Mayor Eric Adams pulled in a sad $36,000 from just a few dozen donors over the last two months, it was revealed Tuesday — as questions swirl over his faltering re-election campaign.
The incumbent Democrat raised $36,121 from 42 relatively unknown donors between Jan. 12 and March 13, according to the latest campaign finance disclosures.
That’s chump change, especially compared to the Democratic mayoral primary frontrunners.
Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani pocketed an impressive haul of $845,000 over the same period and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the leader in the polls, pulled in $1.5 million in donations since announcing his campaign March 1.
“The evidence all seems to be pointing one direction that he’s not running,” one political source quipped about Adams. “But he has such bravado — it doesn’t seem like he’s not running.”
The mayor has been adamant in public about seeking a second term, but sources have said he’s been mulling his options behind the scenes as his supporters flee and polling shows him losing the June primary.
Most recently, Adams has been considering running as an Independent after an idea to seek the Republican line went up in smoke earlier this year, The Post reported Friday.
Adams didn’t deny the longshot, third-party run when asked about The Post’s reporting Monday.
“When I’m ready to roll out my official re-announcement and my plan, I will do so,” he told reporters.
Political pundits, however, threw cold water on the mayor’s prospects of an independent bid, saying they can’t see the path to winning — especially if Cuomo nabs the primary.
Another called the mayor “politically homeless.”
“He failed to fundraise, botched his Democratic petitioning, got shot down by Curtis Sliwa to run as a Republican, and now has no real shot as an Independent,” the operative said.
Adams has yet to staff up his campaign, according to the Tuesday filing, with just a few on his payroll, including Vito Pitta’s law firm and Bedford Grove. Both are working on the mayor’s legal defense fund as well.
Adams’ skeletal campaign operation did shell out $67,000 to petition and canvass for signatures, hundreds of thousands of which are required to get on the ballot, the latest filings show.
But after refunding about $18,000 to prior donors, including “Mighty Ducks” star and cypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce, he came away with just over half of the total haul, according to the records.
Adams is also still paying Brianna Suggs $10,000 a month for consulting fees, the records show. Suggs, the top fundraiser for his 2021 election campaign, had her house raided by the feds in November 2023, first revealing the federal investigation into Adams.
Insiders have said Adams won’t hit the campaign trail until his corruption case is dismissed. Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho has yet to rule on whether to toss the case.
Those close to the mayor believed the case would have been dismissed weeks ago — after President Trump’s Justice Department issued a controversial order for Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the charges — but now worry that there isn’t enough time to recover from poor polling.
Todd Shapiro, who is volunteering for the mayor’s campaign as a spokesperson, brushed off the meager fundraising haul.
“The Eric Adams campaign is proud to have raised the maximum allowable amount for this election cycle months ago,” Shapiro said. “We continue to maintain that the campaign has fully qualified for matching funds.”
The campaign still has more than $3 million on hand, according to the Campaign Finance Board, which in December denied the mayor access to the 8-to-1 taxpayer-funded matching dollars due to his ongoing criminal probe.
Even if approved through an internal appeal with the CFB, the funds wouldn’t be available to Adams until mid-May.
Cuomo, the current frontrunner in polls, was deemed eligible for matching funds, bringing his expected war chest to more than $4.1 million, according to his campaign.
The far-left dark horse Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, is also expected to have more than $4 million thanks to the matching funds program.
Current city Comptroller Brad Lander and former Comptroller Scott Stringer have raised, with public funds, more than $6.7 million and $5 million, respectively, according to their campaigns.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams pulled in just over $125,000 in the short week since she formally joined the race but fell short of being qualified for the public matching.
Adams is accused of exchanging political favors for luxury travel. He has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing since being indicted in September 2024.
