Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (I) on Sunday called Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani (D) “the most divisive candidate I have ever experienced in New York.”
“He alienated the Jewish community,” Cuomo said on the “Cats Roundtable” radio show hosted by John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM. “Alienated the Italian community. Offended the LGBTQ community … ‘[New York Police Department], you’re ‘racist, wicked, and corrupt.’ ‘Barack Obama, he’s evil and he’s a liar’ … He’s in favor of decriminalizing prostitution, that’s haram according to the Quran. He has offended everyone.”
Cuomo slammed Mamdani throughout the interview, suggesting “this Zohran has frightened a lot of people with his policies and his things.” At one point, he criticized some of Mamdani’s top priorities, including free busing and freezing rent prices.
“You get a little older, a little more mature, and you realize there’s nothing free, and the policies he’s is talking about are all BS, and the fact that he has zero qualifications is actually quite dangerous,” Cuomo said.
Regarding Mamdani’s potential win on Tuesday, the former governor also suggested “people will die” if a hurricane, health crisis or other disaster hit the city.
An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll released on Thursday showed Cuomo 25 points behind Mamdani, who received 50 percent of support from respondents. Republican Curtis Sliwa, whom Cuomo has sought to portray as a spoiler for Mamdani, trailed behind at 21 percent.
“Mamdani appears to have built a coalition across key demographics, increasing his margin among Black voters since last month, from 50% to 71%, whereas Cuomo dropped ten points among Black voters since September,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement.
Despite endorsements from incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D) for Cuomo, Mamdani is widely expected to win the mayoral race on Election Day on Nov. 4, even as moderate Democrats and some Republicans coalesce around the former governor. While former President Obama has not endorsed Mamdani, he reportedly called the Democratic mayoral nominee on Saturday and complimented his campaign, according to The New York Times.
In April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an investigation into Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This came after a House Republican panel in late 2024 called on former Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Cuomo for allegedly lying to the panel about how he handled nursing homes during the pandemic.
In 2021, Cuomo accepted some fault for his decisions the year before. New York health officials reported there were 15,000 COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
