Governor Andrew Cuomo, over the last month, has spent nearly $7.5 million ahead of his September 13 primary against Cynthia Nixon -- with much of that money being spent on TV advertising. 

"I think the mistake they made four years ago against Zephyr Teachout was not spending a lot of resources. The lower turnout redounded to Teachout's benefit," said former gubernatorial advisor Bruce Gyory.

Cuomo has spent $5 million in the last month alone, airing ads in the expensive New York City media market. Many of the ads air during hours with high viewership, like New York Yankees games. For Nixon supporters, it's a sign of how Cuomo has raised money from the wealthy.

"Governor Cuomo right now has a handful of large donors who are hedge fund millionaires and billionaires who are contributing to his campaign," said Jasmine Gripper of the Alliance for Quality Education. "Cynthia Nixon, on the other hand, has more individual donors than anyone who has run for governor in the state of New York."

Nixon has focused heavily on social media, holding Twitter town hall events and releasing videos posted to YouTube. For now, she has not advertised on TV, but with the changing dynamics of how campaigns reach voters, that may not be a bad thing.

"Social media is a great place for having people talking, but we're able to have those face-to-face collections as well," Gripper said.

But Gyory disagrees, arguing money is needed to run on a statewide scale in order to reach millions of voters. 

"They have not husbanded resources to be able to go on TV early. Whether they will be able to go on TV late is a separate question," Gyory said.

Cuomo is seeking a third term this fall. Polls have generally showed him leading Nixon by as much as 30 percentage points.