Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters on the Chinatown Senior Middle in Manhattan on Monday, joined by his daughters Michaela and Mariah, through the closing day of his impartial marketing campaign for New York Metropolis mayor.
Photograph by Adam Daly
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent the ultimate day of his impartial New York Metropolis mayoral marketing campaign crisscrossing the 5 boroughs on Monday in a white Ford Bronco, making a last-minute enchantment to voters.
The impartial candidate centered on his three major speaking factors of the marketing campaign: public security, training, and a promise to face as much as each President Donald Trump and what he referred to as the “radical left,” which he mentioned is inflicting a “quiet civil war” throughout the Democratic Get together.
“This is the most important election of my lifetime,” Cuomo mentioned throughout a cease on the Chinatown Senior Middle on Gold Road, joined by his daughters, Michaela and Mariah. “It’s not between two parties, Democrat and Republican. It’s between two very different philosophies.”
The previous governor rejected solutions that Trump’s current remarks on “60 Minutes” amounted to an endorsement, insisting as an alternative that the previous president “called me a bad Democrat.”
In the course of the CBS interview on Sunday, Trump said that whereas he’s not a “fan” of Cuomo, he prefers him over Mamdani. Trump additionally repeated threats to withhold federal funding from New York if Mamdani is elected, falsely labeling him a communist.
“It’s going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump mentioned. “I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.”
Responding on Monday, Cuomo mentioned that the label of “bad Democrat was an unfair one, saying, “I happen to be a good Democrat and a proud Democrat. We need a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and get the funding the city deserves.”
“Trump did not endorse me,” Cuomo contended. “I said repeatedly, I would not accept Donald Trump’s endorsement.”
Cuomo pointed to his report of clashing with Trump throughout his time as governor. “I know how to stop President Trump from doing bad things to New York, and I will,” he mentioned.
Cuomo’s final warning about Mamdani
Photograph by Adam Daly
In his remarks on the Chinatown Senior Middle, Cuomo warned voters that frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and a democratic socialist, would flip New York Metropolis right into a “socialist city,” saying socialism “has not worked anywhere on the globe — not in Venezuela, not in Cuba — and it’s not going to work in New York City.”
Cuomo and different opponents of the Queens Meeting Member have argued all through the marketing campaign that his affordability proposals — together with free metropolis buses and a pilot program for city-owned grocery shops — are irresponsible and unrealistic.
The previous governor continued his assault on Mamdani, 34, who handily defeated him within the June Democratic main, saying he was unqualified to run town due to his restricted time within the state legislature.
“Mayor of New York City would be his first real job, and New York City mayor is too big a job, too important a job,” he mentioned.
Mamdani ‘not the future of the party’
Chatting with reporters, Cuomo argued that the race mirrored what he referred to as a “quiet civil war” throughout the Democratic Get together, citing Mamdani’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America.
“You have moderate Democrats, such as myself,” Cuomo mentioned. “I used to be a crazy liberal Democrat, right? My father was a crazy liberal Democrat. I didn’t change, but the party shifted, so now they call me a moderate. And you have an extreme radical left, which are socialists.”
He continued: “I don’t believe New York City thrives as a socialist city. I don’t think the Democratic Party thrives as a socialist party. I don’t believe Americans will accept the Democratic Party as a socialist party that supports a socialist economy that is anti–law and order.”
His remarks got here a day after Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned he doesn’t view Mamdani as the way forward for the Democratic Get together, regardless of providing a late endorsement following his criticism of the DSA.
Photograph by Adam Daly 
Photograph by Adam Daly
Again contained in the senior heart, Cuomo closed by urging supporters to prove to vote. “Everybody has to vote, because the future of the city of New York rides on this election,” he mentioned. “We can make this city better than ever before. We can make the Big Apple shine brighter than ever before, but I need you to vote for me.”
Specializing in public security, Cuomo promised to rent 5,000 further cops, together with 1,500 for the subway system, and to halt the borough-based jail challenge. He additionally mentioned he would broaden town’s gifted and gifted education schemes and “double the number of specialized high schools.”
Cuomo’s closing marketing campaign day included stops within the Bronx, Washington Heights, Flushing, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.
Earlier than leaving for his subsequent cease in Brownsville on Monday afternoon, reporters famous that Cuomo’s white Ford Bronco resembled the mannequin made notorious by O.J. Simpson’s 1994 slow-speed police chase after he was charged with murdering his spouse.
“I’m going to drive very slow,” Cuomo quipped of the basic automobile he purchased for his daughter in 2013.
Photograph by Adam Daly
