Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told donors at a private fund-raiser in the Hamptons last weekend that he believed President Trump would wade into the race for New York City mayor and help clear a path for his election, according to audio obtained by Politico.
Mr. Cuomo, who is running as an independent in the general election after losing June’s Democratic primary, made the comments on Saturday as he sought to convince Trump-friendly donors that he was best positioned in the crowded field of candidates to defeat Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, his party’s leftist nominee.
Mr. Cuomo predicted, without citing evidence, that Mayor Eric Adams, another Democrat running as an independent, would bow out of the contest “at the end of the day,” rather than be “a spoiler.” Mr. Cuomo quipped that if Mr. Mamdani won, and Mr. Adams was blamed, the mayor would “have to move to Florida.”
The former governor said he expected that Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, would stay in the race, but that Mr. Trump and other Republican leaders would urge their supporters not to vote for him.
“I think we can minimize his vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate,” Mr. Cuomo said of Mr. Sliwa, according to Politico. “And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa.”
“So I feel good about that,” he added.
The Times did not independently obtain audio of the fund-raiser, but Politico published a transcript of the remarks.
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The post At Hamptons Fund-Raiser, Cuomo Predicts Help From Trump Is on the Way appeared first on New York Times.
