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Rudy Giuliani’s aides and allies have thrown themselves behind Andrew Cuomo instead of Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York mayor, according to reports.
Joe Lhota, Giuliani’s former deputy mayor and the GOP’s 2013 mayoral candidate, confirmed to the New York Post Thursday he is firmly in Cuomo’s camp.
Lhota, who later served as Cuomo’s MTA chairman and has since changed his party affiliation to Democrat, framed the choice bluntly.
“It’s a choice between a proven manager, a socialist, and a fruit loop,” Lhota told the outlet.
“Of course I’m going to be with Andrew,” Lhota added.
Anthony Carbonetti, Giuliani’s former chief of staff and a senior adviser to his 2008 presidential campaign, echoed Lhota’s sentiment.
While praising Sliwa as a “great New Yorker,” Carbonetti said the math simply isn’t there for him to win the race. Instead, they warned, Sliwa risks becoming a spoiler.
“I don’t want a socialist in charge of a $116 billion city budget,” he said, criticizing Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for fare-free buses as an invitation to turn them into “mobile homeless shelters.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under George W. Bush and is a longtime Giuliani ally, also endorsed Cuomo in an op-ed published by the Staten Island Advance.
“Our city should not be put at risk of irreversible damage, which it would be if Mamdani is elected,” he wrote, adding that Cuomo is “the most viable alternative.”
Mayor Eric Adams has already stunned the political world by announcing he will not seek re-election. President Donald Trump has also publicly dismissed Sliwa’s chances.
“Look, I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly prime time,” Trump said on Fox & Friends in September.
“Joe Lhota has been a Democrat since 2016. He worked for Andrew Cuomo. Big deal,” said Sliwa adviser Rob Cole.
Rudy Giuliani himself, now 81 and still a fixture in GOP politics, has yet to make an endorsement.
Polling shows Mamdani with about a 20-point lead, but under 50 percent and leaving room for an upset if Cuomo can consolidate Republican and independent voters.
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