How fund matching can put power in the hands of New York voters
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Election season in New York City can mean door knocks, phone calls, and dozens of events throughout the city led by candidates seeking funding for their campaigns.
For voters who donate to campaigns, New York City has a local fund-matching program intended to give residents more power in the face of powerful financial interests.
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Public fund matching is when New York City's Campaign Finance Board provides public funds to candidates running for city office. For donations under $250, the CFB matches every dollar given to a candidate with $8, according to NYC Votes.
The Matching Funds Program was established in 1988 to help address the cost of running for public office and to encourage candidates to finance their campaigns through small donations from average New Yorkers instead of wealthy special interest groups, according to the organization Blue Prints for Democracy.
Anyone running for a municipal office such as mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president or city council is eligible to participate in the Matching Funds Program.
To participate in the Matching Funds Program, a candidate must appear on the ballot with at least one challenger, must agree to increased financial oversight from the CFB, and must abide by campaign spending limits that vary depending on the office they're running for.
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The Matching Funds Program was intended to make it possible for any New Yorker to run for office, and to help ensure candidates answer to the interests of residents as opposed to special interest groups, according to NYC Votes.
Organizers from Blue Prints for Democracy say that the Matching Funds Program has been successful in ensuring that individuals who give to campaigns represent the city's racial and economic diversity. The program has also successfully encouraged candidates to reach out to communities that may have otherwise been ignored, according to Blue Prints for Democracy.
More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State
'[S]ince the multiple match increases reliance on small donors, there is less need for a candidate to cozy up to special interests,' one elected official said.
Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have been denied millions in matching campaign funds in the 2025 mayoral election. On the other hand, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani has received so much support that he has maxed out fundraising for the mayoral primary.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Cuomo, Lander, and Stringer all advocate building hundreds of thousands of costly new 'affordable' units, which, in exchange for property tax abatements, will be rent-stabilized. 6 Mamdani is proposing both a rent 'freeze' and the construction of hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units. Paul Martinka As those units age, they'll face the same revenue problems as older buildings in The Bronx. And they'll distort the city's housing market in a way that locks out talented newcomers the city needs. The proposed units are also costly, at least $500,000 a piece. Per Census data, turnover in rent-regulated units is half that of market-rate units, one of the reasons the city's overall turnover is 46% lower than the national average. 6 New public housing might sound logical, but NYC can barely manage and maintain the 117 existing public housing buildings already in operation. OLGA GINZBURG FOR THE NEW YORK POST That helps explain why the city's vacancy rate is so low and young adults must double and triple up in small apartments while Boomers age in place with empty bedrooms. Then there's 'inclusionary zoning' — a centerpiece of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams' housing policy. It actually drives up rents. Requiring that 20% of units be 'affordable' means that rents must be higher for the market-rate units for construction to make financial sense. 6 Supporters were seen holding signs in Bedford Stuyvesant during Zohran Mamdani's campaign rally. MediaPunch / BACKGRID Smart Democrats are backing what's been dubbed the 'abundance' agenda, which emphasizes the importance of building, not just redistribution. They should realize we need to encourage the construction of any and all housing. More supply will bring down the price of new housing and old, and help to meet demand. That would actually solve the housing crisis. 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