On Thursday morning, hours after a combative final New York mayoral debate that failed to move the needle in his favor, Andrew Cuomo’s attacks on progressive Democratic rival Zohran Mamdani resumed a familiar, racially charged theme.
“God forbid, another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” the independent candidate and former governor told conservative radio talkshow host Sid Rosenberg, referring to the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City by Islamic extremists.
“He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg replied, prompting Cuomo, who has previously referred to Mamdani as “a terrorist sympathizer”, to laugh and announce: “That’s another problem”.
Mamdani, who will become the city’s first Muslim mayor if he wins next month’s election, condemned the comment as “disgusting” and “racist” in an appearance on New York’s Pix11 News. “This is Andrew Cuomo’s final moments in public life and he’s choosing to spend them making racist attacks,” he said.
If Mamdani sounded weary, it was because the affront by Cuomo, who decided to run as an independent after being crushed in the Democratic primary in June, was merely the latest in a succession of personal insults and bigotry from a multitude of directions. Even later on Thursday, current New York City mayor Eric Adams called Mamdani “the communist” and said his own endorsement of Cuomo was motivated by seeking to fight Islamic extremism and people who were “burning churches”.
Since winning the nomination, the upstart Mamdani has been assailed by his opponent and a variety of political figures, wealthy donors and others up to Donald Trump, who lamented the prospect of “a communist as the mayor of New York” and promised to use the power of the White House to obstruct him.
Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik, the Republican New York congresswoman reportedly chasing the nomination for state governor, condemned Mamdani as “a jihadist candidate for mayor” in an incendiary tweet.
Meanwhile, hundreds of New York rabbis, riled by Mamdani’s criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian independence,said he was a threat to “the safety and dignity of Jews” in an open letter signed this week.
And in June, Mamdani criticized Cuomo’s political action committee (PAC) for “blatant Islamophobia” after it created a mailer accusing him of antisemitism and containing an image of the Democrat’s face that appeared manipulated to give him a darker, longer and bushier beard.
On Wednesday night, during the debate, Cuomo’s team posted to X then swiftly deleted a racist artificial intelligence-generated ad titled “Criminals for Zohran Mamdani” that featured the popular democratic socialist state assemblyman eating rice with his hands before being supported by a Black man shoplifting while wearing a keffiyeh, a man abusing a woman, a sex trafficker and a drug dealer.
Bill de Blasio, the Democratic former New York mayor, condemned the move in his own X post. “This is disqualifying. No candidate who approves a racist, disgusting ad like this can be allowed to govern. Bye, @andrewcuomo.”
Observers of New York electoral races say they have never seen a campaign with this level of personal vitriol, but credit Mamdani – a naturalized US citizen who was born in Uganda – with maturity defying his status as a relative political novice.
“The way that he has handled the attacks is really impressive,” said Laura Tammanclinical assistant professor of political science at New York’s Pace University.
“Consider if Brad Lander [a progressive Democrat who is New York City comptroller] had become the Democratic nominee, who has many of the same ideological positions that Mamdani has, he would not be facing the same barrage of attacks.
“So it’s pretty clear there’s some anti-Muslim and some racial bias that’s affecting the coverage, and in those circumstances, I think him responding with smiles and grace is really impressive.”
One of the main lines of attack during the debates by Cuomo, and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, is that Mamdani lacks the necessary political experience to lead a city of 8.5 million people, but Tamman said that can work to his advantage.
“He became the Democratic nominee through widespread grassroots support, so his lack of experience is useful in this way because having not come up through the political system he also doesn’t owe a bunch of people favors,” she said.
“That means he’s really able to stay true to his values and feel confident in what he’s saying because he actually believes it.”
Conversely, Tamman said, Cuomo’s reliance on attack-ads could backfire. Mamdani’s team has been critical of what they see as “desperate” efforts by Cuomo to undermine or misrepresent the Democrat’s positions, including an attempt last week to tie him to anti-LGBTQ+ themes and a Brooklyn imam who opposes homosexuality.
Cuomo, Tamman said, was “not reading the moment”.
She said: “It doesn’t seem like he thinks he should have to campaign. He seems to want to run the same kind of campaign that he ran for a gubernatorial re-election in 2018 which is: ‘I’m going to sit back and let my consultants create some TV ads, and I am willing to throw my hat in the ring for a lesser position than what I have previously been elected to.’
“And voters are not feeling grateful for him being willing to step in. They have someone else they’re really excited about.”
Mamdani, in his television interview Thursday, said Cuomo’s focus on ethnicity was wearing thin. “All Muslim New Yorkers want is to feel a sense of equality and respect that every New Yorker deserves, and even that is being denied by the former governor,” he said.
Parallel to the political attacks has been a concerted endeavor by wealthy donors and supporters of Cuomo to direct their considerable resources against him. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has previously supported Democrats but backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, donated $1m this month to the Defend NYC Pac after donating another half-million dollars to another pro-Cuomo group in June, Politico reported.
Other prominent billionaire donors in opposition to Mamdani include former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg; businessman Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress; and John B Hess, head of the Hess Corporation.
At a 13 October rally in Washington Heights, Mamdani acknowledged their intervention, and said he saw it as a compliment.
“Billionaires like Bill Ackman and Ronald Lauder have poured millions of dollars into this race because they say that we pose an existential threat. I am here to admit something: they are right,” he said.
