Former NY governor Cuomo seeks political comeback in heated NYC mayor race

Andrew Cuomo is aiming to pull off the biggest political comeback since President Donald Trump won back the White House last November.

Cuomo, the former three-term New York State governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals, is the frontrunner of an 11-candidate field vying for heavily blue New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral nomination.

The former governor – who saw his once-large lead deteriorate as progressives coalesced around Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assembly member from Queens and a democratic socialist originally from Uganda – is highlighting his experience.

“We know that we can make government work because that’s what we did in New York State. They said we couldn’t do it. We did it,” Cuomo told a large crowd of supporters at a union hall rally on the eve of Tuesday’s New York City primary, as he pointed to his progressive achievements as governor.

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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner in the race for the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary, speaks to a large crowd of union supporters on June 23, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

Cuomo is showcasing his fortitude in defending the nation’s most populous city from what he argues are threats from Trump.

“Democrats, we are going to stand strong, stand united, stand tall, you’re not going to separate us,” Cuomo emphasized as he referred to the Republican president. “We’re going to lock arms, and we’re going to go forward.”

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Cuomo, who recently said that as mayor that he would mount a national campaign to try and thwart Trump’s agenda, vows to protect New York City from what he suggests is a possible future Trump administration crackdown against immigration protests in New York City, similar to what occurred earlier this month in Los Angeles.

Additionally, Cuomo pledged to “stand up to Trump before his antics reach New York.”

President Donald Trump, seen speaking in the East Room of the White House on June 12, 2025, is front-and-center on the campaign trail in the race for New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral nomination. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

It is often said that politics is full of second chances, thanks to a long list of politicians who suffered defeat or fell from grace before later winning redemption at the ballot box. Cuomo is trying to be the latest on that list.

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The 67-year-old Cuomo has spent the past four years fighting to clear his name after 11 sexual harassment accusations, which he has repeatedly denied, forced his resignation. He was also under investigation at the time for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic amid allegations his administration vastly understated COVID-related deaths at state nursing homes. 

Last month, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Cuomo after Republicans accused him of lying to Congress about the decisions he made as governor during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo has faced plenty of incoming fire over his baggage from his primary rivals on the campaign trail and during the two debates between the candidates.

Former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner in the race for the New York City Democratic Party mayoral nomination, holds a rally on the eve of the primary on June 23, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

However, Marist University Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee M. Miringoff told Fox News that “there’s a general sense that New Yorkers are willing to provide someone a second chance.”

Cuomo’s bigger concern is Mamdani, who soared into second place in the polls this spring and was closing the gap with Cuomo ahead of the primary.

Mamdani has taken aim at the former governor, pointing out that many of Cuomo’s donors backed Trump in last year’s presidential election.

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“Oligarchy is on the ballot. Andrew Cuomo is the candidate of a billionaire class that is suffocating our democracy and forcing the working class out of our city,” Mamdani’s campaign argued in an email to supporters.

Cuomo’s campaign in recent weeks has criticized Mamdani as a “dangerously inexperienced legislator” while touting that the former governor “managed a state and managed crises, from COVID to Trump.”

Zohran Mamdani, a New York State assemblyman and democratic socialist mayoral candidate for New York City, has narrowed the gap with frontrunner former Gov. Andrew Cuomo ahead of the June 24, 2025 Democratic Party mayoral primary. (REUTERS/Bing Guan)

“The mayor of the city of New York is the CEO of one of the largest corporations on the globe. This is not a job for a novice,” Cuomo said on the eve of the primary. “This is not a job… for on the job training. We need someone who knows what they’re doing on day one because your lives depend on it.”

Mamdani, who among other things wants to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system and make City University of New York “tuition-free,” landed a big boost earlier this month after winning an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left. A week later, he was also endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up.

With multiple candidates on the left running in the primary, the endorsements by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders aimed to consolidate the support of progressive voters behind Mamdani.

The candidate in third place heading into the primary was New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. He grabbed national attention in the closing days of the campaign after he was arrested in Manhattan by Department of Homeland Security agents.

Lander was detained for allegedly assaulting a federal officer as he tried to escort a defendant out of an immigration court.

New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander is arrested at an immigration court in New York City on June 17, 2025. (New York City Comptroller’s Office/via REUTERS)

Temperatures are forecast to reach 100 degrees in New York on Tuesday as the city holds its primary. The dangerously high temperatures may keep some older voters from heading to the polls. Because of that possibility, the heatwave could affect turnout in a race that may come down to Cuomo’s union support and campaign structure versus Mandani’s volunteer forces.

New York City election officials said that more than 384,000 Democrats cast ballots in early voting, which ended on Sunday.

The election is being conducted using a ranked-choice voting system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is dropped, with that candidate’s votes reallocated to voters’ next-highest choices. The process is repeated until one candidate cracks 50%. Mamdani is hoping that the ranked-choice process boosts his chances against Cuomo.

New York City’s primary comes as the Democratic Party works to escape from the political wilderness following last year’s elections, when the party lost control of the White House, the Senate majority and failed to win back control of the House from the GOP.

It comes as Democrats work to resist Trump’s sweeping and controversial second-term agenda.

Miringoff said the results of the primary will be seen as a barometer of which way the Democratic Party is headed, toward the center if Cuomo wins – and toward the left if Mamdani is victorious.

Democratic mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo, left, and Zohran Mamdani, right, present arguments as Whitney Tilson looks on during a Democratic mayoral primary debate on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)

“Because it’s New York, and it’s a very blue city and everything that happens is magnified, I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about the future of the Democratic Party and which way it should define itself, going towards the midterms,” Miringoff said.

The center-left Democrat-aligned group Third Way said in a memo they were “deeply alarmed” over the prospect of a Mamdani victory.

“A Mamdani win for such a high-profile office would be a devastating blow in the fight to defeat Trumpism,” the group argued.

The winner of the Democratic Party primary is traditionally seen as the overwhelming frontrunner in the November general election in the Democrat-dominated city.

However, this year, the general election campaign may be a bit more unpredictable.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected in 2021 as a Democrat, is running for re-election this year as an independent candidate. (NYC Mayor’s Office)

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat elected in 2021, is running for re-election as an Independent. Adams earlier this year dropped his Democratic primary bid as his approval ratings sank to historic lows.

Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged “long-running” scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.

The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.

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Because New York City allows candidates to run on multiple party lines, either Cuomo or Mamdani, if they lose Tuesday’s Democratic primary, could run as an independent or third party candidate in November’s general election, adding to the electoral drama.

Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels, for a second straight election cycle is the Republican nominee for mayor.