Top Wall Street dealmakers are aligning with Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for New York City mayor, hoping the disgraced former governor can defeat a slate of leftist hopefuls.
Cuomo’s campaign and an independent committee supporting him have taken in millions of dollars in contributions from finance, real estate and other corporate interests that have helped him far out-raise his competitors. High-profile contributors include hedge fund billionaires Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb, financiers Steven Rattner and Anthony Scaramucci and media mogul Barry Diller.
While Wall Street and business interests comprise a small fraction of New York voters, they have outsized influence in America’s largest city, and dealmakers told the Financial Times that the city’s fiscal challenges, worries about urban disorder and tense relationship with President Donald Trump required an experienced hand.
“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,” said Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, the powerful trade group that represents New York’s elite business interests.
Cuomo, 67, resigned as governor in 2021 after a state investigation found he sexually harassed multiple women. He is among nearly a dozen candidates seeking the Democratic party nomination in the June 24 primary election. With no meaningful Republican opposition, the winner of the Democratic primary is typically the heavy favourite to be deep blue New York City’s next mayor.
The candidates are seeking to replace Eric Adams, who was elected four years ago but has withdrawn from the Democratic party amid an administration marred by corruption allegations. Adams will run as an independent in the November general election.
Cuomo has raised $4mn in direct contributions, with an average donation of $726. Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic socialist polling closest to Cuomo, has raised $1.7mn, with an average donation of $80. The cash has fuelled a torrent of television advertisements.
Two top Manhattan corporate lawyers, Brad Karp of Paul, Weiss and Rodgin Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell, each have bundled tens of thousands of dollars of direct donations from several fellow partners at their respective firms.
Blair Effron, a Centerview Partners investment banker and top fundraiser for the Democratic party, also made a $2,100 maximum direct donation to Cuomo’s campaign, along with a $30,000 contribution to a third-party political action committee aligned with the former governor called Fix the City. Investor and banker Antonio Weiss also donated $2,100, even as he has advised Adams on fiscal matters.
“Cuomo is an imperfect candidate, but from a centrist’s perspective, he’s the best option we have,” said one corporate lawyer supporting his bid. “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.”
A spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign said: “New Yorkers now see [the sexual harassment investigation] for the politicised sham that it was.”
Cuomo had supporters from “from every walk of life, across every borough” and “New Yorkers know that Andrew Cuomo has the experience and the real record of results to put the city back on the right track,” the spokesperson added.
His campaign has focused on his executive experience as the former governor and attorney-general of New York. Cuomo’s long-standing ties to various New York racial, ethnic and labour groups have helped power him to commanding leads in polls.
Adams, a former police officer, received strong support from Wall Street and the New York City real estate industry in his first mayoral campaign as a figure who would stop urban decay amid the waning days of the coronavirus pandemic.
But his tenure has been marked by corruption allegations, including his federal indictment last year for allegedly taking bribes from Turkey. The Trump administration dropped the charges earlier this year, citing the need for his help with immigration enforcement.
Wall Street leaders are so eager to see Cuomo win that one of them, Rattner, donated despite being targeted by Cuomo in a pay-to-play investigation while he was state attorney-general that resulted in a $10mn settlement. Rattner, once a prominent private equity investor who now manages the family fortune of Michael Bloomberg, did not respond to a request for comment.
“Cuomo’s the only one who knows how to govern,” said one prominent Wall Street figure who declined to be named and warned of an exodus of millionaires if any of the other Democratic candidates were elected. “He’s a manager, an administrator, and he works from the centre, not from the far left.”
This person added the findings of the investigation into Cuomo’s conduct — which included unwanted groping, kissing, hugging and humiliating comments — were not “truly predatory”, suggesting the finance industry was ready to look past the behaviour that brought down his governorship.
“No one ever accused [Wall Street] of being values-driven. But many of us thought they cared in at least a [little] way about our society,” said Lindsey Boylan, a former employee who accused him of inappropriate conduct.
The sense of an inevitable Cuomo victory had also motivated some to donate, multiple donors said, citing Cuomo’s reputation for rewarding allies — and punishing perceived enemies.
“It’s called being with a winner,” said Wylde, the chief executive of the Partnership for New York City.
Additional reporting by Joe Miller in Washington
https://www.ft.com/content/b29de84f-ff58-43d4-92c8-71fdfeace26b
