(CNN) — Andrew Cuomo is trying to prove to New York City Democrats that he’d represent them better than Zohran Mamdani. And he’s trying to prove to New York City Republicans that he’d represent them better than Curtis Sliwa, the GOP nominee.
He’s going on Fox Business in the morning and MSNBC at night with a stop on ABC’s “The View” added in. He’s appealing to real-estate leaders who backed him against Mamdani in the Democratic primary he lost while appearing Tuesday night at a fundraiser hosted by a Republican developer.
His aides are ramping up his social media content, posting a video featuring an AI-generated Cuomo doing jobs the real Cuomo says he couldn’t do.
It’s not yet clear whether all of it will add up to much.
Mamdani remains the favorite to win November’s general election, well ahead of Cuomo in the most recent public polling. Eric Adams’ decision to end his reelection bid was seen as a boost to Cuomo, though the mayor was running fourth in most polls and did not endorse the former governor – whom Adams called a “liar” and a “snake” days earlier. Sliwa, running third, insists nothing will stop him from finishing his campaign.
While Cuomo’s message against Mamdani has remained the same, his appeals across the spectrum have at times seemed contradictory and risked playing into a core Mamdani argument: The former New York governor is aligning with Donald Trump for political reasons in his comeback bid, even as the Queens-born president threatens his hometown with federal retribution if Mamdani wins.
“There are a lot of New Yorkers who are excited about your campaign who are also excited about Donald Trump,” MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle pressed Cuomo recently. “Don’t tell me that’s not true.”
“Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and gave money to Donald Trump? Of course, of course,” Cuomo responded.
He later noted, “We’re New Yorkers. They know him, they know me.”
His message has stayed roughly the same
With each appearance, Cuomo is trying to drive the same message: that Mamdani is not a real Democrat because he is a democratic socialist, that he doesn’t have the experience to lead America’s largest city and that his proposals are unrealistic.
His strategy, according to campaign aides, is to consolidate Adams’ voters, eat into Sliwa’s support among Republicans and make a bid for any New Yorkers who remain undecided.
The aides, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, also point to a slight boost in fundraising shortly after Adams announced he would leave the race as evidence that Cuomo is making progress. In the 36 hours after Adams’ exit, Cuomo racked up nearly $400,000 in donations, according to the campaign.
Early voting begins in a little more than two weeks, setting up a tight timeline.
In his first television ad before the general election, Cuomo vowed to hire more police officers and address the homelessness crisis while focusing on his past executive experience. The ad drew attention online for AI-generated images of Cuomo doing jobs he couldn’t do in real life to make the case that he was suited for the job he’s running for.
After he was criticized for not doing so as governor or during the primary campaign, Cuomo has increased his visibility across the city’s mosques and Hindu temples, an attempt to cut into Mamdani’s South Asian support, particularly among older communities where he has stressed a focus on public safety and Mamdani’s position on the decriminalization of sex work.
During a campaign rally last week attended by more than 200 supporters, Cuomo launched “Hindus for Cuomo,” seeking to make use of the divisions in the city’s South Asian community which has largely supported Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian origin and has filmed ads speaking in Hindi, Urdu and Bengali.
Still in question is whether Adams’ announcement will reignite interest among the city’s wealthy donors, real estate leaders and powerful business class, including several who helped finance anti-Mamdani super PACs in the primary race but have stayed out of the general election.
To that end, Cuomo was expected to make his pitch at a fundraiser hosted by a Republican on Tuesday. Real estate developer Steve Valiotis was hosting an event in Queens expected to draw at least 200 people, including several members of the city’s Greek community.
The Republican nominee remains a thorn in Cuomo’s side
Although Cuomo has tried to cast the race as a two-man contest, Sliwa remains in the race and has showed no signs of ending his campaign.
Even as Trump has declined to back him, Sliwa got the endorsement Monday of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani, who served two terms as mayor and later became a high-profile Trump ally, hosted Sliwa on his X show on Monday night and railed against Cuomo, saying he had run “a terrible campaign” in the Democratic primary.
Sliwa, an omnipresent New York character who founded The Guardian Angels, a crime watch group, has called Giuliani New York City’s greatest mayor and said his mayoralty would be modeled after his.
Adams, meanwhile, has minimized his public appearances and stayed away from the City Hall press corps that tries to trail him every day. On Monday, City Hall announced Adams would travel to Albania to meet with local business leaders and the country’s prime minister.
Mamdani, who has said he would avoid traveling outside of the city if he is elected mayor, noted he too had met with that community recently.
“I spoke to a number of Albanian New Yorkers just this weekend,” Mamdani said during a campaign stop Monday. “I went to Staten Island.”
The-CNN-Wire
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