POLITICO: Cuomo hopes Trump will help him beat Mamdani

NEW YORK — Andrew Cuomo is counting on President Donald Trump and top Republicans to tell the party faithful to vote for him if they want to stop Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani from becoming the next mayor of New York.

Cuomo even thinks the president could tell GOP voters to not support the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, in the November election. The alternative, he says, is a democratic socialist leading the nation’s biggest city.

“We can minimize [the Sliwa] vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate,” Cuomo told the crowd at a Hamptons fundraiser Saturday, according to audio obtained by POLITICO. “And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that.”

Publicly, Cuomo — a Democrat and the former governor of New York — has shunned the idea of getting any help from Trump. Cuomo said he’d decline an endorsement, and denied a New York Times report that he’d spoken with the president about the race.

But Cuomo seemed hopeful for the president’s help behind closed doors, speaking to the more Trump-friendly crowd gathered at media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein’s home in Southampton — the ultra-wealthy Long Island enclave 80 miles east of New York City.

Another co-host of the fundraiser, former New York City Council President Andrew Stein, told the Times he briefed Trump last month on how Cuomo had the best chance to beat Mamdani in the general election.

And Trump may be receptive, Stein suggested to the publication. The president’s heart is still with New York, and “he doesn’t want a communist and socialist running the city.”

Mamdani won a stunning victory over the former governor in the June Democratic primary, expanding the electorate and defeating Cuomo 56-44 in the final round of ranked-choice voting.

Cuomo is now running in the general election on the independent Fight and Deliver Party line and trying to rally support in a field that also includes Sliwa and Mayor Eric Adams. Adams is a registered Democrat, but opted out of his party primary when his budding alliance with Trump further tanked his chances. He’s also seeking reelection on an independent line.

Cuomo took questions at the event, and an attendee asked Cuomo directly if he or his team was in conversation with the White House about how Trump might influence the race. Cuomo didn’t directly deny it this time.

“Let’s put it this way: I knew the president very well,” Cuomo responded. “I believe there’s a big piece of him that actually wants redemption in New York. He feels that he was rejected by New York. We voted for Hillary Clinton. Bill de Blasio took his name off things. So I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he’s not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it.”

Sliwa doesn’t think Trump would nudge the GOP to Cuomo, saying the party can’t get over Cuomo’s role in signing a 2019 law that let more people out on bail pre-trial. “And then you’ve got a guy who’s been smacking fannies and killing grannies,” Sliwa added, referring to Cuomo’s resignation following sexual harassment accusations and his management of Covid in nursing homes. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing in both instances.

“Why don’t we have a debate? And see how many Republicans go with Cuomo,” Sliwa said. “In the streets we have a word for that: a fugazi, a fake.”

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi downplayed Cuomo’s comments as “speculating” about a “hypothetical.”

“We’re not asking for or expecting help from anyone,” he said. “Governor Cuomo is the only chance to beat Mamdani and ensure the greatest city in the world stays the greatest city in the world.”

Cuomo is planning “to rig the election,” Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. “Since he’s too afraid to say it to New Yorkers’ faces, we’ll make it clear: Andrew Cuomo IS Donald Trump’s choice for mayor.”

Cuomo also talked at the fundraiser about getting Adams out of the race, so the anti-Mamdani vote isn’t split among them. A Gotham Polling & Analytics survey conducted this month for the AARP showed Mamdani leading with 42 percent in the general election, but his top four opponents collectively got 50 percent.

Adams “won’t allow himself” to be “a spoiler,” Cuomo said at the fundraiser. “If that happened, he’d have to move to Florida afterwards” because Adams would be “responsible for Mamdani winning. And he believes Mamdani would be horrendous for the city, and we’ve had that conversation.”

That didn’t sit well with Adams, who eviscerated Cuomo in a statement as “an embarrassing double-digit loser who couldn’t beat a socialist, and his failure created this entire scenario.”

“He should stop lecturing others, drop out of the spotlight, and maybe start by giving his daughter back her apartment,” Adams added.

Another attendee at the fundraiser asked Cuomo “if it’s legal or ethical to offer Eric Adams something” to drop out of the race, which prompted laughs from the crowd.

Cuomo kept the laughter going, joking about Stein’s reputation, after pleading guilty to tax evasion in 2010.

“It is neither legal nor ethical,” Cuomo responded, “but Andy is talking to him.”