Madmallard
.223 Rem
At $25 million and counting, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sits atop the largest tower of campaign contributions of any Democratic politician in America, but this monument to his prodigious fund-raising strength also reveals one of his greatest vulnerabilities, especially if he harbors presidential ambitions.
He has virtually no small donors.
Since the beginning of 2015, Mr. Cuomo has raised more than 99 percent of his campaign money from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 99.9 percent of his funds from donors who gave at least $200, according to an analysis by The New York Times. At one point last year, Mr. Cuomo went six months without reporting a single individual donor who gave less than $200.
“You almost have to try to have that few,” said Michael Whitney, who served as Senator Bernie Sanders’s digital fund-raising manager on his 2016 presidential campaign. He said that if Mr. Cuomo were to run for president and maintain his “comically absent number of small donors,” it could cripple him in an era where both parties, but particularly Democrats, have become reliant on an army of small givers to compete at the national level.
“I don’t understand how he can credibly use his current fund-raising operation and be a viable candidate for 2020,” Mr. Whitney said.
For now, Mr. Cuomo insists he is only running for a third term as New York governor in 2018, his “dream job,” he said last week, brushing aside questions about his future.
With a 70 percent approval rating in New York City, including more than half of Republicans in a poll last month, Mr. Cuomo’s path to re-election seems smooth. Still, he is taking no chances; his bulging war chest makes him a particularly imposing front-runner.
He will add to it this week as he heads to California, with stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, and an itinerary typical of his big-money fund-raising calendar. Donors will be asked for as much as $50,000 to rub shoulders with the governor at the home of Jeff Shell, the chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. Other boldfaced names on the invitation include the CBS chief executive, Leslie Moonves; the Disney chief, Bob Iger, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks Animation.
Even if Mr. Cuomo ends his 2018 re-election with a sizable surplus, he cannot use his state account to fund a potential presidential campaign because funds are not transferable. But Mr. Cuomo’s vast network of large donors would be the envy of most politicians, and his patrons could always spend millions on an independent super PAC.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming reliance on big checks makes Mr. Cuomo an outlier even among the best fund-raisers in the country.
Cuomo, a Master of the $50,000 Fund-Raiser, Bypasses Small Donors
He has virtually no small donors.
Since the beginning of 2015, Mr. Cuomo has raised more than 99 percent of his campaign money from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 99.9 percent of his funds from donors who gave at least $200, according to an analysis by The New York Times. At one point last year, Mr. Cuomo went six months without reporting a single individual donor who gave less than $200.
“You almost have to try to have that few,” said Michael Whitney, who served as Senator Bernie Sanders’s digital fund-raising manager on his 2016 presidential campaign. He said that if Mr. Cuomo were to run for president and maintain his “comically absent number of small donors,” it could cripple him in an era where both parties, but particularly Democrats, have become reliant on an army of small givers to compete at the national level.
“I don’t understand how he can credibly use his current fund-raising operation and be a viable candidate for 2020,” Mr. Whitney said.
For now, Mr. Cuomo insists he is only running for a third term as New York governor in 2018, his “dream job,” he said last week, brushing aside questions about his future.
With a 70 percent approval rating in New York City, including more than half of Republicans in a poll last month, Mr. Cuomo’s path to re-election seems smooth. Still, he is taking no chances; his bulging war chest makes him a particularly imposing front-runner.
He will add to it this week as he heads to California, with stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, and an itinerary typical of his big-money fund-raising calendar. Donors will be asked for as much as $50,000 to rub shoulders with the governor at the home of Jeff Shell, the chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. Other boldfaced names on the invitation include the CBS chief executive, Leslie Moonves; the Disney chief, Bob Iger, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks Animation.
Even if Mr. Cuomo ends his 2018 re-election with a sizable surplus, he cannot use his state account to fund a potential presidential campaign because funds are not transferable. But Mr. Cuomo’s vast network of large donors would be the envy of most politicians, and his patrons could always spend millions on an independent super PAC.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming reliance on big checks makes Mr. Cuomo an outlier even among the best fund-raisers in the country.
Cuomo, a Master of the $50,000 Fund-Raiser, Bypasses Small Donors