Trump urges New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo for mayor
By Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump urged New Yorkers in his strongest terms yet to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral race on the eve of the election.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday, adding that Cuomo “is capable of it” and that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani “is not!”
His backing of Cuomo, whom he described as having a “Record of Success,” could hurt the former governor with Democrats as much as it helps him with Republicans in deep-blue New York City. Mamdani, who shocked Cuomo in June’s Democratic primary, has repeatedly tied the former governor to Trump and argued that he would stand up to powerful interests in both New York and Washington.
Cuomo on Monday dismissed Trump’s endorsement, insisting that the president was simply opposing Mamdani. “He’s not endorsing me. He’s opposing Mamdani,” Cuomo said.
Trump, a Queens native, has long complained about Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, and falsely labeled him a communist. He again vowed to pull federal funds from the city if Mamdani wins Tuesday “other than the very minimum as required.”
In response, Mamdani told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday night that the president is threatened by his campaign.
“Like his (campaign), we’ve diagnosed the crisis in working class New Yorkers’ lives, the cost of living. But unlike him, we’re actually going to deliver on that. And that is a contrast that he can’t bear to see,” Mamdani said on “OutFront.”
Mamdani had reacted to Trump’s backing of Cuomo earlier Monday at a canvas event in his Assembly district in Queens.
“The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him. Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration,” Mamdani said.
The president previously offered tepid support for Cuomo, casting the election as a choice between the better of two bad options, while discounting the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday.
Mamdani quickly seized on Trump’s comments in that interview, posting his congratulations to Cuomo on X on Sunday and adding, “I know how hard you worked for this.”
The Republican president discouraged voters from backing Sliwa, though he’s stopped short of explicitly demanding the Republican nominee leave the race as other Cuomo backers have.
“A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani,” he wrote.
Surveys of likely voters have been largely consistent in showing Mamdani with a double-digit lead over Cuomo, with Sliwa in third. They differ on the precise scope of Mamdani’s advantage, although most have found him shy of clearing a majority of support in the race.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a Trump ally, also endorsed Cuomo on Monday over Mamdani and Sliwa. “Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he purchased in 2022.
Cuomo has a long history with Trump dating back to his time as governor prior to his 2021 resignation facing sexual harassment allegations that he’s denied. The two tussled during the Covid-19 pandemic with often-dueling press briefings. But the former New York governor has presented his dealings with Trump as a plus for New York City, arguing that Mamdani is too inexperienced to handle the president.
“You will hear from Andrew Cuomo about his experience as if the issue is that we don’t know about it,” Mamdani retorted during one debate. “The issue is that we have all experienced your experience.”
The president — who’s holding telerallies for Virginia and New Jersey audiences Monday night — had his focus trained on the Empire State on social media, lashing out at Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who campaigned with Mamdani over the weekend.
He accused her of “killing the entire region with Energy Prices that are OUT OF CONTROL” and said he’d ask Transportation Secretary Dean Duffy “to take a good, long look at terminating New York City Congestion Pricing.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Aditi Sangal and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
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