President Donald Trump is considering getting further involved in the New York City mayoral race, with multiple people suggesting to him that Gov. Andrew Cuomo would be the best person to support — but that could prove convoluted in a race where the former governor has built a brand on standing up to Trump and butting heads with his administration.
The New York Times first reported Wednesday that the president spoke with Cuomo recently about the race and has had multiple conversations with supporters and donors about how best to defeat Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblymember who bested Cuomo by more than 10 percentage points in the Democratic mayoral primary. At least two people vouched for Cuomo in those conversations, according to the Times.
But it remains unclear how Cuomo would be able to convince his voters to swallow an alliance with the president, given his campaign’s overarching message of antagonism toward Trump.
“I know how to deal with Donald Trump because I’ve dealt with him before many times,” Cuomo said during a primary debate in June. “We fought on a daily basis through COVID, and I won many of those battles.”
Trending
Cuomo added during the debate that he was “the last person on this stage that Mr. Trump wants to see as mayor.”
In a statement released Wednesday, Mamdani said Cuomo’s reported discussion with Trump was “disqualifying” and “a betrayal.”
“The job of New York City Mayor is not to be jester for a wannabe king, it is to protect the people of this city,” Mamdani said in the statement. “[Cuomo’s alleged call with Trump] is not just a shady backroom deal by a cynical politician, it is disqualifying. It is a betrayal.”
The president told reporters earlier this year that he has “always gotten along” with Cuomo and encouraged him to stay in the race to “run a tough campaign” against Mamdani.
If Trump decides to back Cuomo, it would not be the first time he’s offered financial support to the former governor. Trump and multiple of his family members donated to Cuomo’s 2018 bid for governor, with Cuomo refusing to return the donations despite saying he was “deeply critical” of the president.
The second Trump administration has not been entirely friendly to Cuomo. Trump’s Justice Department this year launched an investigation into accusations that Cuomo lied to Congress about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic while he was governor.
The White House did not respond to questions from NOTUS on Wednesday about Trump’s thoughts on Cuomo’s adversarial comments and whether Trump was considering factors like the Justice Department investigation.
Some of the people who have talked with Trump about the mayoral race suggested he should back Mayor Eric Adams, who is also vying for reelection as an independent, the Times reported. The Trump administration has previously allied itself with Adams, including earlier this year when the Justice Department dropped a corruption case against the mayor — but polling has suggested Adams may not perform as well in the race.
Trump entering the fray could also provide fodder for Mamdani, who has repeatedly criticized Cuomo for his connections to donors that also backed Trump’s presidential bids.
Cuomo’s campaign, meanwhile, denied that the former governor talked to the president at all.
“The Governor and the President have not spoken in some time,” spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement to NOTUS. “As far as I know, they have not discussed the race.”
And he doubled down on criticisms of Trump and sought to paint both Adams and Mamdani as Trump’s preferred candidates.
Azzopardi called Adams “a wholly owned subsidiary of the President” and that Trump believes Mamdani could be “a political boon to Republicans.”
“There is only one candidate in this race who can effectively defend New York values and take on Donald Trump — the one official who already has: Andrew Cuomo,” he added. “We’ll leave the palace intrigue to the gossip mill.”
__
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The City.
Author
