Gov. Kathy Hochul's reelection campaign and the New York State Democratic Party raised more than $8.5 million during the September campaign-finance filing period, the campaign said Tuesday, giving the two operations more than $33 million in combined cash on hand as Election Day approaches.
The total includes more than $2.6 million raised for Hochul's campaign and more than $5.9 million for the state party, according to a release from Friends for Kathy Hochul. The release did not include the underlying filings or a comparison with the funds held by Republican Bruce Blakeman's campaign.
Cash available for the campaign
Friends for Kathy Hochul ended the filing period with more than $18.5 million in cash on hand, while the New York State Democratic Party reported more than $15 million, the release said. Those figures describe money remaining in the accounts, not the amount raised during the latest period.
The campaign described the combined balance as the most New York Democrats have held at this point in an election cycle. That historical comparison is the campaign's claim; the release did not provide figures from earlier cycles to independently establish the record.
Campaign manager Preston Elliott said the money would support a coordinated Democratic campaign in the final stretch of the race. He framed the fundraising as part of the effort to defeat Blakeman and other Republicans but did not specify how much would be spent in particular regions or races.
Donors and online contributions
The campaign reported support from 17,800 individual donors in the filing period. It said that was more than four times the number for the comparable period in 2022 and described it as a record for Hochul's campaign.
The average online donation was $22.38, according to the release. That figure applies to online gifts; the campaign did not present it as the average across every contribution received during the period.
For the fourth consecutive filing period, the campaign said it received grassroots donations from all 62 New York counties. It also said a majority of its contributions came from New Yorkers, without giving a county-by-county breakdown in the release.
The reported totals leave the campaign and state party with separate pools of cash heading into the closing weeks of the race. The release did not detail spending plans, donor totals for the party or a date range for the September filing period.
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