By Hank Russell
Governor Kathy Hochul announced raising more than $8.5 million in the September 2026 filing period, including more than $2.6 million to her re-election campaign and more than $5.9 million raised into the New York State Democratic Party. This haul gives New York Democrats more than $33 million cash on hand between Hochul’s campaign and the New York State Democratic committees — the most ever at this point in the election cycle in party history.
Friends for Kathy Hochul ends this filing period with more than $18.5 million cash on hand, and the New York State Democratic Party ends it with more than $15 million cash on hand.
The campaign earned the support of a record 17,800 individual donors — more than four times that number for the same filing period in 2022, with an average online donation of just $22.38. For the fourth filing period in a row, she has earned grassroots donations from all 62 counties in New York State, with a majority of her contributions coming from New Yorkers, according to the governor’s campaign.
This builds upon her previous $17 million haul during the July filing period. As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, $5.6 million of that money went into her re-election campaign from 27,000 unique donors, and $11.4 million into the New York State Democratic Party.
LILP reached out to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s campaign for numbers and comment. They did not get back to us as of press time. According to Transparency USA, Blakeman has received more than $8 million in contributions, with expenditures just over $3.4 million.
“Thanks to New Yorkers from all 62 counties standing with us for the fourth filing period in a row, Governor Hochul’s campaign and the state Democratic Party are headed into the final stretch of this race with unprecedented firepower,” said Friends for Kathy Hochul Campaign Manager Preston Elliott. “By investing early in a stronger coordinated campaign than New York has ever seen before, the governor has been laying the groundwork for months to hand Bruce Blakeman yet another loss and send MAGA Republicans across the state packing with him.”