As the race for New York City mayor nears its end, the shrinking pool of undecided voters is being shaped by moral confrontation and identity politics. It is terrain where Zohran Mamdani, the out-of-nowhere Democratic primary winner, excels. It is also where Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor turned independent candidate, risks appearing weak when seen as \u201csoft\u201d on that city\u2019s bogeyman, President Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mamdani has made opposing Trump a central theme of his campaign. Cuomo has not. Although Cuomo has broadly opposed the president in the past, he has avoided making that opposition a defining message this time around. It is a curious strategy, especially considering Cuomo\u2019s strong anti-Trump record as governor, and with most likely voters saying the next mayor should take a strong stand against the president on immigration, threats of withholding federal funding, and more.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Cuomo has called himself the \u201clast person\u201d Trump would want as mayor \u2014 but not because of who he is. Rather, his reasoning is that a Mamdani administration would make Democrats look so bad it would be a \u201cgift\u201d to Trump. He\u00a0insists\u00a0<\/a>that Trump plays no role in his campaign. When asked about a reported secret phone call with Trump, Cuomo claimed they did not discuss the mayoral race.<\/p>\n At a mayoral forum held last week by Crain\u2019s magazine, Mamdani invoked<\/a> Trump twice \u2014 both times to rally the room against the president\u2019s threats to choke off federal aid to the city. He told the business audience that the first job of the next mayor is to \u201cinterrogate the legality\u201d of any Trump edict and then \u201cfight.\u201d Cuomo, in contrast, mentioned Trump only once, and only in passing while referencing the pandemic.<\/p>\n Soon after, Cuomo missed a key opportunity to show strength when New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) was indicted on fraud and false statement charges<\/a> by a prosecutor whom Trump had hand-picked. Mamdani, on the other hand, joined other Democrats in lower Manhattan to protest. Cuomo issued a statement warning against weaponizing the justice system \u201cwhether it comes from the right or the left<\/a>,\u201d without naming either James or Trump. This is a far cry from the Cuomo who told Trump in 2020, \u201cWe don\u2019t have a king<\/a>,\u201d or who threatened to sue Washington over defunding threats.<\/p>\n Of course, the fact that James had aggressively investigated claims of sexual harassment against Cuomo when he was governor might have played a role.<\/p>\n Mamdani, though lacking Cuomo\u2019s anti-Trump gubernatorial record, has made up for it with rhetoric that energizes liberal New Yorkers. Last week, Trump mused on Truth Social that a Mamdani win would end federal aid to New York. He charged<\/a>, \u201cHe needs the money from me, as president, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won\u2019t be getting any of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani wasted no time responding. \u201cWhat this city deserves is someone who will fight for it,\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>, calling Trump a president who \u201clooks at this city as something to be punished every day.\u201d He\u2019s capitalized on Cuomo\u2019s lack of clarity on Trump. On CNN he added<\/a> that \u201cDonald Trump is clearing the way for Andrew Cuomo, because Donald Trump knows that Cuomo will clear the way for Trump\u2019s agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking to the\u00a0New Yorker, Mamdani\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve seen in his first term and his second term that what Donald Trump most often respects is strength. It is not cowardice. It\u2019s not collaboration like we saw from [Mayor Eric Adams], or coordination like we\u2019re seeing from Cuomo. It\u2019s someone who\u2019s willing to stand up and fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, when reports emerged that Trump had encouraged Adams to drop out, Mamdani was quick to accuse Andrew Cuomo<\/a> of being, \u201cas long suspected,\u201d Trump\u2019s preferred candidate. When it was later reported\u00a0<\/a>that Trump might back Cuomo, Mamdani\u00a0declared\u00a0<\/a>during a five-borough tour that his administration would be \u201cTrump\u2019s worst nightmare.\u201d He asked<\/a>, \u201cHow else can you describe a president who has proposed denaturalizing the Democratic nominee of New York City?\u201d<\/p>\n