Interview: Cuomo Makes His Case For NYC Mayor – Calls Mamdani "Existential Threat"
Plus: The Former NY Governor Reflects On Mamdani Primary Loss, Lessons Learned From Resignation
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🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING
Mo News One-On-One With NYC Mayoral Candidate Andrew Cuomo On His Comeback Bid
For many experienced politicians, a 12-point loss in a party primary to a political upstart would have led them to give up. But, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is doubling down on his campaign to become the next mayor of New York City. He says the reason is simple. Cuomo views Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist assemblyman, as an “existential threat” to the future of the city.
Speaking to Mo News on Tuesday, Cuomo — now running as an independent — attributed his loss to a surge of young, progressive voters energized by issues like socialism, the war in Gaza, and affordability.
Mamdani defeated Cuomo 56% to 44% in the city’s ranked-choice voting system. More than 1 million votes were cast — the highest turnout for a mayoral primary since 1989.
Cuomo argues that Mamdani ran on “great slogans” that are “bogus,” would bankrupt the city, and says that his opponent didn’t get sufficient scrutiny in the spring.
*Ahead of what is expected to be one of the most prominent elections this fall, Mo News is planning to speak with all the major candidates in the New York City mayoral race. Here is our recent interview with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. [We are currently awaiting responses from the Mamdani and Sliwa campaigns.]
Cuomo’s Offer To Adams
Mamdani continues to lead in NYC general election polls, typically getting around 35%-40% of the vote. While that leaves a majority of voters available who don’t support the frontrunner, Cuomo is currently splitting the non-Mamdani vote with NYC Eric Adams (also running as an independent) and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Cuomo recently agreed to a proposal that the candidate who is furthest behind in the polls come September (Adams or Cuomo) should drop out of the race. The goal: consolidate support around the more popular alternative to Mamdani.
Cuomo currently has the polling advantage over Adams, and the mayor has given no indication that he will agree to the offer. If both men remain in the race, Mamdani is very likely to win with less than 50% of the vote.
In our interview, Cuomo accused Adams of being out of touch with New Yorkers, saying: “They believe the mayor was making a deal for himself to stay out of jail at their expense” — referring to the Trump Justice Department dropping federal corruption charges against Adams earlier this year so he could enact Trump's immigration agenda.
Regarding Mamdani, Cuomo acknowledged that younger voters’ concerns about affordability are legitimate, but dismissed Mamdani’s proposed solutions as unrealistic. Mamdani has called for rent freezes, free child care and buses, and city-run grocery stores.
Cuomo argued that campaigning on those types of “bogus” promises eventually isolate voters even more. “People vote for someone. They made a lot of promises, sounded good, promised utopia, nothing happened. And now people are even more cynical about the system,” he said.
He also criticized Mamdani’s failure to explicitly condemn antisemitic rhetoric — particularly the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is commonly heard at pro-Palestinian rallies.
“Intifada” is an Arabic word meaning “uprising” or “rebellion,” but it has historically referred to periods of violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel: the First Intifada (1987–1990) and the Second Intifada (2000–2005) left more than 1,000 Israelis dead.
Mamdani, a longtime pro-Palestine activist, has said, “That’s not language that I use,” but “I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech.”
Cuomo disagrees: “‘Globalize the Intifada’ basically says kill Jewish people. He said he’s not the word police. Actually, you are the word police…because there is hate speech that incites hate crimes,” he said. NYC has seen a surge in antisemitic attacks in recent years.
HIS VISION FOR NYC
Cuomo argued that New York’s current challenges — from affordable housing to public safety — are not due to uncontrollable events like 9/11 or the COVID pandemic, but because of “incompetent” government problem-solving.
Cuomo says common sense solutions like building more affordable housing and hiring more police officers can help address many of the problems New Yorkers face.
He also pushed back on the impression that Democratic-led states and cities can't build anything anymore — pointing to the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge (one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country) and major improvements at LaGuardia Airport, under his watch.
CUOMO’S OWN SCANDALS
Cuomo resigned from the governorship in 2021 after a sexual harassment scandal. The allegations ranged from claims of inappropriate sexual comments to unwanted kisses and groping. Cuomo has denied intentional wrongdoing and has since criticized the investigation as politically motivated.
In our interview, he apologized to anyone he may have offended, calling his actions “unintentional,” and emphasized that no criminal charges remain.
Three of Cuomo’s accusers have since filed civil lawsuits. Over the past year, New York State agreed to pay Cuomo’s former executive assistants, Brittany Commisso and Charlotte Bennett, roughly half a million dollars each to settle their claims of sexual harassment. The case for the third woman, a state trooper who remains anonymous, is ongoing. Cuomo moved to sue Bennett in December 2024 for defamation after she dropped a federal suit filed in 2022.
“There’s also been four years now where those situations have been thoroughly investigated, and nothing has come of them,” Cuomo said. He told Mo News that he is now “hyper-careful” about his behavior around women.
COVID RECORD: Cuomo also acknowledged that, with hindsight, he would have done things differently during the COVID-19 pandemic, but emphasized that he acted on the information available at the time. New York’s attorney general has found that his administration undercounted nursing home deaths by several thousand — a discrepancy Cuomo attributed to concerns that the Trump administration would weaponize the data.
In March 2020, Cuomo issued a directive requiring nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients, resulting in more than 9,000 hospital transfers before the policy was rescinded amid concerns it may have worsened outbreaks.
Several studies have concluded that most COVID outbreaks in New York nursing homes were likely driven by community spread and infected staff — not necessarily the recovering patients returning from hospitals.
"I feel responsible for everything that happened during COVID,” Cuomo said. “We followed federal guidance, and we did all that. But people died, and I carry that.”
UP NEXT
As for how he’ll approach the general election campaign as compared to the primary, Cuomo says he’s working to better connect with voters on social media. “I did not appeal to [voters] directly enough. That I’m correcting,” he said.
🎧 Listen to the full interview with Andrew Cuomo on the Mo News Podcast — available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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ICYMI FROM THE 📲
In case you missed it… Forbes released its fifth annual “50 Over 50” list in partnership with the “Know Your Value” initiative on Wednesday, spotlighting women who have defied the notion that success has an age limit.
The list features actress Halle Berry, 58; NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, 59; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, 68; journalist Maria Shriver, 69; biotech founder Suma Krishnan, 60; and investor Freada Kapor Klein, 70.
The honorees across fields have achieved some of their most significant accomplishments after turning 50, challenging traditional ideas about aging. The four categories include: impact, innovation, investment, and lifestyle.