Fix the City, a super PAC that spent an unprecedented $22.5 million on propping up Andrew Cuomo’s failed Democratic primary campaign for mayor, is teaming up with at least one other independent spending group to boost Cuomo as he faces off a second time against front-runner Zohran Mamdani in November’s election.
The coalition, for starters, is comprised of Fix the City and New Yorkers for a Better Future, a super PAC that has been raising money for months without formally registering to back or oppose a specific candidate in the mayor’s race.
In a statement to the Daily News on Wednesday, the treasurer of New Yorkers for a Better Future, Jeff Leb, confirmed his PAC, effective immediately, will start spending on ads and other messaging in favor of Cuomo and against Mamdani, with a plan to coordinate all its activities with Fix the City.
“FTC and NYFABF will each execute programs that complement — never duplicate — each other, while staying entirely separate from any campaign,” Leb said, using acronyms for the PACs. “Just as importantly, we will educate voters about the stakes of this election and make clear that Zohran Mamdani simply isn’t up to serving as mayor of the largest city in America.”
Steve Cohen, Fix the City’s chairman who was Cuomo’s top Albany aide while he was governor, said he expects several more anti-Mamdani PACs to join the pro-Cuomo coalition in coming weeks. He declined to immediately name them.
Unlike campaigns, PACs can raise and spend as much money as they want in elections, as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidates they’re supporting. Propelled by billionaire donors, like ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, Fix the City spent nearly $23 million during the primary on efforts to boost Cuomo, who still lost to Mamdani by more than 12%.
The new coalition effort marks the latest sign of New York’s business communities coalescing around Cuomo as he continues to poll as the most viable challenger to take on Mamdani in November.
Mayor Adams, who, like Cuomo, is running on an independent line on November’s ballot, has been considering exiting the race in order to take a job in the Trump administration, a move that would likely stand to benefit the ex-gov’s chances of beating Mamdani. Publicly, though, Adams has maintained he will stay in the race.
Sources working on Fix the City’s new PAC coalition effort said there are no immediate plans to use resources to attack Adams and urge him to step out of the race to increase the viability of Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual and professional misconduct accusations he denies. But the sources said the coalition is not ruling out that this could change if Adams insists on staying in the race.
A spokesman for Cuomo, whose campaign got in trouble during the primary over alleged coordination with Fix the City, declined to comment on the new super PAC coalition. A spokeswoman for Mamdani, a democratic socialist who continues to poll as the clear favorite to win November’s mayoral election, didn’t immediately comment, either.
Other anti-Mamdani PACs, including an entity called Sensible City, operated independently during the primary.
Cohen told The News the coalition effort is about ensuring all anti-Mamdani outside spending groups are on the same page and not duplicating any attack efforts. Cohen also said there will be a strategic shift.
During the primary, he conceded, Fix the City didn’t do a good enough job explaining in ads and mailers what he characterized as the dangers of Mamdani. The new efforts will be focused on going into more granular detail about specific Mamdani proposals, according to Cohen, who also said there will be a renewed focus on pro-Cuomo street canvassing initiatives.
“We are enthusiastic about joining efforts with NYFBF to bring experienced and sensible leadership to New York City,” Cohen said.
Leb, a longtime political consultant, has operated PAC efforts in New York elections for years, and sources said there’s an expectation his operation will focus on producing anti-Mamdani ads, in particular. The sources said Leb’s PAC will use artificial intelligence software to tailor ads for specific communities across the city.
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