Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Thompson Raises More than Quinn, Lhota and de Blasio in Last Two Months

By  Bryan Graham and Julie  Shapiro | May 14, 2013 2:04pm | Updated on May 14, 2013 6:24pm

 Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson reported a significant boost in fundraising on Tuesday morning.
Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson reported a significant boost in fundraising on Tuesday morning.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

NEW YORK CITY — Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson had a surge in fundraising over the past two months, raising nearly double the amount of money he did in the same period before and beating  Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, according to campaign representatives and reports.

Thompson, who lost the last mayoral race against a cashed-up Michael Bloomberg by less than 5 points, raised $600,000 from March 12 through May 11, a spokesman for his campaign said Tuesday.

That's more than Quinn, who raised $510,000 in the same period, de Blasio, who raised $240,000, and Lhota, who raised $558,000, campaign officials and reports said.

Thompson’s chief strategist, Jonathan Prince, reported the "dramatic" rise in fundraising in a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning. Prince said the campaign had spent about $300,000 over the past two months, leaving it with about $2.3 million on hand.

“We're quite pleased with that, obviously,” Prince told reporters on the call. “We have moved on a lot of fronts to improve the way we were doing business, quite frankly.”

More than half of the contributions were small donations of $250 or less, with about $50,000 eligible to be matched by the city’s public matching funds program, the campaign reported.

Comptroller John Liu, whose former aide and fundraiser were both found guilty in a fraud case earlier this month, raised just $104,231 in the most recent fundraising period, the campaign said.

Both Liu's and de Blasio's campaigns announced Tuesday that they had hit the fundraising maximum for the primary under the city's matching program. Quinn previously hit the maximum.

Thompson had raised $340,000 during the previous two-month period, less than Quinn (who reported $487,480 with $5.6 million cash-on-hand) but more than De Blasio ($229,000, $2.6 million) and Liu ($105,775, $2 million). Lhota, a Republican, raised $731,601 during the previous period.

Campaigns have until Wednesday to disclose their latest contributions and expenditures to the city’s Campaign Finance Board.