New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is expected to endorse former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (I) for mayor, just weeks ahead of the highly anticipated race in the Big Apple.
Despite bad blood between them in the past, Adams — who abandoned his reelection campaign in September — plans to rally behind Cuomo, who is running as an independent in a race including socialist Zohran Mamdani (D) and Republican Curtis Sliwa. According to the New York Times, Adams and Cuomo met after Wednesday night’s mayoral debate, sitting next to each other at the New York Knicks’ season opener.
Adams told the Times that he plans to campaign with Cuomo in the final weeks of the race.
“I think that it is imperative to really wake up the black and brown communities that have suffered from gentrification on how important this race is,” Adams told the outlet.
“They have watched their rents increase in terms of gentrification and they have been disregarded in those neighborhoods,” he said, “and I’m going to go to those neighborhoods and speak one on one with organizers and groups and I’m going to walk with the governor in those neighborhoods and get them engaged,” .
Adams’ exit from the race is thought to have boosted Cuomo’s own campaign as all eyes are on socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani. Fox 5 News reports that “Cuomo has gained 10 points in the polls since Adams exited the race but still trails Mamdani by double digits.”
Cuomo launched several lines of attack against Mamdani during Wednesday’s debate, calling Mamdani a “divisive force in New York” and a “toxic energy for New York,” Breitbart News noted, quoting Cuomo:
“It’s with the Jewish community. It’s with the Italian-American community when you give the Columbus statue the finger. It’s with the Sunni Muslims when you say ‘decriminalize prostitution,’ which is haram. It’s the Hindus,” Cuomo said, calling out Mamdani for taking a picture with Ugandan official Rebecca Kadaga, who has pushed what have been described as “anti-LGBT policies.”
“She’s known as Rebecca ‘Gay Killer’ Kadaga,” Cuomo continued. “Question: You’re a citizen of Uganda. You took the picture. You said you didn’t know who she was. It turns out you did. How do you not renounce your citizenship or demand BDS against Uganda for imprisoning people who are gay just by their sexual orientation? Isn’t that a basic violation of human rights?”
Mamdani responded that his politics are “built on a belief in human rights for all people.”
“And that extends to queer and trans New Yorkers and it extends to queer and trans Ugandans,” Mamdani said. “And had I known that the first deputy minister was the architect of that legislation, I would not have taken that photo.”
Read the full article here