Bloomberg reports that Arkansan billionaire Alice Walton, the world’s richest woman, has donated another $100,000 to support former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for mayor of New York City.

It’s the second $100,000 donation the Walmart heiress has made  to Fix the City, a super PAC backing Cuomo against New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. Walton’s first donation was in April, when Cuomo was running in the Democratic primary against a crowded field. The former governor was considered the favorite through most of the campaign, but Mamdani handily defeated Cuomo in the June 24 primary.

This race is only Walton’s second foray into New York politics, according to Bloomberg, with her only other donation coming in 2020. She gave $800,000 to a PAC called New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany at the time, which was supporting two candidates in local races. 

Cuomo was governor of New York from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned following reports that he sexually harassed 11 women between 2017 and 2020. This scandal was far from his only issue while in office. In 2014, he allegedly directed state corruption investigators to avoid looking into anything that could be politically damaging to him. 

Cuomo’s policies were widely blamed for the high death toll in New York’s nursing homes in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 6,000 New York nursing home residents died between March and June 2020.

In March 2021, he was accused of prioritizing COVID-19 tests for his family and other associates during the early stages of the pandemic when tests were limited. Later that same year, a state ethics panel said Cuomo had inappropriately used public funds, equipment and time to write an autobiography about his leadership during the pandemic. That investigation remains ongoing.

Mamdani, who was a virtual unknown when he first entered the race for the Democratic nomination, identifies as a democratic socialist. He campaigned on quality-of-life issues for New Yorkers, such as controlling rent hikes, making buses free to ride, and establishing city-owned grocery stores. He has also been vocally populist in his messaging, saying he doesn’t think billionaires should exist in a fair economic system.

Money supporting Cuomo dried up shortly after he lost the primary, but has since picked back up as Cuomo has revamped his campaign. Fix the City reports $667,500 raised since the primary, as Cuomo has tried to paint Mamdani as a communist, courted big-money donors and aligned himself with President Donald Trump. 

Mamdani’s populist message has rankled billionaires and other wealthy people, both inside and outside of New York. Cuomo’s “who will speak up for the ultra wealthy?” messaging helps to explain why Alice Walton, who lives in Northwest Arkansas, has donated $200,000 to the disgraced former governor. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, also donated $5 million to Cuomo’s super PAC in June, and pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman gave $250,000 to the group in April. 

This slate of uber wealthy donors also helps explain Cuomo’s decision to continue to run for the mayoral seat as an independent. How far their money can take him now that’s already lost once to Mamdani is unclear, and Cuomo said last month he would drop out in mid-September if he’s not in the lead at that point.

If Cuomo is telling the truth, his withdrawal from the race next month seems likely. A recent poll showed 42% of voters said they would vote for Mamdani if the election were held today. Cuomo polled at 23%, followed by Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at 17%. Current mayor Eric Adams, who is wildly unpopular and is running as an independent, managed only 9%.