For the second time, former Gov. David Paterson has endorsed the man who once succeeded him as New York’s chief executive, Andrew Cuomo, in the Nov. 4 mayoral general election.
Paterson had sided with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams over the summer after endorsing Cuomo in the Democratic primary. With Adams now out of the race, Paterson once again threw his support to Cuomo, now running as an independent, during a Tuesday afternoon news conference at a Bronx senior center.
Adams, who also endorsed Cuomo last week, joined Cuomo and Paterson for Tuesday’s endorsement announcement.
Paterson praised Cuomo as the right person to tackle the city’s challenges. He also appeared to criticize Democratic nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani over his affordability agenda, which includes items such as free bus service and child care.
“No one’s going to get a free ride, no matter what some people are promising,” said Paterson, who served as New York’s 55th governor between 2008 and 2010 following the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.
“But there is a great opportunity for this city if we elect this gentleman right now, next Tuesday,” he added, referring to Cuomo. “He does not waste any time when he’s in these offices. He works very hard. I saw that in him when I was the governor and he was attorney general. I saw that in him when he became the governor after me, and he’s continued it.”
Cuomo said that while he has clashed with both Paterson and Adams in the past, they are all Democrats and should stand together against democratic socialists like Mamdani.
“Sometimes you have fights within the family. I know I have fights within my family all the time,” Cuomo said. “But when it comes to a big issue and when we have to come together, nobody comes together like family, and we are the Democratic family.”
While Cuomo has gone through the general election with fewer endorsements than he had in the primary, he has begun to pick up more notable supporters in the final days of the race.
Paterson is one of the figures who led the charge to coalesce the candidates running against Mamdani, soon after the democratic socialist Queens Assembly member won the Democratic primary in June.
At the time, the election was a five-person race, with Cuomo, Adams, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and independent attorney Jim Walden all challenging Mamdani.
Paterson, along with other moderate Democrats and Republicans, urged three of the competitors to drop out and support the strongest among them, thereby increasing their chances of defeating Mamdani. The former governor believes that Mamdani has not provided sufficient clarity on how he would deliver on his expensive campaign promises to cut costs.
After the candidates did not immediately head Paterson’s call, he threw his support behind Adams — with whom he has had a long-term friendship — in mid-August.
But Adams and Walden then suspended their campaigns last month, amid low poll numbers. Both have since endorsed Cuomo, while Sliwa has continued running in the face of immense pressure to bow out as well.
