Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday he’ll pack his bags and flee to Florida if he loses the NYC mayoral race to socialist Zohran Mamdani.
“It’s all or nothing. We either win or even I will move to Florida. God forbid!” Cuomo told business leaders and other honchos at a Hamptons breakfast hosted by supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
The statement drew laughs — and Cuomo’s campaign later insisted he was joking.
“It was a wow line,” said one attendee. “It got everyone’s attention.”
Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary last month to Mamdani and is running in November’s general election as an independent, repeatedly referred to the 33-year-old socialist as “kid” throughout the breakfast held at hot spot 75 Main.
The governor took plenty of shots at Mamdani’s pie-in-the-sky proposals to freeze rents on stabilized apartments, calling it a “death sentence” for the housing market because it would likely lead to many landlords spending less money maintaining properties.
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to The Post.
Cuomo saved plenty of ammo for Mayor Adams, another Dem seeking re-election as an independent.
He claimed the Big Apple hasn’t had “a competent mayor” since Michael Bloomberg left office at the end 2013 and that Adams “could not focus” for much of his three-plus years on the job because of a now-closed federal corruption probe and other controversies.
The city “feels out of control,” Cuomo said.
The Hamptons crowd included real estate titan Bruce Mosler, former US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis, state Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, Democratic fundraiser Dennis Miehl, longtime Cuomo top aide Melissa DeRosa and Cuomo campaign chairman and former top aide Bill Mulrow.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo was joking about moving to Florida and that the crowd got it.
“Governor Cuomo would never give up on New York,” Azzopardi said. “That said, the line underscored the stakes in the upcoming election and the risk of electing a dangerously inexperienced, hate-spewing 33-year-old socialist whose campaign consists of unrealistic bumper sticker slogans.”
Adams – who told The Post earlier this week he’d never leave New York even if it’s run by a socialist – said Saturday if Cuomo “is serious about moving to Florida, he should go ahead – he’s already spent three [recent] weekends in the Hamptons.”
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy.
The post Andrew Cuomo says he ‘will move to Florida’ if Zohran Mamdani becomes NYC mayor appeared first on New York Post.
