Some candidates focus on blocking Cuomo’s path a day before NYC’s mayoral primary

NEW YORK (AP) — Their chances of becoming the next mayor of New York City may have dimmed. Their mission now? Stopping former Gov. Andrew Cuomo from getting to City Hall.

In the final day of campaigning before the city’s Democratic primary, candidates who are seen as long shots to win the nomination were urging voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots in the city’s ranked choice election in a last-ditch effort to block the former governor’s comeback from a sexual harassment scandal.

“Let’s make sure Andrew Cuomo gets nowhere near City Hall,” candidate and city Comptroller Brad Lander said Monday on WNYC radio, which interviewed the major candidates ahead of the election.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, another candidate, similarly asked voters to not vote for Cuomo, telling the station, “We need fresh leadership, we need to turn the page and we need bold solutions at this moment.”

The pitches came as Cuomo, who has been considered the frontrunner for months, has also been trying to fend off a charge from Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, would be the city’s first Muslim and first Indian-American mayor if elected. A democratic socialist who got elected to the Legislature in 2020, Mamdani started the campaign as a relative unknown but has won support with a energetic campaign centered on improving the cost of living.

The assault on Cuomo from fellow members of the Democratic field comes as he has continued to rack up establishment endorsements. Former President Bill Clinton endorsed Cuomo on Sunday, saying voters should not “underestimate the complexity” for the challenges faced by a mayor. The New York Times didn’t issue an endorsement this year, but wrote an editorial praising Lander and saying Cuomo would be a better choice than Mamdani, who it said was unworthy of being on people’s ballots.

Cuomo and Mamdani have ratcheted up attacks on each other in the campaign’s final days.

“He’s about public relations,” Cuomo said of Mamdani, dismissing his opponent as too focused on looking great on social media, and not skilled enough as an executive to run the city.

Mamdani, meanwhile, exuded confidence, telling WNYC he is “one day from toppling a political dynasty.”

“New Yorkers are done with the cynical politics of the past. They want a future they can afford,” said Mamdani, who was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.