FILE PHOTO: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a media availability after visiting victims of an earlier subway shooting at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 12, 2022. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
(The Center Square) — New York's Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has a huge cash advantage over her Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman with only five weeks left until the election.
Hochul’s campaign announced Tuesday that it raised more than $8.5 million in contributions during the most recent reporting period, including more than $2.6 million for her reelection campaign. The governor also raised more than $5.9 million for the state Democratic Party, according to her campaign committee.
Friends for Kathy Hochul finished the reporting period with more than $18.5 million available for her campaign, while the New York State Democratic Party had more than $15 million cash on hand.
Combined, the two had more than $33 million in cash on hand, according to Hochul's campaign. The campaign said that figure as the “most ever at this point in the election cycle in party history.”
Hochul also touted that the money came from a "record" 17,800 individual donors — more than four times the number of donors it reported for the same period ahead of the 2022 election. The average online contribution was $22.38, the campaign said.
“Thanks to New Yorkers from all 62 counties standing with us for the fourth filing period in a row, Governor Hochul’s campaign and the state Democratic Party are headed into the final stretch of this race with unprecedented firepower,” Friends for Kathy Hochul campaign manager Preston Elliott said in a statement.
Blakeman, 70, a Nassau County Executive, is making his first run for governor with Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood as his running mate for lieutenant governor. He is challenging Hochul, 68, is seeking re-election to a second full term with her running mate, former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
A Siena poll released in August showed Hochul leading Blakeman by 10 points, 49% to 39% — a 10-point drop from a June voter survey in a sign that the governor's race is tightening.
In the money race, Blakeman's campaign has raised more than $11 million since he launched his campaign nearly a year ago, according to his latest filings with the New York State Board of Elections. Blakeman's campaign hasn't disclosed his campaign haul from the latest reporting period.
Unlike Hochul, Blakeman is participating in New York's public financing program, which matches the first $250 of contributions to their campaigns by a 6-to-1 margin with public funds.
The law requires candidates for governor to raise at least $500,000 from 5,000 New York-based donors who give $1,050 or less. The maximum payout for a candidate is $3.5 million for both the primary and general elections.
The Democratic-controlled New York Public Campaign Finance Board had initially blocked Blakeman's request for funding through the program, but he sued them and secured a judgment allowing him to participate in the program.
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