The December donors embody members of the super-wealthy Pritzker and Soros dynasties in addition to Hollywood stars like Mark Ruffalo, Lupita Nyong’O, Invoice Camp and Morgan Spector.
In complete, the mayor raked in $1.2 million from over 6,000 donors for his transition fund final month — with half of that haul coming from simply 200 people who gave Mamdani the utmost donation of $3,700, the brand new filings launched late Thursday present.
That got here on prime of the $2.6 million he pulled in over the course of November, making his transition committee some of the well-funded in fashionable New York Metropolis reminiscence.
Lots of the maxed-out donations that poured into Mamdani’s transition coffers final month got here from a string of star-studded fundraisers, together with a night gala in Decrease Manhattan that featured celebrities like Julianne Moore, Ramy Youssef and filmmaker Mira Nair, Mamdani’s mom.
The funds are getting used to pay workers who’ve been concerned in hiring for Mamdani’s new administration and internet hosting his Jan. 1 inauguration festivities. Even with the high-dollar contributions, Mamdani had a median contribution dimension of $204, talking to his vast web of lower-dollar, grassroots donors.
The transition can maintain incurring bills by the top of January as the brand new mayor continues to construct out his administration.
Amongst those that pumped the max $3,700 quantity into Mamdani’s transition coffers have been Nyong’O, Ruffalo, Robert Soros, the investor son of billionaire progressive activist George Soros, Lynn Novick, a movie producer who works with Ken Burns, and Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s international head of music and a longtime report govt. Adam Pritzker, a scion of the ultra-wealthy Pritzker household, additionally donated $3,700 in early December.
Mike Luba, promoter at Forest Hills Stadium and a member of the mayor’s inauguration committee, pitched in that most as nicely, as did the Partnership for New York Metropolis, whose chief, Kathy Wylde, has been a key ally for the mayor within the enterprise group.
Lots of the outstanding transition contributors are high-earners who reside in New York Metropolis. Which means they’d possible see their tax payments improve if Mamdani makes good on his proposal — which requires state motion — to jack up revenue taxes by 2% on residents who earn greater than $1 million per yr.
Wylde, who has launched Mamdani to many enterprise leaders within the metropolis since his election, stated there’s widespread distaste for his tax-the-rich agenda in native enterprise communities. Nonetheless, she stated that doesn’t imply members of these communities shut their pocketbooks for him.
Mamdani’s transition paid IDEKO Productions, an occasions company, practically $1 million for organizing his New Yr’s Day inauguration ceremony on the steps of Metropolis Corridor in addition to an accompanying “block party” that passed off on surrounding blocks.
To host his midnight swearing-in on the outdated Metropolis Corridor station, Mamdani’s staff paid $10,000 to the MTA, in line with filings.
Cat Almonte Da Costa, who was tapped final month to be a prime official in Mamdani’s Metropolis Corridor however resigned a day after her appointment amid outrage about her tweets about Jews, acquired paid $14,100 over two funds in December for what’s listed as “staff” wage. It’s unclear what function she performed on the transition, and Mamdani spokespeople didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
After the Almonte Da Costa scandal, Mamdani shelled out $25,000 to opposition analysis agency Tappan Analysis and $2,500 on the providers of Elizabeth Pena for “vetting consulting.”
