Yet Mr. de Blasio’s campaign team has attached some urgency and significance to the first fund-raising period of the year, which ended on Wednesday. Aides are hoping that a strong showing will ward off potential challengers and show the mayor’s strength heading into the heart of the campaign.
It is particularly important for the mayor to demonstrate success in soliciting small donations. Cut off from some of his familiar sources by federal and state inquiries into his fund-raising practices, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, and his campaign have been pounding the pavement for such contributions, and have leaned on some of the mayor’s celebrity backers like the actors Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Buscemi.
Last week, prominent supporters implored fellow admirers of his administration to make small donations to the mayor’s re-election effort, a last-minute push to raise money before the deadline.
On Monday, the mayor’s campaign said it would report more than $1 million in contributions raised over the last half of 2016 from roughly 3,800 contributors, a majority of whom gave less than $100. (A campaign spokesman could not say if the total raised exceeded the $1.1 million brought in during the first half of 2016.)
The official results must be made public by Tuesday.
