President Donald Trump has long been associated with the glitz and glamour of New York City\u2019s upper crust and the Manhattan social scene that transformed him from a local property mogul into a household name nationwide. Although he has since relocated his personal and political operations to Washington, D.C., New York still looms large for the now-president. He has seemingly gone out of his way to tip the scales of the Big Apple\u2019s upcoming mayoral elections away from surging frontrunner, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. But are Trump\u2019s reported overtures to mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and incumbent Eric Adams motivated by politics, or do they signal a different goal?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Members of the Trump administration have \u201cdiscussed the possibility\u201d of roles for Adams and Republican candidate Sliwa as a way to \u201cclear the field\u201d and maximize former New York Gov. Cuomo<\/a>\u2019s odds of defeating Mamdani, said The New York Times<\/a>. While it\u2019s unclear whether this \u201cpotentially audacious intervention\u201d will succeed (both Adams and Sliwa have vociferously denied any plans to end their campaigns), they come amid similar \u201coverlapping\u201d conversations among New York\u2019s \u201cbiggest real estate executives\u201d and Cuomo allies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the \u201cghost at the feast in America\u2019s biggest city,\u201d former New Yorker Trump\u2019s \u201clooming presence\u201d and \u201cincreased interest\u201d in the race \u201cadds another layer of complexity to a race that has already seen it all,\u201d said The Guardian<\/a>. With Adams, Sliwa and Cuomo \u201ccannibalizing each other\u2019s support,\u201d the city\u2019s \u201crightwing elite\u201d have become \u201cincreasingly desperate for a Trump intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n The Week<\/p>\n Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nSUBSCRIBE & SAVE\n<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s push to influence the mayoral race is the \u201clatest episode\u201d in his effort to exercise \u201cincreased control and influence over the affairs of major U.S. cities,\u201d NBC News<\/a> said. In this instance, Trump has \u201caligned himself with the view of his longtime New York associates,\u201d eschewing national Republican figures who are hoping for a Mamdani victory to be the \u201cfocal point in their midterm campaigns.\u201d It\u2019s important to \u201cremember the company he keeps,\u201d said former Mayor Bill de Blasio to NBC. Trump isn\u2019t \u201cthinking as head of the Republican Party<\/a>,\u201d but rather about his \u201cdonor base and his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n While Trump has made a habit of using Democratic-run cities as a \u201cfoil\u201d for his administration, his \u201cunusual interest\u201d in New York\u2019s mayoral contest \u201cstems from his long history as a New Yorker,\u201d said The Washington Post<\/a>. Though he and Cuomo have had a \u201ccontentious relationship,\u201d particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic in Trump\u2019s final year of his first term, the president sees the former governor as someone he can \u201cwork with.\u201d But Trump’s attempt to influence the city\u2019s elections \u201cbetrays a complicated situation\u201d for the president, said The Hill<\/a>, putting his \u201cpolitical and personal interests at odds with each other\u201d due to his \u201cfondness and concern for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n What next?<\/p>\n While Cuomo\u2019s campaign insists that Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t want him leading City Hall,\u201d Mamdani and his allies have used reports of Trump\u2019s electoral interference to \u201credouble their pressure campaign\u201d and garner more public support<\/a> from \u201cmore moderate Democrats<\/a>,\u201d said Politico<\/a>. Although Trump has lashed out at Mamdani publicly as a \u201ccommunist\u201d whose election would doom the country\u2019s largest metropolis, his efforts are \u201cbackfiring,\u201d said CNN<\/a>. Candidate bickering and efforts to tie Cuomo closer to Trump have the Mamdani campaign \u201csavoring\u201d what they see as \u201canother bit of good luck.\u201d Trump\u2019s interventions on behalf of the former governor leave local democratic officials \u201ceven less likely to want to work with Cuomo as mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the potential backlash against his involvement in the race, a new New York Times and Siena University<\/a> poll released Tuesday \u201chelps explain\u201d the logic behind Trump\u2019s attempts to tip the electoral scales, said the Post. Although Mamdani has a double-digit lead in a four-way mayoral match-up, that lead \u201cwould shrink from 22 percentage points to four points\u201d in a head-to-head matchup against Cuomo. Mamdani is the \u201conly candidate viewed positively by a majority of voters, despite months of attacks against him,\u201d said the Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Explore More<\/p>\n