He’s Andrew Cuo-No-Show.
Mayoral contender Andrew Cuomo has taken 10 days off publicly campaigning since Labor Day weekend, a Post analysis shows — as insiders express disbelief he isn’t pounding the pavement to catch up to Zohran Mamdani before November.
The former governor’s apparent aloof persona contrasts wildly with his rivals Mamdani, the socialist Democratic nominee, and GOP standard bearer Curtis Sliwa, who’ve daily shown face across the Big Apple since Aug. 31.
Many insiders were baffled that Cuomo, an independent candidate who’s consistently polling in second place to Mamdani, isn’t doing more to make up ground and sway voters.
“Especially in October, you want to be [at] half a dozen events a day if nothing else but for optics,” said a longtime Democratic campaigner.
“If not now when? Now is the time.”
Cuomo only had public events 36 days following the Labor Day holiday weekend marking the unofficial start of the general election campaign, his schedule shows.
Many of those events were announced mere hours, sometimes minutes, before they happened.
Only 17 days since the general election campaign’s kickoff involved multiple appearances — with the vast majority on the weekends, focused on the religious circuit.
Cuomo campaign officials argued that he has held private meetings and other events during the days he didn’t have a public schedule.
“Andrew Cuomo has been working 24 hours a day during this general election meeting voters, courting supporters and doing local and national media interviews to amplify his message,” said campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi.
Still, the apparent voters-at-a-distance schedule is reminiscent of Cuomo’s Democratic primary campaign, which he entered as the front-runner before losing to Mamdani in historic fashion.
The most recent polling, conducted by Fox News and released Thursday, shows Mamdani finally cracking the 50% threshold of likely voters, with Cuomo trailing at 28% and Sliwa at 13%.
“If he had been on Church Avenue walking up and down it a year ago, he wouldn’t be in this f—ing position,” a frustrated longtime Cuomo backer said.
“It almost seems corporate and highbrow. I just don’t think that we are pounding the streets with enthusiasm and verve. And that’s what Mamdani has.”
Mamdani has generally held at least one event a day, pressing the flesh with voters even though he’s the clear front-runner with little room for unforced errors that could harm his campaign, his schedule shows.
And Sliwa has held more public events this week than Cuomo had since Labor Day.
Following the first general mayoral election debate Thursday, Mamdani held a “reverse town hall” while Sliwa held a news conference on subway crime and attended the wake of a security guard who was viciously beaten to death.
Cuomo held no public events Friday.
The three-term Democratic governor has blamed his loss in the June primary on running a campaign that wasn’t “aggressive” enough and that didn’t acknowledge the power of social media — unlike Mamdani’s TikTok-heavy effort.
As Cuomo mounted his independent bid, he admitted to donors he made mistakes and needed to show face with voters.
When asked what he learned from his loss during Thursday’s debate, Cuomo said: “I did not do enough on social media, which is a very effective medium.”
The ex-gov’s campaign and his allies have been much more active on X and social media platforms since the primary, including putting out viral videos hammering Mamdani and even sitting down for an interview with influencer Logan Paul.
But some insiders said it’s too late to make up the ground — regardless of what tack Cuomo’s campaign takes.
“Cuomo has no mathematical path to victory at this juncture. It’s too late to improve his weak ground game. Barring a seismic event, Mamdani is on a glide path to victory,” said Democratic consultant Chris Sosa.
“Cuomo can blame social media all he wants. But the problem with the Cuomo campaign comes down to one factor: most voters cannot stand Andrew Cuomo. Shaking more hands won’t fix such a fundamental flaw.”
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