As the 2021 mayoral race heats up, Borough President Eric Adams has received more campaign donations from Brooklynites than any of his competitors — raising over $820,000 from his fellow Kings Countians.
A map from the city’s Campaign Finance Board paints a picture of where the millions of campaign dollars are flowing, with Adams leading the pack among candidates collecting donations from Brooklyn — and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, City Comptroller Scott Stringer, former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, and activist Maya Wiley trailing steadily behind the Beep.
Former Obama Cabinet Secretary Shaun Donavan and non-profit executive Dianne Morales have also produced strong showings in the borough.
Adams, a second-term borough president and former state senator, has seen a strong base of support among the relatively conservative Marine Park and Mill Basin neighborhoods, where he’s pulled in $95,380, according to campaign filings.
Bay Ridge has also provided a significant windfall for the Beep, with residents of the 11209 zip code donating $39,240. Residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Adams lives, have contributed $49,664 through the campaign — showing Adams’ broad appeal across disparate political factions.
Former presidential candidate Yang has raised over $305,000 from Brooklynites, while Stringer, a prodigious fundraiser and resident of the distant isle of Manhattan, has raised over $237,300 in the borough.
In addition to Adams’ dominance on his turf, the map also shows other candidates doing well on their home fields — such as in Park Slope, where neighborhood native Garcia out-raised all her rivals with $54,724 from 492 of her neighbors.
Overall, in nearly all cases, residents of zip codes covering Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights donated far more money than any other areas in Brooklyn.
Outside of the borough’s limits, Yang has steamrolled the fundraising field, collecting $6.5 million in just 57 days from 15,600 donors. Much of Yang’s support comes from devout followers of his 2020 presidential campaign, where, despite low name recognition, he outlasted more established candidates like then-Senator Kamala Harris and Congressmember Beto O’Rourke with his idea for no-strings-attached cash payments to all Americans. The eccentric entrepreneur also leads public polls, with 28 percent of respondents choosing Yang as their candidate of choice in a recent Politico poll.
Stringer recently announced that his campaign boasts $9.14 million in the proverbial bank, while Adams has about $9.3 million in his coffers.
Former CitiBank executive Ray McGuire also brings significant fundraising prowess, raising $2.5 million from 6,000 contributions since January, coming atop the $5 million he raised after announcing his bid.
The funds raised by individual contributors are of particular importance to city politicians, as New York City’s Campaign Finance Board provides candidates with “matching funds” that allows would-be electeds to receive an 8-to-1 math for the first $250 of contributions coming from city residents — provided they raise $250,000 from at least 1,000 qualifying donors. Another, less popular system of matching funds allows for greater contribution limits, with lower matching funds.
Thus far, only Adams, Stringer, and Wiley had qualified for matching funds, although a slew of candidates — including Yang, Garcia, Morales, and Donovan — will likely cross the necessary threshold and get the monetary boost.
“The map shows how the city’s matching funds program incentivizes candidates to seek support from New Yorkers living on virtually every block across the city,” said Amy Loprest executive director of the Campaign Finance Board in a statement.
