Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo offered a scathing assessment of Democrats on Monday, saying he was unable to name any living member of his party whom he admired.
“Admire? None comes to mind,” he said, when asked in a New York Times interview to choose three elected officials whom he holds in high esteem or considers “ideologically similar” to himself.
Mr. Cuomo, who is running as an independent for mayor of New York after losing the Democratic primary, responded by listing his father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York; former President John F. Kennedy; and Robert F. Kennedy, the former attorney general and senator from New York. His father died a decade ago, and the Kennedy brothers were both assassinated in the 1960s.
“The Democratic Party is not meeting the moment,” said Mr. Cuomo, who did not detail how he believed his party had failed. “I think the Democratic Party has created the moment.”
After being repeatedly pressed to identify a living public official, Mr. Cuomo said that Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a longtime Democratic Party stalwart, was a “doing a good job as a manager of his state.” He later offered tepid praise for Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, saying he was “doing the best he can” in his efforts to combat the Trump administration.
When asked the same question in a separate interview last week, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the party nominee and democratic socialist who leads Mr. Cuomo in the race, quickly rattled off the names of three liberal Democratic Party officials: Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston; Letitia James, the attorney general of New York who has endorsed his candidacy; and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee.
The starkly different responses underscore the unusual position Mr. Cuomo, a lifelong Democrat, finds himself in as he seeks to defeat the nominee of his own party. Steeped in city and state politics from childhood, Mr. Cuomo devoted much of his professional life to Democratic politics before resigning as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment. He has denied the allegations.
His candidacy for mayor was both an attempt to redeem his reputation and an effort to reinsert himself into the raging debate over his party’s future. But now, still trailing in the polls after being resoundingly defeated in the June primary, Mr. Cuomo is struggling to remain relevant.
After some hesitation, Democratic leaders who have been skeptical of Mr. Mamdani’s inexperience and left-wing positions are beginning to coalesce around him. On Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York endorsed Mr. Mamdani’s campaign, saying she and the nominee shared a desire to address the city’s affordability crisis.
Mr. Cuomo dismissed her support as a personal political calculation that was unlikely to sway many of the city’s voters.
“Everybody makes a political decision on a political endorsement and what works for their politics, and that’s obviously her decision,” he said. “I don’t think endorsements mean that much in campaigns anymore in general.”
He hinted that he expected more high-profile Democrats to back his opponent in the coming weeks, saying that Ms. Hochul’s endorsement “increases pressure” on Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, New Yorkers who are the minority leaders in the U.S. Senate and House, to support Mr. Mamdani.
The different stances taken by the two candidates in relation to the Democratic Party in recent days signified a notable inversion of their previous positions.
During the 2024 election, Mr. Mamdani was a vocal critic of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., frequently attacking his support for Israel’s war in Gaza on social media. He tempered his criticism once former Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Mr. Biden on the ticket, but he was not an outspoken champion of her bid.
Since his primary win, prominent figures from the party’s left wing, including Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, have rallied behind his candidacy.
Mr. Cuomo said his own path to victory depends on his ability to tie Mr. Mamdani, 33, to far-left positions that are out of the mainstream for Democrats in New York but have been embraced by the Democratic Socialists of America. Mr. Mamdani, who is a D.S.A. member, has sought to distance himself from its national platform, which includes proposals to eliminate all misdemeanor offenses and close local jails.
Mr. Cuomo, 67, also acknowledged that if the race becomes defined by the calls for generational change that have rocked the party, he is likely to lose.
“If they’re voting on age and youth, then you don’t sway them,” he said.
Still, he refused to say that the contest would be his last — regardless of whether he wins or loses.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he said before noting, “but I don’t intend on losing.”
Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.
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