Andrew Cuomo will continue his NYC mayoral run as independent, he says in new social media video

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to continue his mayoral run as an independent despite his shocking loss last month to Assemb. Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary, promising to "give it my all to stop him."

In a 94-second video posted Monday afternoon to social media, Cuomo, 67, apologized for failing to win as he expected and most polls had predicted. He said he’d campaign more in public for the general election, which he noted has a broader electorate beyond just primary voters. And he criticized Mamdani, 33, as someone who "offers slick slogans but no real solutions."

"The fight to save our city isn’t over," Cuomo said in the video, which shows him shaking hands with pedestrians. "And I am in it to win it."

Monday’s announcement by Cuomo, who lost by 12 percentage points in the ranked-choice June 24 Democratic primary, sets up a five-man race in the Nov. 4 general election. The candidates are Mamdani, who represents Queens in the Assembly; Cuomo, who resigned the governorship in scandal in 2021; incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who earlier this year withdrew from the Democratic primary amid fundraising scandals; the Republican nominee, talk radio host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa; and lawyer Jim Walden. Cuomo, Walden and Adams are running as independents. 

Cuomo will be on the ballot on the "Fight and Deliver" line he had created as a backup — in the then-unlikely case he lost the primary. In an email sent later Monday afternoon to supporters, Cuomo said that "in mid-September, we will determine which candidate is strongest against Mamdani and all other candidates will stand down, rather than act as spoilers and guarantee Mamdani’s election." Adams has not accepted that proposal.

Adams, who last month kicked off his campaign with a rally outside City Hall, has been courting the city’s rich political donors — including the billionaires who helped fund Cuomo’s failed primary run. Adams has said he wants Cuomo to drop out.

Cuomo’s primary season campaign cast the city as a metropolis in decline and in need of his experienced hand. Little of that ominous message was on display in the video he released Monday.

"We need a city with lower rents, safer streets, where buying your first home is once again possible, where child care won’t bankrupt you," he said.

Mamdani has promised to seek a tax hike on the rich to fund social programs including free buses, free child care and municipal-run grocery stores, and to impose a rent freeze on regulated apartments.

The Cuomo email said: "I do not believe that New York City voters affirmatively voted for a socialist form of government that is hostile to business and economic growth, and I do believe that Zohran Mamdani poses a serious threat to the future of the city we love. I will give it my all to stop him."

In contrast to the primary campaign, which largely consisted of carefully managed events that kept the general public out, Cuomo promised this time that "every day, I’m gonna be hitting the streets, meeting you where you are, to hear the good and the bad."

"For the next few months, it’s my responsibility to earn your vote," he said. "So let’s do this. I’ll see you out there."

Ten minutes after the account @andrewcuomo posted the video came a response from @ZohranKMamdani: a link to donate to Mamdani’s campaign.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.