{"id":17735,"date":"2025-10-26T23:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17735\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T23:35:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:35:19","slug":"cuomo-mamdani-rally-forces-in-queens-as-mayoral-race-enters-final-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17735\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuomo, Mamdani rally forces in Queens as mayoral race enters final days"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the city\u2019s mayoral election racing into the home stretch, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo both held rallies in Queens to make their final pitches to voters on a picture-perfect fall Sunday.<\/p>\n

Cuomo, a former New York governor, held a \u201crally to support the Jewish state of Israel\u201d in Kew Gardens,<\/a> appealing to the neighborhood\u2019s large Jewish community. About 200 people attended.<\/p>\n

Cuomo declared his message to the crowd is crystal \u2014 that he stands with the Jewish people of New York and that Mamdani, if elected, will present a threat to Jewish New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fundamentally resent the idea that a mayor of New York would be a divisive force. What [Mamdani] has done, the offense he has shown to the Jewish community, he should be ashamed of himself,\u201d Cuomo said to the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Rebecca White \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Andrew Cuomo speaks to an audience in Flushing, Queens on Sunday. (Rebecca White \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Cuomo also zeroed in on the Democratic candidate\u2019s youth and comparative lack of experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a mayor who knows how to make government work and I have done that all my life,\u201d he said, distinguishing himself from Mamdani, \u201cwho\u2019s never worked a real job in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuomo also promoted himself as a pro-business candidate, insisting, \u201cWe have to send a different signal to business. We have to say to businesses we want you to stay here,\u201d and reiterated his plan to hire five thousand more police officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he came out very strong for pro-Jewish values. I really appreciate that and respect that,\u201d said rally attendee Hershel Peiser, 23. Peiser, a student at Touro University<\/a> who said public safety is \u201ceasily\u201d his top priority, said he intends to vote for Cuomo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he is the best candidate for the city for the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendee Rabbi Gary Moskowitz, 68, also said his number one issue was public safety. \u201cYou have a fiduciary responsibility is to protect your citizens,\u201d Moskowitz said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t do that, there\u2019s nothing left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moskowitz, a former NYC police officer who once received an award from Cuomo\u2019s father, former governor Mario Cuomo, said he was supporting Cuomo \u201cfor two reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a lot of experience with the government and if he does some bad things, okay. No one\u2019s going to have a perfect record. That\u2019s the first thing,\u201d Moskowitz said. Cuomo reigned from the governorship in 2021 after several women accused him of sexual harassment. He has also received criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond one, Mamdani\u2019s an absolute danger to the Jewish community,\u201d Moskowitz said. He expressed disappointment at the rally\u2019s low attendance. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful day outside today, that\u2019s why more people should have been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zohran<\/p>\n

Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani visits a Haitian restaurant in East Flatbush, Brooklyn on Saturday. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Forest Hills at Forest Hills Stadium, a packed venue of about 1,000 people turned out to attend a rally for Mamdani.<\/p>\n

City comptroller Brad Lander<\/a> circulated amongst the crowd, stopping to talk to The Daily News in a designated press area. \u201cThere\u2019s so much energy out in the streets,\u201d Lander said, \u201cThe set of people is hungry to go win this race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lander, who ran for democratic nominee in the primary, has since become one of Mamdani\u2019s most successful surrogates. \u201cNew York is not for sale,\u201d Lander said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many people excited about who we are here for tonight\u2026and who wanted a different future for the city. Not the sour, selfish, bitter, racist politics of the past that Andrew Cuomo is offering, but hopeful, energetic affordable politics of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 6 p.m. the rally was just getting going. Several speakers are expected to address the crowd before the candidate takes the stage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the city\u2019s mayoral election racing into the home stretch, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and Independent candidate Andrew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2659,9,24,264,10,12,63,87,122,124,123,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-17735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-election","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-county","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-queens","17":"tag-queens-headlines","18":"tag-queens-news","19":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}