Gov. Kathy Hochul leads Rep. Lee Zeldin in campaign cash on hand — $10.9M to $4.5M

ALBANY — Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has more than twice as much campaign cash as Republican challenger Lee Zeldin with just over four weeks left in the governor’s race, according to their filings with the state Board of Elections.

Hochul’s campaign has $10.9 million on hand for the rest of the race that ends Nov. 8, compared with $4.5 million in the campaign for Zeldin, the congressman from Shirley. The filings cover campaign finance activity between June 17 and Oct. 7.

But Zeldin also benefited from $4 million in spending on ads by his supporters since September through independent expenditure committees. The committees aren't restricted by fundraising limits like traditional candidates’ campaigns. The 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision called Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission ruled that independent expenditure committees have a right to unlimited political spending to support or oppose candidates as long has they don't coordinate with candidates’ campaigns.

The groups including Safe Together New York and Save Our State have aired TV ads that support Zeldin’s platform. The biggest single contributor to these committees has been Ronald Lauder, the billionaire heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire and a frequent supporter of Republican and conservative candidates. He contributed more than $3.4 million to the committees since Sept. 8.

State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs criticized the practice. He said Zeldin is using “dark money” from unknown contributors with little accountability.

Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz disputed that Monday. “The independent expenditures are not dark money,” she said. “They have to be disclosed and are readily available online.”

Since June, Hochul’s campaign has spent $12 million. Traditionally, candidates spend during this period to buy TV airtime and to produce ads that will appear in the final stretch of the campaign. By comparison, Zeldin’s spent $3.4 million since June.

Since that earlier campaign finance filing in June, Hochul has collected $11.2 million in contributions from individuals, unions and companies. That compares with Zeldin’s $6.1 million collected during the period, according to the state records.

A Siena Research Institute poll on Sept. 28 found Hochul had a 17-point lead over Zeldin. The latest spread was 54% to 37%, which is statistically unchanged from the August mark of 53% to 39% because of the poll’s standard margin of error.

The recent filings add to Hochul’s record-setting fundraising of more than $45 million since the former lieutenant governor rose to the office after former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Hochul's biggest contributions continue to be labor unions and operators of businesses that do business with the state or are regulated by the state.

Since June, contributors giving her campaign the maximum $47,100 allowed for an individual included film director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife, Kate Capshaw, who each gave fhe maximum donation; billionaire Thomas Secunda and his wife, Cindy, who each gave the maximum; and William P. Lauder who is executive chairman of Estée Lauder, who gave $40,000.

Zeldin’s biggest contributors since June included billionaire philanthropist Kenneth Langone, who contributed $35,879; Thomas J. Tisch of New York’s Tisch family of real estate developers, who gave $25,000, and conservative radio host John Catsimatidis who gave $25,000.

In the state attorney general race, Republican challenger Michael Henry has $146,212 left in his account after spending $157,197 since June. Democratic Attorney General Letitia James has $4.5 million left in her account after spending $3.4 million.

In the state comptroller’s race, Republican Paul Rodriguez has $3,173 left in his campaign after spending just $7.48 since June. Democratic Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has $1.9 million left in his campaign after spending $304,830 since June.

In the legislative races, the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee has $2.9 million on hand compared with $980,281 left for the Republican Senate campaign.

Much money went to heated races on Long Island: the Republican committee gave $74,426 to Steven Rhodes of Hicksville as he tries to unseat Sen. John Brooks (D-Seaford) and $70,284 to Jack Martins of Mineola, a former state senator, in his bid to beat Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-North Hills). Democrats countered with $161,743 for Kaplan and $29,500 for Brooks.

With Yancey Roy

Editor's note -- An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the campaign finance numbers for Republican state comptroller candidate Paul Rodriguez.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.