NYC Mayor’s Race: Cuomo keeping independent ballot line as he mulls general election run

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not withdraw his independent ballot line in the mayoral general election by the Friday deadline following his sizable Democratic primary defeat at the hands of democratic socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani earlier this week, a source close to his campaign confirmed to amNewYork.

Cuomo, a moderate, is keeping his “Fight and Deliver” party on the ballot for the November general election in a bid to leave his options open, the source said. He is waiting to see how the ranked-choice tallies for the Democratic contest, which will be calculated by the city Board of Elections on Tuesday, July 1, turn out before deciding the fate of his campaign.

“If you want to look at the numbers, this deadline wasn’t a reality, as far as his thinking goes,” the source said.

The former governor, who was attempting a political comeback after resigning in 2021 following sexual harassment claims that he denies, was behind Mamdani in first-choice votes by 8% and conceded the race on Tuesday night. His defeat came despite his frontrunner status for much of the race, propelled by a consistent polling lead that lasted through the week before the election, and an aligned super PAC that blanketed the airwaves and lined mailboxes with Mamdani attack ads.

Political experts and observers have heavily criticized Cuomo’s campaign in the days following his loss for mostly keeping him away from voters and the press while relying on union members and hired canvassers to get out the vote instead of building its own field operation.

If Cuomo runs, he would be vying for the same centrist and conservative voters whom Mayor Eric Adams is counting on, meaning the two would likely split those constituencies.

But Cuomo’s resounding primary defeat means his establishment supporters, who saw his winning the primary as a forgone conclusion, are now jumping ship to either back the Democratic nominee, who will almost certainly be Mamdani, or incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running on his own independent line.

Mamdani has already begun picking up new endorsements since his primary win, notably from US Rep. Jerry Nadler — who endorsed Scott Stringer in the primary — and Brooklyn Democratic boss Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn, who was backing Cuomo. He has also recieved congratulatory nods from Gov. Kathy Hochul, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — though the three have yet to fully endorse him.

Hizzoner officially launched his general election campaign on the City Hall steps with a couple hundred supporters on Thursday afternoon. Despite Adams being seen by many as politically unviable due to his historically low approval rating and fallout from President Trump scuttling his federal corruption case earlier this year, he has reportedly been meeting with leaders of the city’s business and real estate sectors who are uneasy about a possible Mamdani administration.

Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, will have the Republican line and independent attorney Jim Walden is also running. The general election will be decided by a plurality rather than the ranked-choice system used in the primary.

A Honan Strategy Group poll released on Thursday found that if Cuomo participates in the general election, he and Mamdani would tie at 39% and Adams would trail at 13%. Mamdani would win by 15 points over Adams if Cuomo does not run and Cuomo would surpass Mamdani by 4% if Adams drops out, which is highly unlikely.

Honan conducted several polls that contributed to an early sense of inevitability around Cuomo’s campaign in March. Those surveys were commissioned by Tusk Strategies, whose CEO Chris Coffey served as an advisor on Cuomo’s campaign.