Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo met behind closed doors with the city’s business elite on Wednesday, acknowledging that he had not worked hard enough in the Democratic primary for mayor and pleading with them to back his general election campaign.
Mr. Cuomo suggested he had learned from his crushing defeat to Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on an affordability message. And he said he is taking a new tack going forward.
At the meeting on Wednesday morning at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, Mr. Cuomo sought to make a case for his path to victory, according to five people who attended.
Both Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams are running as independents in the November election. Mr. Cuomo told the group that if he was not the strongest candidate in polls, he would “defer” to Mr. Adams, but said the mayor and “maybe” Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, should agree to the same deal.
Warning potential donors about backing Mr. Adams, Mr. Cuomo said he wanted “to make sure that this is not a suicide mission, and you’re all going to drive the car off the cliff, with the whole city of New York in the car,” according to a person who attended the meeting.
Many in the group were alarmed by Mr. Mamdani’s momentum but unsure about whether there was a clear path to beating him, given his strong performance in the June primary. They were also worried about the prospect that Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo might split the votes of those who oppose Mr. Mamdani.
Mr. Cuomo candidly addressed his primary loss right off the bat, three attendees said, acknowledging that he had not given that campaign his all. He argued that he was embracing new strategies and noted that he had been campaigning throughout the city more than before.
Roughly 50 executives attended the fireside chat, which was hosted by the Partnership for New York, a group that represents some of the city’s most powerful business leaders. The group previously met with Mr. Adams and Mr. Mamdani. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, is also running in November and qualified for nearly $2 million in public matching funds on Wednesday.
Mr. Cuomo brought along the pollster Douglas Schoen, who recently joined his campaign and worked on the presidential campaign of Michael R. Bloomberg, the attendees said. Mr. Schoen highlighted Mr. Adams’s flagging poll numbers and data regarding negative views of Mr. Mamdani.
Menashe Shapiro, an adviser to Mayor Adams, posted on social media that donating to Mr. Cuomo — not to the mayor — would amount to a “suicide mission” by “investing in the same failure twice in the same campaign.” Mr. Shapiro noted that Mr. Cuomo had already lost once to Mr. Mamdani.
Many of the business leaders at the meeting were interested in Mr. Cuomo’s proposal that either he or Mr. Adams should drop out in September, depending on which of them is polling better. (Mr. Adams has not agreed to the plan.)
Albert Bourla, the chief executive of Pfizer and one of the event’s moderators, asked Mr. Cuomo how his plan would work logistically, one of the attendees said.
The executives also asked Mr. Cuomo how he would ensure that New York maintains its competitiveness in the financial services industry as Texas and Florida vie for business, according to four people in attendance. Mr. Cuomo mentioned initiatives like working with artificial intelligence companies and increasing incentives to keep financial firms in the city, but he did not put forward a specific plan, the people said.
Mr. Cuomo pledged to release more detailed policy proposals after Labor Day, one of the attendees said.
While Mr. Adams has relied on his bully pulpit as mayor to highlight his record on crime and affordable housing, Mr. Cuomo has been appearing more frequently in public and agreeing to more media interviews than during the primary. Mr. Cuomo has also been active on social media in recent days, offering one-liners and mixing it up with his critics.
Mr. Cuomo’s campaign criticized Mr. Mamdani on social media on Wednesday, calling him a “do-nothing assemblyman.”
“I’ve built more airports than you’ve passed bills,” read one post from Mr. Cuomo.
Another post bragged about his tireless work ethic, saying, “I don’t think I’ve taken a nap since the 80s.”
Mr. Mamdani, who has a strong lead in the polls, has defended his record as a state lawmaker and argued that while Mr. Cuomo spent many years in government, he has a poor record and failed to address the city’s growing affordability crisis.
Mr. Cuomo had been responding to a post by Mr. Mamdani highlighting a pilot program for free buses that Mr. Mamdani helped approve in Albany. He has pledged to make buses free citywide if he is elected mayor.
Lauren Hirsch is a Times reporter who covers deals and dealmakers in Wall Street and Washington.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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