NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani raises $2M for transition efforts in less than 3 weeks
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has raised $2 million for his transition efforts in less than 20 days as he prepares to take office on January 1.
The money comes mostly from small donors – with 25,620 individual donors and an average contribution of $75.
The fundraiser reflects Mamdani’s emphasis on grassroots support.
Compared to his more than 25,000 donors, Mayor Adams’ total transition money came from 884 people, for a total of $1.94 million in 2021, and former Mayor de Blasio received funds from 820 people in 2013, for a total of $2.08 million. Those numbers reflect Adams and de Blasio’s latest hauls, while Mamdani still has more than a month to continue fundraising.
The funds will be used to pay his staff, build teams of experts and advocates to advise his new administration and screen the 70,000 CVs of candidates for the Mamdani administration.
“The Mamdani transition, powered by the people, is building an administration that reflects the values and vision of New York City,” said Elana Leopold, executive director of the transition.
“These contributions will help us recruit top talent ready to hit the ground running on January 1 and begin implementing the affordability agenda that more than a million New Yorkers voted for.”
Mamdani launched this fundraising campaign the day after his victory on November 4.
Mamdani announced Monday the makeup of his 400-person transition team, who are now working across 17 committees to set up the administration. This team includes former Adams administration officials, including Meera Joshi, former deputy mayor; Laura Kavanagh, former fire department commissioner; Hassan Naveed, Adams’ former hate crimes chief who accused him of anti-Muslim bias after he was fired, and Arva Rice, who led the Civilian Complaint Review Commission until Adams asked her to resign.
After Mamdani asked his supporters to donate to the transition on social media last week, his team said they received $300,000 in 12 hours from 5,999 donors.
