President Donald Trump urged New Yorkers to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral race on the eve of the election.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday, adding that Cuomo “is capable of it” and that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani “is not!”
Trump has previously offered tepid support for the former Democratic governor who’s running as an independent, casting the election as a choice between the better of two bad options, while completely discounting the Republican candidate.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday.
Mamdani quickly seized on Trump’s comments in that interview, posting his congratulations to Cuomo on X on Sunday and adding, “I know how hard you worked for this.”
Trump on Monday repeated his threats to deny federal funding to New York City if Mamdani, a democratic socialist, wins.
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“I would much rather see a Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE,” Trump added.
And the Republican president discouraged voters from backing GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.
“A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani,” he wrote.
The president — who’s holding telerallies for Virginia and New Jersey audiences Monday night — had his focus trained on the Empire State on social media, lashing out at Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who campaigned with Mamdani over the weekend.
He accused her of “killing the entire region with Energy Prices that are OUT OF CONTROL” and said he’d ask Transportation Secretary Dean Duffy “to take a good, long look at terminating New York City Congestion Pricing.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.