Cuomo's large donors included John Petry, a hedge fund manager and charter school supporter who gave $45,100. | AP Photo Cuomo spends $7.5M, surging past his 2014 pre-primary total

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has begun to burn through his sizable war chest at a rapid pace, spending $7.5 million from July 17 through Aug. 13.

That left him with $24.4 million remaining a month before he is due to appear on the Democratic primary ballot with Cynthia Nixon. In the comparable pre-primary filing period in 2014, Cuomo spent only $3.2 million, leaving him with $32.5 million in the bank.


Nixon, meanwhile, has spent $607,000 in recent weeks. She has $442,000 to spend in the final month before the primary.

A sizable chunk of Cuomo’s spending appears to be charitable donations he had previously laid aside as a result of the money's ties to the charges against top gubernatorial allies Joe Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros. On Monday, he withdrew $422,000 of the $534,000 placed in escrow in 2016.

He donated the money to 16 different groups on the same day, giving $50,000 apiece to the National Institute for Reproductive Health, NOW New York City and Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. A number of organizations focused on issues like Puerto Rico relief and immigrant rights received checks of between $18,000 and $25,000.

But the largest share of his spending by a wide margin was on television advertisements. Cuomo spent $5.4 million on these, up from $2.9 million in this filing period four years ago.

Nixon has yet to purchase any TV ads, though she did spend $85,000 on digital advertising over the past month.

The governor mostly dialed back his fundraising, bringing in only $393,000 in the four-week stretch. Most of his checks came in the form of small donations in amounts like $5 or $10. But small donors still only accounted for a miniscule portion of his fundraising — all told, people giving $250 or less amounted to only 1.26 percent of the money he raised this filing period.

Cuomo's large donors included John Petry, a hedge fund manager and charter school supporter who gave $45,100. Various affiliates of the International Union of Operating Engineers, which had previously given the governor $207,500 in his second term, kicked in an additional $104,100 in recent weeks.

Nixon, meanwhile, raised nearly the same amount as the governor after bringing in $391,000. She continued to rely on small donors, albeit less so than in the past — 39.9 percent of her money came in the form of checks worth $250 or less.

The rest of her donations included $88,000 of in-kind contributions made by the Working Families Party. She was also helped by a number of her fellow actors, including Kyra Sedgwick who gave $10,000. Kristin Davis, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman each gave $5,000.