Jim Walden, a outstanding New York lawyer operating for mayor this yr on an anti-corruption platform, raised almost $630,000 for his marketing campaign in the latest reporting interval — a large haul for a first-time candidate.
Walden’s $629,736 money pull within the newest interval, which spanned between Oct. 8 and this previous Saturday, is bigger than what any of Mayor Adams’ different challengers have raised in a single earlier reporting window. Nevertheless, it gained’t be clear till Wednesday’s public disclosure deadline how a lot cash the opposite 2025 mayoral candidates, together with Adams, raised in the latest span.
“Friends and strangers stepped up in huge numbers to pledge their support for our campaign and an independent path forward for New York City. We achieved our goal; out-raising all the challengers in less than half the time they had before I entered the race,” mentioned Walden, who has by no means earlier than campaigned for public workplace. “We will be fully funded by the height of the campaign season. And we will be pounding miles of pavement to speak with voters across the five boroughs about my plan for restoring integrity and accountability to City Hall.”
Nonetheless, Walden isn’t anticipated to be eligible for public matching funds when the Marketing campaign Finance Board points its second spherical of funds Wednesday.
Walden’s $629,736 got here from 834 particular person contributors, 492 of whom are New York Metropolis residents, he mentioned. To be able to be eligible for matching funds, mayoral candidates want to lift a minimum of $250,000 from 1,000 metropolis residents.
The sizable first fundraising run from Walden, who launched his marketing campaign Oct. 23, offers him a aggressive edge as he mounts a third-party mayoral bid.
As an impartial, Walden hasn’t completely dominated out operating within the June 24 Democratic main wherein Adams already faces a sprawling discipline of challengers. However Walden says he could search the Republican nomination, too, along with operating as an impartial in November’s common election.
Petitioning for the primaries begins on the finish of February.
A seasoned litigator with a historical past of representing varied New York politicians, together with potential 2025 mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, Walden has pitched himself as a authorities knowledgeable impressed by Michael Bloomberg.
With Adams’ federal indictment looming over the 2025 race, Walden has made rooting out corruption in metropolis authorities a key plank in his marketing campaign, just lately floating a proposal to present town Division of Investigation extra energy to go after crooked politicians. Walden is at present representing Joseph Jardin, a prime FDNY official who alleges he was pressured by Adams to approve the opening of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan in 2021, a key episode within the mayor’s indictment, to which he pleaded not responsible.
Beforehand, Stringer held the excellence of drawing in essentially the most money in a single reporting interval out of all of the candidates operating towards Adams, elevating simply shy of $411,000 for his Democratic mayoral marketing campaign between January 2024 and July 2024.
Stringer was the one candidate who acquired the Marketing campaign Finance Board’s first public matching funds fee on Dec. 16, netting him $2 million for a complete money steadiness of $2.3 million.
Adams, whose 2025 marketing campaign has a $3 million money steadiness, was additionally eligible for matching funds final interval. However the CFB denied him the fee, citing considerations about his indictment, which alleges he solicited unlawful straw donations and bribes from Turkish authorities operatives in change for political favors. Adams is anticipated to face trial in April, simply weeks earlier than the Democratic mayoral main.
A number of different 2025 candidates, together with Comptroller Brad Lander, have mentioned they count on to be eligible for matching funds Wednesday. All of the candidates within the mayoral discipline, which additionally contains Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and ex-Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake, are anticipated to have their newest fundraising hauls disclosed Wednesday as effectively.
