Andrew Cuomo staying on NYC mayoral election ballot — as critics slam ex-gov as ‘spoiler’ candidate
By Vaughn Golden, Carl Campanile, Matthew Fischetti and Matt Troutman
To the victor Cuos the spoiler.
Andrew Cuomo is staying on the New York City mayoral election ballot — a move that prompted critics to slam the ex-gov as a “spoiler” candidate.
Sources confirmed that Cuomo will not decline to run on an independent ballot line, ahead of a Friday deadline to pull his name from the November ticket.
Cuomo’s defiant stance comes as he hemorrhages union support after his stunning loss to socialist contender Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday’s Democratic primary – and amid widespread consternation that he’ll give the Queens assemblyman an easier path to Gracie Mansion.
“Cuomo’s name in the race is fantastic for Mamdani,” said Sal Albanese, a former Brooklyn city councilman. “A thousand percent Cuomo is playing the spoiler. It makes Mamdani’s task of getting elected mayor much easier.”
Andrew Cuomo giving a concession speech at his mayoral primary election night event.
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Andrew Cuomo will not decline to run on an independent ballot line, sources confirmed.
John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
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The former governor conceded Mamdani’s win, but played coy on whether he would continue to run on his “Fight and Deliver” ballot line in the general election, saying he wanted to see the full results of the ranked-choice contest first.
A campaign source Friday confirmed that Cuomo – who faced a deadline of 5 p.m. to effectively withdraw from November’s ballot and growing calls to drop out – will not decline his independent line.
It remains unclear whether Cuomo will actually mount an active general election campaign. Sources close to Cuomo’s camp previously said the former governor almost certainly would not.
Even if he doesn’t actively campaign, staying on the general election ballot could siphon votes from Mayor Eric Adams, who will also be running on an independent line.
“If Cuomo stays in the race he splits the anti-Mamdani vote and helps Mamdani,” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar, a Dyker Heights resident.
Andrew Cuomo receiving his ballot at a polling place.
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Former N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, receives his ballot to vote in the Democrat mayoral primary election in New York, Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
AP
“He’s playing the spoiler — 100 percent. He has no chance of winning and only takes votes from Adams and Curtis,” Kassar said, referring to GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Lawyer Jim Walden is also running as an independent candidate in the general election.
Cuomo pulled a similar maneuver during his last stinging electoral defeat in 2002 — when he was trounced in the Democratic gubernatorial primary by Carl McCall.
He backed McCall in the general election that year, but stayed on the Liberal party line.At least one backer, former Gov. David Paterson, said he wanted Cuomo to stay in the race.
“I would like to see Andrew run a general election campaign. Of the three alternatives – Andrew, Eric, Curtis – Cuomo has the best chance to win,” Paterson told The Post.
“I want to see Cuomo do it. I think he has a good shot,” the Democrat said of his successor.
The apparent behind-the-scenes hemming and hawing by Cuomo came as his bruised backers eyed shifting support to Adams or even another independent candidate as a last-ditch bid to stop Mamdani.
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Several of the labor groups that backed Cuomo in the Democratic primary shifted their support to Mamdani as new broke of the former governor’s refusal to recuse himself from the ballot.
The powerful SEIU Local 32BJ, Hotel Trade and Gaming Council and New York State Nurses Association all jumped on the Mamdani bandwagon Friday and endorsed his candidacy.
But Greg Floyd, head of Teamsters Local 237 that reps safety officers in schools and NYCHA buildings, said he’ll stick with Cuomo if he actively runs in the general election because of skepticism of Mamdani’s “everything is free” plans.
“I’m not going to tell Andrew what to do,” he said. “If Cuomo stays in the race, I’m with him.”
Floyd said he would consider backing Adams if Cuomo doesn’t campaign, but cast the choice of supporting Hizzoner over Mamdani as akin to backing “slim over none.”
Other union groups were adopting a more wait-and-see approach.
“There’s a normal desire to back the Democratic nominee but these are unprecedented times,” one labor union source said. “All the unions are weighing their options.”
Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander at a New York City mayoral primary election party.
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Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks on stage with fellow candidate Comptroller Brad Lander at his primary election party.
AP
The source said there’s widespread anger at Cuomo for running a lackluster campaign.
“You need a general in charge to win,” the source said. “You can’t win with a ghost.”
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who had endorsed the ex-gov in the primary but backed Mamdani after his win, said she wouldn’t begrudge Adams’ and Cuomo’s choices to run as independents.
“Let them run, and let the people vote – but my place as the Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader is to encourage everyone to stay within the Party and vote Democrat,” she said in a statement.
Cuomo’s backers blamed his loss on his “Rose Garden”-style primary campaign, in which he largely stayed aloof from voters while Mamdani and the upstart’s army of volunteers vigorously hit the city’s streets in displays of true grassroots enthusiasm.
Mamdani even walked the length of Manhattan days before the primary – a shoe-leather feat that Cuomo didn’t come to close to replicating.
“He can’t keep people hanging around,” one of Cuomo’s backers said about him staying on the ballot.
“Mamdani is a legitimate, young and exciting candidate. When he walked from tip-to-tip in Manhattan, I was banging my head against the wall.”
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