Dan Pfeiffer, an erstwhile aide to former President Barack Obama, said it’s “insane” to think that some Democrats would prefer former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor.
Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of “Pod Save America,” Pfeiffer said that support for Cuomo from the Democratic establishment “is really unforgivable.”
“Like this isn’t — you’re not doing it for another good Democrat,” Pfeiffer said. “You’re doing it for someone that the entire Democratic Party leadership, including the president of the United States at the time, wanted to resign from the governorship because he sexually harassed 11 women, he abused his power, was involved in this nursing home scandal, and everyone’s getting behind that?”
“The idea that we are more scared about a democratic socialist as the mayor of New York than Andrew Cuomo, with his record of corruption and sexual harassment, is insane to me,” he continued.
Despite a crowded Democratic primary field, Mamdani has risen in the polls in the last few weeks, partly propelled by high-profile endorsements from fellow progressives Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
An Emerson poll released Monday found Cuomo and Mamdani in a tight race for New York City mayor, with the state Assembly member 3 percentage points behind the former Empire State governor. While Mamdani gained 10 points since last month’s Emerson poll, Cuomo gained 1 point in the same period.
Voting in the state’s Democratic primary concludes Tuesday.
Rich Azzopardi, a Cuomo spokesperson, said it was a “shocker that the pod people continue to show the world that they’re out of touch and don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Five [district attorneys] looked at that discredited [attorney general] report — which a judge has ruled as hearsay — and they found nothing there,” Azzopardi said in a likely reference to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ report that concluded Cuomo “sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees.”
“As far as the nursing home situation, Biden’s DOJ [inspector general] investigated and found that it was Trump appointees who corruptly misused DOJ resources to go after New York because it was campaign fodder in the 2020 election,” he added.
The Hill reported that Cuomo entered the final day of voting as the likely favored candidate and with the endorsement of Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
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