Andrew Cuomo has said that he will run as an independent in the race for New York City mayor, following a stinging loss to progressive upstart Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic Party primary last month.
The former New York State governor, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, vowed to continue his mayoral bid in a video posted to social media on Monday.
“As my grandfather used to say, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up and get in the game. And that is what I am going to do,” said Cuomo. “The fight to save our city isn’t over.”
Mamdani’s 12-point win over Cuomo in the Democratic primary has electrified progressives and pushed pro-business Democrats, wary of his embrace of progressive economic policies and critical stance towards Israel, to seek an alternative after the bruising primary defeat.
The general election will take place in November, with Mamdani facing off against Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who trails in most polls and whose tenure has been marred by a series of corruption scandals. Anti-crime figure Curtis Sliwa will also be in the race as the Republican nominee.
“I welcome everyone to this race, and I am as confident as I have been since three weeks ago on primary night, when we faced Andrew Cuomo and won that race by more than 12 points with the most votes of any Democratic nominee in New York City primary history,” Mamdani said in remarks responding to Cuomo’s entry into the general race.
“And we did so because of the fact that while Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams trip over themselves to make deals in back rooms with billionaires, we are fighting for working New Yorkers.”
Cuomo was once considered the near-prohibitive favourite to win the city’s Democratic primary, the main contest for the mayoralty in the liberal stronghold. But he gradually lost ground to an energetic campaign by Mamdani.
The 33-year-old democratic socialist ran a campaign sharply focused on cost-of-living and affordability issues, promoting policies such as free public buses and the creation of city-run grocery stores that will offer essential goods at more affordable prices.
Polling has shown that many of Mamdani’s populist economic policies, such as raising taxes on the wealthy to invest in social programmes and freezing rental prices in place for low-income tenants, enjoy widespread popularity. But Cuomo and other centrist Democrats have said that they are unrealistic and unworkable.
“My opponent, Mr Mamdani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions,” Cuomo said in his video.
Cuomo and members of the Democratic Party have also criticised Mamdani’s position on Israel, which he has said is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
That opinion is in line with a growing number of international human rights groups and human rights experts, and comes at a moment of growing disfavour towards Israel among US voters in general and Democratic voters in particular.
After the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Cuomo, a firm backer of Israel, joined a team of attorneys who said they would defend the Israeli leader.
Mamdani’s primary victory sparked a wave of Islamophobic attacks by supporters of Israel and members of the US right, including President Donald Trump, who has called Mamdani a “communist” and said he could strip him of his citizenship.
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