuomo has the experience and the real record of results to put the city back on the right track and we are humbled by the depth and breadth of support he has amassed in the few short months he’s been in this race.”
“Enough time passed and a bunch of evidence has since come out that New Yorkers now see this [the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo] for the politicized sham that it was,” Azzopardi added.
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