Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign is touting a historic $33.5 million sum for cash on hand with just over a month ahead of Election Day.
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The governor’s campaign announced on Tuesday it had raised a combined $8.5 million between her reelection committee and the state Democratic Party since mid-July. That includes $2.6 million directly to Hochul’s campaign and $5.9 million to the state party, which the governor leads. The governor ends the 32-day pre-general election filing period with $18.5 million in the bank, according to her campaign, while the state party ends with $15 million.
All told, that gives the incumbent governor a whopping $33.5 million to spend ahead of the Nov. 3 election. According to her campaign, that’s the highest amount of money a candidate has had at this point in the election cycle. Although the state Democratic Party has expanded its purview under Hochul to support down-ballot candidates through a “coordinated campaign” apparatus, the state party’s primary purpose is still to help boost the governor as the head of the party every four years.
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“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,” Preston Elliott, Hochul’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “By investing early in a stronger coordinated campaign than New York has ever seen before, the governor has been laying the groundwork for months to hand Bruce Blakeman yet another loss and send MAGA Republicans across the state packing with him.”
Hochul didn’t opt into the state’s new public matching funds system, unlike her Republican opponent Blakeman, the Nassau County executive. His latest fundraising numbers, which must be filed by Oct. 2, were not immediately available. Blakeman reported having $4.3 million on hand in his July filing. That report was most recently amended two weeks ago, the latest in a long series of significant changes to his fundraising and spending numbers in the weeks and months following the initial July filings.
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The state Republican Party had just $225,500 on hand as of mid-July.