New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo made “some mistakes” in the Democratic primary, saying Monday he did not capitalize on voters under 30, a demographic that “exploded” in this cycle.
Cuomo, 67, is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary race to socialist Zohran Mamdani in June. The former New York governor said younger voters coming out to support Mamdani is “a microcosm” of what is happening to both political parties, claiming an “extreme left, socialist movement” has grown in response to “an extreme right, [Make America Great Again] vote.”
“The under-30 vote was really an historic explosion, and in retrospect, I didn’t pay enough attention to it. Now [Mamdani] is also 33 years old, he has a natural attraction with the younger generation — I get all of that,” Cuomo said Monday on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“But the vote was unprecedented, and it was 105 degrees, and a lot of my vote didn’t come out because it was 105 degrees. But no excuses. I should have run a better campaign,” Cuomo said.
Stephen A. Smith interviewed sitting Mayor Eric Adams last week, in which the mayor claimed Cuomo has “a problem with black men in leadership positions.” Adams said Cuomo “sabotaged” the political races of multiple black elected officials, listing the 2002 defeat of H. Carl McCall’s New York gubernatorial run, and Charlie King’s 2006 state attorney general run as examples.
In response, Cuomo said, “Desperate people say desperate things,” and pointed to McCall and King being among Cuomo’s supporters for mayor. Cuomo also said he does not believe voters cast their ballot based on “gender identity” or “race,” and cited his work with the black community for how he is beating Adams in polls surveying black voters.
Cuomo said New York residents dislike Adams due to the mayor’s corruption charges being dropped in April, which Cuomo claimed was under the condition of Adams “cooperating” with the Trump administration.
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The former governor also criticized Mamdani, saying most voters would not be supporting the Democratic candidate since he is “anti-business, anti-Capitalist, anti-police,” and “fuels antisemitism.” He predicted Adams would lose in a race between him and Mamdani, but a “one-on-one” competition between himself and Mamdani would be winnable.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa trash-talked his opponents Wednesday, saying Cuomo is “a creep, slapping fannies and killing grannies” and calling Adams “damaged goods.”