Andrew Cuomo Turns To Shockingly Racist Attacks On Zohran Mamdani In NYC

In the face of weak polling figures, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has turned to uglier tactics in his bid to become New York City’s mayor over his main rival, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Cuomo, running as an independent, has long sought to paint Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as too extreme.

But this week he went further, appearing to agree that Mamdani was a terrorist sympathizer and that his supporters were shoplifters, domestic abusers and other criminal types.

Cuomo laughed along with conservative radio personality Sid Rosenberg on Thursday morning when the host said Mamdani would be “cheering” on another 9/11-style attack, if one were to occur.

If elected, Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim mayor. The race has attracted national attention — and threats from President Donald Trump — due to Mamdani’s progressive credentials and policy proposals to address housing shortages and the high cost of living. Mamdani currently enjoys a double-digit polling lead over Cuomo, although that would likely narrow if Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa were to drop out of the race.

“Any given morning, there’s a crisis and people’s lives are at stake,” Cuomo said on Rosenberg’s show. “God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the [mayor’s] seat?”

Rosenberg replied, “You know, I could. He’d be cheering.”

Cuomo chuckled along with the host.

“That’s another problem,” he said. “But can you imagine that? If Mamdani was in the seat on 9/11, what would have happened to this city?”

Asked to respond during a morning interview with PIX11 News, a local outlet, Mamdani called Cuomo’s attacks “disgusting.”

“This is Andrew Cuomo’s final moments in public life, and he’s choosing to spend them making racist attacks on the person who would be the first Muslim to lead the city,” he said.

“And frankly, it’s not about me, it’s about the fact that there are more than 1 million Muslims who live in New York City,” he continued. “And to have our faith be smeared and slandered by someone who at one point was considered a leader in the Democratic Party, showcases the fact that bigotry and racism is not exclusively a Republican problem. It is also a problem within our own party.”

“It is time that we turn the page on Andrew Cuomo and those that would tolerate this kind of rhetoric from him, as well,” Mamdani said.

On Wednesday, during a second televised mayoral debate, Cuomo’s campaign posted a now-deleted video apparently generated with artificial intelligence to its social feeds. The video showed various people — mostly men — speaking in favor of Mamdani, revealing them to be a shoplifter, a domestic abuser, a violent trespasser, a drunk driver, a pimp, a drug user and a pro-Palestine activist.

“I’m a criminal,” each one of them says in turn, “For Zohran!”

Mamdani then appears with a set of keys, unlocking the jail cell where his criminal supporters are standing, and letting them go free.

A spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign told The New York Times that the video was “posted in error” and was not yet complete.

But the former governor’s willingness to get down in the mud may be inspiring others.

Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose own political career was destroyed in the last year by allegations of corruption, made a blatantly Islamophobic claim when he threw his support behind Cuomo on Thursday.

“New York can’t be Europe, folks. I don’t know what is wrong with people. You see what is playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism,” Adams said.

“Not Muslims, let’s not mix this up. But those Islamic extremisms that are burning churches in Nigeria, that are destroying communities in Germany, that have taken over the logical thinkings. And that’s what I’m fighting for,” he said.

“That’s why I’m here today to endorse Andrew Cuomo,” Adams said.