Queens candidates bring in over $1 million in matching funds

Erycka Montoya, a Democratic candidate running for City Council District 21, brought in more public matching funds than any other non-incumbent Queens candidate on Tuesday. Photo via Montoya’s campaign

By Jacob Kaye

Over a dozen candidates running for City Council in Queens were gifted public matching funds by the city’s Campaign Finance Board on Tuesday.

The total haul for local candidates through the eight-to-one matching program that has become vital to winning office in New York City surpassed $1 million. For a little less than half of the Queens Council candidates, Tuesday’s awarded funds marked the first time they’ve been able to access the money this election cycle.

The biggest earner on Tuesday was City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Ricardo Pacheco, who also was awarded funds on Tuesday. The CFB voted to give the incumbent around $192,500 after he raised $69,136. Pacheco, who has raised $10,135 this cycle, was awarded $16,212.

City Councilmember Linda Lee, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary but will likely face a challenger in November’s general election, brought in the second-highest total in Queens on Tuesday with a $153,832 haul.

Lee and Krishnan were the only two incumbents to be awarded the funds this week, with the rest going to candidates running for one of the three open seats in the borough.

In District 21, which is currently represented by term-limited Councilmember Francisco Moya, five of the six Democratic candidates running for the seat were awarded the funds.

Erycka Montoya, who has earned the backing of the Working Families Party, topped the field with $118,917 in matching funds. Sandro Navarro, who works as the district director for State Senator Jessica Ramos, was the only other candidate in the race to bring in over $100,000. Yanna Henriquez, a district leader, brought in $70,262, Democratic committee member David Aiken brought in $57,912 and Shanel Thomas-Henry, a local organizer, brought in $28,614.

The only other Democratic candidate in the race, Hiram Monserrate, was denied public matching funds because his campaign was not-compliant with the CFB’s matching funds program’s rules. Monserrate was one of two candidates citywide to be cited for non-compliance, the other being Mayor Eric Adams.

In District 28, which is currently represented by term-limited Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, four of the five candidates running for the seat got the matching funds, including; Tyrell Hankerson, who brought in $73,408; Romeo Hitlall, who brought in $35,922; Latoya LeGrand, who brought in $12,814; and Japneet Singh, who brought in $702.

Ruben Wills, the former councilmember booted from the legislature after being convicted of corruption and who has since been found to have been wrongfully convicted, was the only candidate denied funds in the District 28 race. The board said they didn’t give Wills funds for three reasons – he didn’t meet the fundraising threshold, he didn’t submit his personal financial disclosure to the Conflicts of Interest Board before the deadline and he did not complete a mandatory compliance training.

In City Council District 30, which is currently represented by term-limitted Councilmember Robert Holden, three of the five candidates running for the seat were granted the money.

Republican candidate Alicia Vaichunas led the charge with $62,700 in matching funds. Democrats Paul Pogozelski and Dermot Smyth were awarded $56,164 and $31,179 respectively.

District 30 Democratic candidate Phil Wong, who, alongside Vaichunas, earned a dual endorsement from their boss, Holden, was denied funds because the variance between the receipts he reported and those that were documented were greater than 10 percent.

Mike Lopez, another Democratic candidate in the race, was denied the funds because he too had a variance of greater than 10 percent. He also didn’t meet the fundraising threshold.

Citywide, the board denied matching funds to mayoral frontrunner Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday after the board said his campaign didn’t meet the fundraising threshold and had a high percentage of errors in its paperwork.

Cuomo's campaign blamed the denial on a software error that failed to collect information needed by the CFB in order to issue the funds.

Cuomo, who entered the race in February, has yet to be issued a cent in matching funds but has raised a significant sum, including $1.5 million in the most recent fundraising period.

Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani brought in more matching funds than any other candidate citywide on Tuesday, with a $3,832,987 haul. The second-highest sum for a mayoral candidate went to independent Jim Walden, who was given a little over $1.9 million by the CFB.

Matching funds will next be doled out on May 12, a little more than month before election day.