Lefty New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns that if former Gov. Andrew Cuomo wins the city’s mayoral race, he will use it as a stepping stone for a presidential bid.
“This is not just about New York City, but this is about the United States,” the far-left Dem told an enthusiastic crowd she stumped for fellow socialist and mayoral wannabe Zohran Mamdani at Terminal 5 in Manhattan on Saturday.
“I mean that literally, because Andrew Cuomo has made clear that if he wins this race, he wants to run for president of the United States of America,” AOC said.
Ocasio-Cortez, 35, an acolyte of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 83, also fussed about Cuomo’s age and suggested that the 67-year-old is standing in the way of a new generation of leadership — after she became one of the first prominent Dems to support the re-election bid of memory-addled 82-year-old then-President Joe Biden last summer.
“In a world and a nation that is crying to end the gerontocracy of our leadership that wants a new day, that wants to see a new generation ascend, it is unconscionable to send Andrew Cuomo to Gracie Mansion once again,” the city congresswoman said.
Cuomo has never actually held Gracie Mansion before, as he was never mayor of the Big Apple, though he did serve as governor of the Empire State from 2011 to 2021.
Cuomo has not publicly made a determination about a 2028 run, though he has admitted that he wants to be a national figure if he wins the mayoral race.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that the Big Apple’s June 24 mayoral Democratic primary is an opportunity to shift America’s trajectory dramatically to the left.
“If we can change the page in the biggest and best city in the United States, then we can change the page in the country,” she proclaimed.
Mamdani, 33, an assemblyman who has gained momentum in some recent polling, has been championing a platform chock-full of far-left agenda items.
They include city-run grocery stores, a 2% tax hike on Big Apple millionaires, a 4.5% corporate tax increase, free child care, free bus rides and steering policing in the direction of social work and mental-health counseling.
Cuomo is generally seen as the frontrunner in the race, as many local Democrats fear the consequences of a Mamdani win.
Ocasio-Cortez ripped the endorsements of Cuomo as coming from the “establishment” and griped over how several of the Dems that backed him previously called on him to resign in the wake of the sexual-harassment accusations that he has denied.
“I cannot tell you how shocked I have been,” the Bronx and Queens rep said of the Dems that previously denounced Cuomo and are now flocking back to him. “As a survivor of sexual assault, I will never unsee that.
“The [message the] political establishment sends to so many people is that it does not matter your positions, your content, your ideas, how experienced you are,” she complained. “It doesn’t matter how much you work with them. They will still choose their old friends and an old generation every single time.”
Last year, the congresswoman was edged out of her bid to be the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee by the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died last month of cancer.
The Cuomo campaign did not respond to a Post request for comment.
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