Mamdani's Crowdfunded Transition: 30,000 Average New Yorkers, With A Dash Of Billionaires

(MENAFN- Live Mint) New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday sought donations from the people of Big Apple "one last time", with a little over three weeks remaining before he takes office on 1 January 2026.

"I am once again asking for your support," Mamdani began in his appeal, quoting Senator Bernie Sanders, whose lines have since become part of internet and meme culture.

Telling New Yorkers why his team needed further donations, Mamdani explained that they were busy were reviewing over 70,000 resumes, setting up transition committees, naming appointees to "turn policy into practice", and planning and budgeting for an inauguration celebration.

"All so we can start delivering on our affordability agenda from day one, without skipping a beat," the NYC mayor-elect said.

It's now the first week of December, Mamdani has already raised more than what his predecessors had during their transitions.

However, what's markedly different is how Mamdani seems to be raising the money.

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Since enabling donations in early November, Mamdani and his team have raised $3.5 million from more than 30,000 New Yorkers, as per the mayor-elect's latest update.

Pre-set amounts for donations to Mamdani's fund start from $10 and go up to a maximum of $3,700.

According to his campaign, donations averaged $88 in November, with 95% of the donations being under $250.

In comparison, Mamdani's predecessor Eric Adams had raised over $1.9 million, but from a mere 820 donors, with many donations being the maximum amount of $5,100.

Major donors to Adams included real estate developers MaryAnne Gilmartin and Abby Elbaum and hedge fund managers Paul Tudor Jones and John Paulson. Isaac Ash, the founder of clothing company United Legwear & Apparel Co, and Lauder family member and cosmetics heir Ron Lauder all gave the maximum allowable donation of $5,100, as per a January 2022 report by City & State New York.

However, while Adams raised more than $1.9 million, only $1.2 million was spent in the transition. His campaign returned $800,236 to 246 donors, although it remains unclear how whose money to return was determined.

Some of those who got refunds were former American Express Chair and CEO Kenneth Chenault and his wife Kathryn, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb and his wife Margaret, and media personality Bo Dietl (currently a member of President Donald Trump's Homeland Security Advisory Council), among others.

Adams' predecessor Bill de Blasio too had raised over $2 million for his first inauguration in 2013 from a mere 884 donors, averaging $2,392 per person.

In the cases of both Adams and de Blasio, funding seemed to have come exclusively from the elite.

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In contrast, a chunk of Mamdani's $3.5 million kitty has come from the pockets of average New Yorkers.

However, that does not mean that there have been no big money donations to the mayor-elect's transition fund.

Rather, Mamdani's transition team has been using contributions from wealthier donors, as large as the maximum of $3,700, to supplement the thousands of small donations, reported The New York Times.

Since being appointed mayor-elect, Mamdani has brushed shoulders with liberal billionaires from George Soros' son Alex to crypto firm Galaxy Digital's billionaire CEO Michael Novogratz, the publication reported.

The 34-year-old also reportedly met with Texas oil tycoon H L Hunt's granddaughter and progressive political organization Way to Win, Leah Hunt-Hendrix.

But that's not all, next week, Mamdani is set to meet with Hollywood actors Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and Titus Burgess, as well as his mother, director Mira Nair, at a star-studded reception where tickets cost $1,000.

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Mamdani had earlier said that his transition team were aiming to raise $4 million, and with Monday's update, he seems to be nearly there.

Whether Mamdani's brush with elites, despite his anti-billionaire rhetoric during the campaign, helps the NYC mayor-elect reach his funding target remains to be seen.

That said, with three weeks to go and the number of donors ballooning from 12,000 in the first 10 days to over 30,000 now, Mamdani could well end up raising more than his target.

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