In an exclusive interview with NY1 Tuesday, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he believed he “did not run a good campaign” ahead of his loss in June’s Democratic mayoral primary.
What You Need To Know
- In an exclusive interview with NY1 Tuesday, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he believed he “did not run a good campaign”
- Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, secured 56% of the votes in the race after ranked-choice tallies were calculated,
- Cuomo added that his campaign wasn’t aggressive enough to help him secure the Democratic nominee seat
- The former governor also said he would support whichever candidate is polling strongest against Mamdani as the November election nears
“I did not run a good campaign, I admit it. And it was very uncharacteristic for me, because all my life, I’m too aggressive, too difficult, too hostile, he’s so tough. And then I run a very nonaggressive campaign, because in the campaign, all the geniuses said I was way ahead for the entire campaign. So the campaign played it safe,” he told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis.
Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, secured 56% of the votes in the race after ranked-choice tallies were calculated, compared with Cuomo’s 44%.
Cuomo, who on Monday announced he was mounting an independent bid for mayor, said in the interview that Mamdani’s ideas may play well on social media, but in reality “they’re all BS.”
“I think the assemblyman would do damage to New York. Not just that I don’t agree. I believe it would actually damage New York. And I’ve been having this battle with the socialists for years,” he said.
The other candidates in the race for mayor include Republican Curtis Sliwa and two other independent candidates — incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Jim Walden.
Cuomo added that his campaign wasn’t aggressive enough to help him secure the Democratic nominee seat.
“It was more, here are the problems, let’s talk about the problems, affordability, public safety, here’s how I’m going to fix the problems,” he said. “But there was no inspiration to it. There wasn’t enough positivity to it.”
“But it was just, the campaign itself was just not good. Not good in aggressively communicating the affirmative, or frankly, debunking the simplicity of his solutions,” he added.
Cuomo said Mamdani needs to show that he can follow through on the promises he’s campaigning on, such as free buses and freezing rent for the city’s rent-stabilized tenants.
“So these three-word slogans sound good, excellent on social media, but it’s not reality. And a little bit, I was too wed in responsibility and reality. I would not say something that I couldn’t get done, right?” he said, adding these promises build “cynicism about government.”
“I said I was going to do marriage equality because I believed I was going to be able to get it done. So to now throw out these three-word solutions: freeze the rent, build grocery stores. It’s not an effective strategy in the campaign,” he said. “I’m repulsed by it, you know? It’s just not true.”
The former governor said socialists have opposed his ideas in the past, citing when he was pushing for Amazon to open up a headquarters in New York.
“The socialists opposed it and wind up killing it,” he said. “They’re anti-corporate, they’re anti-business. New York is about business. There is no future for New York if you’re going to be anti-business.”
Cuomo also said he would support whichever candidate is polling strongest against Mamdani as the November election nears.
“And if Eric Adams is stronger as a candidate, God bless him. I’ll step aside. And vice versa. So I have no problem with that, and I can totally live and support that,” he said.
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