According to Bloomberg, the richest woman in the world, Alice Walton, an Arkansan billionaire, has contributed an additional $100,000 to help former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s bid for mayor of New York City.
The Walmart heiress has donated $100,000 to Fix the City, a super PAC that supports Cuomo over New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, for the second time. When Cuomo was competing against a crowded field in the Democratic primary in April, Walton made his first donation. Despite being the front-runner for the majority of the campaign, Mamdani easily defeated Cuomo in the primary on June 24.
According to Bloomberg, this is Walton’s second attempt at becoming involved in New York politics; her only other donation was made in 2020. At the time, she contributed $800,000 to a PAC named New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, which was endorsing two local politicians.
From 2011 until 2021, Cuomo served as governor of New York. He resigned in response to allegations that he had sexually assaulted 11 women between 2017 and 2020. During his time in government, he had several problems besides this controversy. He allegedly told state corruption investigators in 2014 not to look at anything that would hurt his political standing.
The high number of deaths in New York’s nursing homes during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak was largely attributed to Cuomo’s policy. Between March and June 2020, about 6,000 residents of nursing homes in New York passed away.
He was charged in March 2021 with giving his family and other acquaintances priority COVID-19 testing when there were few available tests in the early phases of the epidemic. Cuomo was accused by a state ethics tribunal later that year of misusing public resources, including time, money, and equipment, to write a memoirs about his leadership during the pandemic.That inquiry is still in progress.
Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist, was almost unknown when he originally entered the Democratic nomination fight. He ran on a platform of improving the quality of life for New Yorkers, including limiting rent increases, providing free public transportation, and opening city-owned supermarkets. Additionally, he has been outspoken in his populist rhetoric, stating that he believes that a just economic system should not include billionaires.
Soon after Cuomo lost the primary, funding for his campaign dwindled, but it has subsequently increased again as Cuomo has redesigned his campaign. Cuomo has courted wealthy donors, sided with President Donald Trump, and attempted to portray Mamdani as a communist. Fix the City estimates that $667,500 has been raised since the primary.
Both inside and outside of New York, billionaires and other affluent individuals have taken offense at Mamdani’s populist agenda. Who will advocate for the ultra-wealthy, Cuomo? The reason Alice Walton, a resident of Northwest Arkansas, gave the disgraced former governor $200,000 can be explained by messaging. Cuomo’s super PAC also received $5 million in June from billionaire former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and $250,000 in April from pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman.
This group of extremely affluent donors also contributes to the explanation of Cuomo’s decision to remain an independent candidate for mayor. It’s uncertain how far their money can take him given that he’s already lost to Mamdani once, and Cuomos stated last month that he would withdraw in the middle of September if he wasn’t leading at that time.
Cuomo’s exit from the campaign next month appears imminent if he is being honest. According to a recent study, 42% of voters stated that if the election were held today, they would support Mamdani. Cuomo received 23% of the vote, while Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, received 17%. Only 9% were won by current mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent and is extremely unpopular.
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