Andrew Cuomo’s run for mayor has attracted financial support from some of the country’s richest individuals — and the Rockefellers are the latest addition to that list.
Three members of the Rockefeller family, which has deep roots in New York politics and ranks as one of the wealthiest dynasties in American history, recently pumped $75,000 into a pro-Cuomo super PAC that’s boosting the former governor’s campaign for City Hall, filings released this week show.
Businessman David Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife, Susan Rockefeller, each gave the PAC, Fix the City, $25,000 on April 24, the records show. Their contributions came after David’s younger cousin, environmental lawyer Laurance Rockefeller Jr., chipped in $25,000 to the PAC on April 16.
The PAC has raised more than $6.2 million to date, per disclosures. It has already spent more than $2.5 million of that on TV and social media ads touting Cuomo as a tested leader who’d put “the city back on track.”
Susan Rockefeller and David Rockefeller Jr. each gave a pro-Cuomo PAC $25,000. (Getty)
By law, PACs can raise and spend as much money as they want as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidates they’re supporting.
However, a report in Politico recently said that the restriction hasn’t stopped Cuomo’s team from using a technique known as “red-boxing” whereby his campaign’s website lists off proposals for ads that can signal what type of messaging the PAC might push. Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi characterized the website entry as a “broad message to voters.”
The PAC cash infusion comes at a critical time for Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment accusations he denies. Last month, the Campaign Finance Board denied Cuomo’s request for nearly $3 million in public matching funds due to paperwork errors.
In addition to donating to the PAC, Rockefeller family members have contributed directly to Cuomo’s campaign.
Laurance Rockefeller, Jr., a registered Republican who once mounted a failed bid for U.S. Senate, gave $2,100, the max legal amount, to Cuomo’s campaign on March 1, the day he launched his mayoral run. He tried giving another $2,000 to Cuomo’s campaign on March 12, but that contribution was returned due to the donation cap, records show.
Another Rockefeller family member, Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, gave $2,100 to Cuomo’s campaign on March 1, too, records show.
A rep for Rockefeller Capital Management, where David Rockefeller Jr. serves on the board, didn’t return a request for comment. Fix the City spokeswoman Liz Benjamin said the PAC “is gratified by the support we continue to receive from a growing number of donors.”
The Rockefellers are among the most storied families in the country, with its patriarch, oil baron John D. Rockefeller, widely seen as the world’s first billionaire. Nelson Rockefeller, Laurance Jr.’s uncle, served as governor of New York for more than a decade, the same job both Cuomo and his father, Mario Cuomo, held.
Rockefellers, including Laurance Jr., donated to several of Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaigns, too, a Daily News review of contribution records found.
The Rockefeller cash for Cuomo’s mayoral bid is part of a wave of financial support billionaires are providing the ex-gov as he vies to replace the embattled Mayor Adams.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pictured at a campaign event in March, is polling as the favorite to win the Democratic mayoral primary. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Other business titans who have flocked to Cuomo include Bill Ackman, the Trump-supporting hedge fund manager, who gave Fix the City $250,000 in April. Alice Walton, the billionaire Walmart heiress, donated another $100,000 last month, and scores of executives in the real estate and financial sectors have given even more to pro-Cuomo efforts.
Cuomo is polling as the favorite to win June’s Democratic mayoral primary.
Some of his primary opponents have argued his reliance on billionaire donors is problematic.
“Andrew Cuomo: Trump-praised, scandal-ridden, billionaire-backed,” reads a text blast sent to voters last month by New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a super PAC that backs Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral run.
In contrast to Fix the City, the pro-Mamdani PAC is struggling to raise money, having pulled in just over $64,000 as of the end of April, filings show.