NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will campaign for mayor of New York City as an independent candidate, staying in a crowded field running against surging left-wing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani.
In a video, Cuomo, who last month suffered a bruising loss to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, announced he was making another run to combat the progressive Mamdani, who he said “offers slick slogans but no real solutions.”
“The fight to save our city isn’t over,” Cuomo said. “Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November and I am in it to win it.”
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams also is running as an independent in the general election and Curtis Sliwa — founder of the 1970s-era Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol — is again on the Republican line.
People opposed to Mamdani’s progressive agenda, which includes higher taxes on the wealthy, have called on donors and voters to unite behind a single candidate for the November election. They fear multiple candidates will splinter the anti-Mamdani vote, increasing the Democrat’s chances to win.
The decision to continue on in the race is the latest chapter in Cuomo’s comeback attempt, launched almost four years after he resigned as governor in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. He denied wrongdoing during the campaign, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics.
Cuomo was treated as the presumed frontrunner for much of the Democratic primary, with the former governor boasting deep political experience, universal name recognition and a juggernaut fundraising operation. He limited media interviews, held few unscripted events and avoided mingling with voters.
That strategy contrasted with Mamdani’s energetic street-level campaign centered around affordability issues. The 33-year-old amassed a legion of young volunteers who blanketed the city to build support, while the candidate’s savvy social media persona won him national acclaim.
Lagging behind Mamdani in the vote count, Cuomo conceded the race last month on primary night. Final results released after the city ran through its ranked choice voting calculations showed Mamdani besting the former governor by 12 percentage points.
Despite the Democratic primary loss, Cuomo had also qualified to run on an independent ballot line in November under a party he created called “Fight and Deliver.”
As he weighed whether to stay on as an independent, Cuomo began losing support from traditional allies. Key labor unions backed Mamdani and the Rev. Al Sharpton, an influential Black leader, urged Cuomo to step aside.
Some deep-pocketed contributors have meanwhile aligned behind Adams, who is running as an independent. Although he’s still a Democrat, Adams pulled out of the primary shortly after a federal judge dismissed a corruption case against him at the request of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, arguing that the case had sidelined him from campaigning.
Cuomo, 67, served as governor for over a decade and modeled himself as a socially progressive Democrat who got things done. He pushed through legislation that legalized gay marriage and tackled massive infrastructure projects, like a three-mile bridge over the Hudson River that he named after his father.
Cuomo’s national profile peaked in the early days of the nation’s coronavirus outbreak during his televised daily briefings. The governor leavened stern warnings for people to wear masks with heartfelt expressions of concern for his elderly mother or brotherly banter with Chris Cuomo, a TV journalist.
His reputation was soon tainted when it emerged that the state’s official count of nursing home deaths had excluded many victims who had been transferred to hospitals before they succumbed.
Cuomo resigned shortly after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that found he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
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