US President Donald Trump urged New Yorkers to cast their vote for former Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, bypassing the Republican candidate in the mayoral election so that he can defeat the Democratic candidate Zoharan Mamdani.
Cuomo is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary in June. Polls show Mamdani ahead of both Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Silva.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really don’t have a choice. You should vote for him, and hope he does a great job,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He threatened to cut off federal funding to NYC if Mamdani won the election, saying that it was “highly unlikely” that he would release federal funds “beyond the minimum required amount.”
He said a vote for Silva would only help Mamdani and urged his supporters to support Cuomo, an issue frequently raised by the former New York State governor.
Cuomo resigned from his governorship in 2021 following multiple sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.
race to nyc
The race for mayor of New York is now in its final stages, with early voting and the campaign period closed.
More than 735,000 votes were cast over nine days of early, in-person voting. This is four times more than the number of people who cast early votes in 2021.
Crowds of voters were seen standing in line for more than an hour to cast their ballots at some polling stations, including in Brooklyn.
All the candidates spent Monday touring the five cities, the last day of campaigning and the eve of Election Day.
Why is election important?
If Mamdani wins, New York City has the potential to become the next battleground for internal American politics. Trump has ordered the deployment of national troops in several Democrat stronghold cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Memphis and Portland under the guise of curbing crime.
He threatened to do the same to several other cities, including NYC.
With a population of approximately 8.5 million and approximately 65 million visitors each year, New York City is a major global cultural and financial center, with significant challenges around housing, transportation, and public finance.
The mayoral program comes with a budget of around $116 billion (€100.8 billion) and is wide-ranging in scope – from schools to the police.
Should Mamdani win, his vocal feud with Trump, himself a New Yorker, is also likely to be an ongoing topic of discussion.
Trump has called Mamdani a “communist lunatic” and a “disaster waiting to happen.”
The mayoral candidate, for his part, has said he will try to work with President Trump for the sake of the city, but will not be intimidated.
Edited by: Srinivas Majumdaru