Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday blasted rival Andrew Cuomo for stepping down as governor as he was being investigated over sexual harassment allegations — and swiping his political “playbook” by running for mayor as an independent.
“Listen, he comes from a popular name. His dad was a great governor. His dad stood for three terms and did a great job. In the midst of his obligations to the state, he stepped down,” Adams told The Post while attending the 75th anniversary celebration of NYCHA Bronx River Houses at the Bronx Community Center.
“Personal strife should not cause you to leave office. During my personal strife, I stepped up. I continued to deliver for the city,” said Hizzoner, who had his historic bribery and fraud charges dismissed by the Trump administration earlier this year.
Cuomo, who has long disputed allegations of sexual harassment by multiple women, has been fiercely criticized over his administration’s disastrous March 2020 decision to send infected COVID-19 patients into nursing homes, which resulted in as many as 15,000 deaths.
Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent himself, also accused Cuomo of repeatedly trying to sabotage black politicians to claw back power.
“This is his history, and he’s using the same playbook in my mayoralty,” Adams said.
“He ran in the primary, he lost by double digits. He knew I was gonna run in a general election. Why would he throw his name in as an independent as well, unless he thought he was gonna do to me what he did to others, and it just did not happen.”
Cuomo quickly tossed his hat into the race as an independent after a humiliating loss to socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in last month’s Democratic primary election.
The embattled mayor continued to pour salt on the wound, slamming the ex-gov for spending millions to defend himself against the sexual misconduct claims — while thousands died in nursing homes under his watch during the height of the pandemic.
“His record has been painful to our cities, and I had to fix his mess,” Adams lamented.
Cuomo was also accused of undercounting the nursing home death toll by as much as 50%, another claim for which he denied all wrongdoing.
The City Hall wannabe — who attended the same Bronx event and missed his frosty opponent by 30 minutes — pushed back on Adams’ claims he hijacked his campaign approach.
“He dropped out of the primary because Democrats wouldn’t vote for him,” a spry Cuomo shot back, adding that his one regret was not being more direct in his messaging to voters ahead of the primary.
He believes the general election will drive a higher turnout — and that surge will help him outpoll Mamdani for mayor.
“I stayed in the primary, and 400,000 Democrats voted for me,” Cuomo said.
“The people who voted for me in the primary, I believe they’re going to vote for me in November. There’s no new Andrew Cuomo.”
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