Who donated to Zohran Mamdani?

Who in real estate is funding Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign?

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, raked in more than $1 million during the latest campaign donation filing period, with about $19,700 stemming from real estate-related donors, according to an analysis of filings between July 12 and Aug. 18 by The Real Deal, which excluded donations from political action committees.

By and large, the real estate industry has been critical of the state Assembly member’s policies, but that hasn’t stopped some, typically nonprofit or affordable developers, from sending the frontrunner funds.

The largest donations clocked in at $2,100 a piece and came from: Steven Bernhaut, a New Jersey-based developer; Joey Kaempfer of developer McArthurGlen Europe (largely focused on outlet retail centers); and Arif Khan, a self-employed member of the real estate industry in Texas.

Mamdani’s opponent, Mayor Eric Adams, saw a boost in donations from the industry following the primary election in June.

However, this spike tapered in the most recent filing period, as real estate-related donors gave about $60,500 between July 12 and Aug. 18. That’s a more than 87 percent plunge from the more than $480,000 he received from industry players — who turned to Adams following the defeat of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary — between June 25 and July 11.

Overall, the real estate industry individually (as in, not including any PAC donations) donated nearly $144,200 to the five candidates — Mamdani, Adams, Cuomo, Jim Walden and Curtis Sliwa — during the latest filing period. 

Adams’ donations comprised 42 percent of all real estate-related donations, which represented the largest share. 

Cuomo followed, with real estate donations to the former governor making up 37 percent of all the industry’s donations.

Here is the full list of real estate-related donors to Mamdani’s campaign from July 12 to Aug. 18.