NEW YORK (The Hill) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) formally announced he is running as an Independent in New York City’s mayoral race in November after losing to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in the party’s primary.
“Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November and I am in it to win. My opponent Mr. Mamdani offers slick slogans, but no real solutions,” Cuomo said in a campaign video posted to X on Monday.
“We need a city with lower rent, safer streets, where buying your first home is once again possible, where childcare won’t bankrupt you. That’s the New York City we know,” he continued.
“You deserve a mayor with the experience and ideas to make it happen again and the guts to take on anybody who stands in the way,” he said.
A source close to Cuomo’s campaign told The Hill’s partners at NewsNation earlier on Monday that Cuomo will ask all candidates with the exception of Mamdani to pledge that any candidate who is not in the lead by mid-September will drop out of the race, himself included.
Cuomo joins Mamdani, Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an Independent, as well as Republican Curtis Silwa in the general election race.
Mamdani defeated Cuomo by about 12 points, 56 percent to 44 percent, in the third round of ranked choice voting in the primary.
Mamdani’s critics fear that a crowded general election could result in his opponents splitting the vote, easily handing Mamdani a victory.
Adams said last month that Cuomo asked him to drop his Intendent bid for reelection, but a number of prominent figures have called on Cuomo to drop out of the race to unify around Adams, including hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who had donated a significant amount of money to Cuomo’s campaign in the primary.
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