ALBANY, New York — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has $7.7 million in his state-level campaign finance account, according to a disclosure report he submitted Wednesday morning.
The warchest looms large over a potential Cuomo comeback. While he hasn’t publicly declared his intentions to run again, polling has found him with a sizable early lead in the New York City mayoral primary scheduled for June.
Cuomo hasn’t actively been raising money since he left office with $18 million in the bank in August 2021. He reported $6,215 in contributions in the second half of 2024; the bulk of this appears to have come from members of his rabid fan base who have made small automated donations for years.
But as his ongoing legal battles have drawn to a close, he’s now spending less on lawyers than he has in the past. Cuomo’s campaign account spent $7.2 million on attorneys from the spring of 2021 through the summer of 2024. But he has only spent a net of $56,000 on his legal battles in the past six months.
Under state law, candidates who spend their campaign funds on legal defense are entitled to taxpayer-funded reimbursements if they’re accused of crimes that don’t result in convictions — as was the case with Cuomo when a misdemeanor charge of forcible touching was dropped.
Past filings from Cuomo show he’s already received $1 million in refunds. While the latest disclosure report doesn’t show any new payments from the state, a spokesman said that it is expecting more such money in the future.
Cuomo spent $20,000 on polling costs through Expedition Strategies in December. He has previously utilized the firm for polling on at least two other occasions since he left office.
The ex-governor would only be allowed to transfer a small share of his warchest to a potential mayoral campaign.
But there are ways to still use the money to boost his profile. State law lets him use the money in that account to present oversized checks to churches or other charities. He can also transfer it to other candidates — and his filing shows he made $3,000 donations to four members of the state Assembly last year, three of whom represent portions of New York City.
He could also simply transfer the entire balance to a super PAC. That would mean the famously hands-on ex-governor wouldn’t be allowed to strategize with whoever controlled the money, but it would let the entirety of the funds go toward running campaign ads.