Mayoral campaigns get boost with new city matching funds

The city showered cash on mayoral wannabes on Thursday, giving renewed life to underdogs’ campaigns and boosting the already huge war chests of frontrunners.

Left out was Shaun Donovan, the former Bloomberg and Obama big who’s poised to benefit from millions of dollars through a PAC called New Start NYC largely funded by his father.

“The Board is deferring its decision on whether to pay public funds to the Donovan campaign today, but it has not made a determination on public funds payments nor on whether there has been a violation,” New York City Campaign Finance Board Chairman Frederick Schaffer said in a statement. “The Board will seek further information in this matter from the Donovan campaign and from New Start NYC and will review that information promptly.”

Kathryn Garcia, former sanitation commissioner under Mayor de Blasio, got matching funds for the first time — $2,265,561. She’s widely respected for her policy chops, but has struggled in the polls. Garcia now has more than $2.6 million cash on hand, according to NYCCFB’s latest report.

Former nonprofit CEO Dianne Morales, one of the most progressive candidates in the packed race, got $2,247,681 from NYCCFB, putting her current war chest at about $2.5 million. That adds to her momentum after getting strong praise from the lefty Working Families Party earlier this week.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang — who’s been doing well in the polls but came under criticism Thursday for laughing along to caught-on-video misogynistic remarks — got NYCCFB funds for the first time, too. He received $3,724,112 in matching funds, putting his coffers at around $5 million.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a frontrunner in the mayoral race, raked in even more matching funds — $317,295, on top of the $5.2 million he’d already gotten. He has about $7.9 million cash on hand, according to NYCCFB.

Comptroller Scott Stringer got a cool $589,230 in matching funds on Thursday. Factoring in some $4.6 million in matching funds he previously received, he has about $7.4 million cash on hand, according to NYCCFB. Stringer has been struggling in the polls, though he got a boost when WFP made him its first choice for mayor earlier this week.

Maya Wiley, a former top aide to de Blasio, got $906,437 in her latest installment of matching funds, putting her cash on hand at about $2.5 million..