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Within the closing weeks forward of New York Metropolis’s Democratic Get together mayoral major, as he seemed to be cruising towards capturing his social gathering’s nomination, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo targeted his marketing campaign’s highlight on President Donald Trump. However an sudden loss to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani pressured his marketing campaign to make an abrupt change in messaging.
“Trump’s coming for New York. Who do you assume can cease him?” the narrator in a Cuomo marketing campaign advert mentioned, over pictures of the June rioting in Los Angeles sparked by Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“Trump’s on the metropolis gates. We want somebody skilled to slam them shut,” the narrator mentioned, as he prompt that Cuomo was essentially the most skilled candidate to push again in opposition to the president’s agenda.
The previous three-term governor, who resigned amid twin scandals in 2021, pledged, if elected mayor, to guard New York Metropolis from what he prompt may very well be a doable future federal crackdown in opposition to immigration protests within the metropolis. And he vowed to mount a nationwide marketing campaign to attempt to thwart Trump’s agenda.
POLL POSITION: MAMDANI’S THE FRONTRUNNER, BUT ISN’T RUNNING AWAY WITH THE NYC MAYORAL RACE
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a speech to supporters, acknowledges that rival Zohran Mamdani ‘gained’ the New York Metropolis Democratic Get together mayoral major, on June 24, 2025, in New York, N.Y. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox Information)
However Mamdani’s beautiful victory over Cuomo and 9 different candidates final month to seize the Democratic Get together nomination rocked the race for mayor within the nation’s most populous metropolis.
And as Cuomo resets as he runs within the mayoral normal election as an unbiased candidate, references to Trump have plummeted as the previous governor stands for interviews. He did not point out the president as soon as in his video asserting his normal election marketing campaign.
Longtime Cuomo adviser and spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi mentioned “that is not the case” when requested by Fox Information Digital if the previous governor was de-emphasizing Trump messaging.
“It’s foolish. It’s solely been eight days for the reason that marketing campaign had a relaunch,” Azzopardi mentioned. And he mentioned that within the native interviews Cuomo has carried out, “it has been extra native and pocketbook points which have come up.”
“I believe New Yorkers know that the individual finest outfitted to guard New York from any excesses which will come out of Washington is Andrew Cuomo, as a result of he’s carried out it earlier than,” Azzopardi added.
However Mamdani’s marketing campaign argues that Cuomo is taking a web page from their playbook as he shines a highlight on his proposals to decrease the hire, construct extra housing, and enhance public transportation.
MAMDANI ON EXTENDED AFRICA TRIP AMID NYC MAYORAL CAMPAIGN
The 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from Queens, who was backed by progressive champions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, surged to a come-from-behind major victory, because of an brisk marketing campaign that put a serious give attention to affordability and New York Metropolis’s excessive price of dwelling.
New York Metropolis Democratic Get together mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Workplace Constructing on July 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs)
Mamdani made good use of social media platforms, together with TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to journey New York Metropolis’s huge bus system, making CUNY (Metropolis College of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, providing “free childcare” for youngsters as much as age 5 and establishing government-run grocery shops.
And Mamdani, thanks partially to the efforts of an enormous grassroots military of volunteers, rode a wave of assist from youthful and progressive voters to catapult himself into first place.
Cuomo now says he is dedicated to creating New York a metropolis with “decrease hire, safer streets, the place shopping for your first house is as soon as once more doable, the place youngster care gained’t bankrupt you.”
And he is taken intention at Mamdani for placing out “slick slogans, however no actual options.”
POTUS THE PUNDIT: TRUMP SAYS CUOMO’S GOT A ‘GOOD SHOT’ OF BEATING MAMDANI
Cuomo is one in all 4 candidates within the normal election who’re taking up Mamdani, who, because the Democratic Get together nominee, is the front-runner in a metropolis the place Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly six-to-one margin.
Additionally within the race are Mayor Eric Adams, the embattled incumbent who introduced earlier this yr that he would search re-election as an unbiased candidate, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee.
And Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor, can also be working as an unbiased.
Former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo has remained within the New York Metropolis mayoral race as an unbiased after his defeat within the Democratic Get together major. (Alex Kent/Getty Photographs)
Cuomo, since his major defeat, has famous that the final election citizens in New York Metropolis is far bigger than the pool of voters who forged ballots within the Democratic nomination race.
“Solely 13% of New Yorkers voted within the June major,” Cuomo mentioned in his normal election launch video.
And as he now faces a broader and extra average citizens than that within the Democratic Get together major, Cuomo’s obvious pivot away from Trump and in the direction of problems with affordability seems strategic.
Azzopardi, pointing to the marketing campaign re-launch, instructed Fox Information, “It was vital to hit the bottom working to fulfill New Yorkers the place they’re, and that’s what we’re doing.”
“The message is a straightforward one. It’s New Yorkers are typically not hard-core pro-MAGA Trumpers, nor are they socialists. They’re within the center, and the governor is making the case about how he’s the individual finest outfitted to convey the primary competent administration again to Metropolis Corridor in 12 years,” Azzopardi mentioned.
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However veteran Democratic strategist Lauren Hitt, who suggested an anti-Cuomo tremendous PAC within the Democratic major, argued that New York Metropolis voters are prone to be skeptical of the previous governor’s message.
“Cuomo already had his likelihood to make New York extra reasonably priced, and he did simply the other. So he can attempt to slap one other label on his marketing campaign, however New Yorkers already know they don’t like what he’s promoting,” Hitt mentioned.
