Former Gov. and impartial mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo (left) and Democratic mayoral nominee and Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
With Mayor Eric Adams now out of the marketing campaign image, Democratic nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani and rival former Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasted little time in laying into each other on Monday.
Adams’ long-anticipated transfer to desert his reelection marketing campaign on Sunday may gain advantage Cuomo, however it might not considerably alter the race dynamic, as Republican nominee and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa stays an element and will draw average, impartial and centrist Republican votes away from each candidates.
Nonetheless, Adams’ exit places some strain on Mamdani — who has largely coasted on his robust polling lead because the Democratic main — to go on the offensive towards the previous governor.
Mamdani charged that homelessness dramatically elevated within the metropolis following the cutbacks.
“It’s not just about who’s on the ballot, it’s about what’s on the ballot, and what we see still on that ballot, showcased by Andrew Cuomo, is a record of broken promises, a record of disgrace,” Mamdani stated.
The lawmaker characterised Cuomo’s $65 million reduce to Benefit as a “decision he made so he would have to avoid taxing his rich donors…[and] led to what we are now seeing as a spike in homelessness.”
In response, Cuomo spokesperson Wealthy Azzopardi issued an announcement to New York News downplaying Cuomo’s cuts to this system as historical historical past.
“This is a moot issue that happened 14 years ago — when Mamdani was in college – amid a $10 billion shortfall, and that funding has been replaced and increased many times over through other rental assistance programs,” he stated.
Cuomo camp presses Mamdani on police apology
Azzopardi then pivoted to blasting Mamdani for not but making a public apology to NYPD officers for calling the division “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” in 2020, 18 days after the New York Occasions printed an interview wherein he stated he would.
On Monday morning, previous to Mamdani’s press convention, Cuomo had issued a press assertion noting the Democratic nominee’s apology pledge greater than two weeks in the past and questioning the candidate’s sincerity.
“Not only is he unqualified, he’s untrustworthy, changing the answers to his positions depending on the audience he’s in front of, flat out lying to the press and the public,” Cuomo stated. “His reckless extremist policies are both dangerous to public safety and destructive to New York’s economy. He knows these views aren’t what New Yorkers want and is doing everything he can to hide the truth until Election Day.”
“I’m saying that these are conversations that I’m having right now with these officers,” the Democratic nominee stated, whereas not making it clear if these conversations embrace an apology.
“A lot of times, the conversations have been on questions of statements around defunding the police,” Mamdani continued. “What does that mean? Is that a part of this campaign? And making it very clear that that’s never been a part of this campaign. And also speaking about the fact that our focus is about addressing the retention crisis, delivering on public safety, and ensuring that officers are actually able to do their jobs.”
