Andrew Cuomo is hoping New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to end his re-election bid can give his flailing campaign the momentum it needs.
The former New York governor, now running an independent campaign, trails Democrat nominee Zohran Mamdani badly in the polls, months after losing to him by double digits in the Democrat primary.
But Adams leaving the race makes Cuomo the only centrist Democrat left, as Mamdani, a democratic socialist, remains the front-runner. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa has refused to drop out, blunting Cuomo’s hopes of making it a one-on-one race.
“Cuomo needs every day he can get to be a one-on-one with Mamdani,” Chris Coffey, a consultant who advised Cuomo during the primary, said to Politico. “The more focus that’s put on whether Sliwa will drop out, the more it freezes the race, freezes money, and freezes the news cycle.”
A Marist Poll taken in September, before Adams dropped out, showed Cuomo would gain 5 points with the mayor out of the race but he would still trail Mamdani by 16 points. A political analyst at Marist dismissed Cuomo’s attempts to counter Mamdani’s mastery of social media.
“It’s like an old guy putting on skater shorts and sunglasses and going out and pretending he’s a kid,” said Jay DeDapper, director of strategy and innovation at the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, to The Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think it’s working because it’s not authentic.”
Polls from Quinnipiac University and YouGov also show Mamdani maintaining a double-digit lead over Cuomo without Adams in the race. Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market, had Mamdani with an 85% chance of winning a day after Adams dropped out.
Cuomo is hoping Adams’ exit could change the narrative of the race and allow him to present a clear contrast to Mamdani and his far-left policies, Politico reported. But many remain skeptical.
“I don’t see a big shift to Andrew,” said civil rights leader Al Sharpton to Politico. “But it’s Andrew’s job to prove us wrong.”
Adams and Cuomo share the same voter base: older moderate blue-collar voters, Black and Jewish voters, and outer-borough voters. Both attracted wealthy donors concerned about the impact of Mamdani running New York City Hall, Politico reported.
Following Adams’ exit, a group of Jewish leaders in Crown Heights endorsed Cuomo. Former Gov. David Paterson, who endorsed Cuomo in the primary, and then endorsed Adams in the general election, said he is once again supporting Cuomo.
“Money will be following him. He’s a terrific organizer, and I think he can get a lot of people to come back,” Paterson said to Politico. “A lot of people may have given up on him. He was still grappling with the fact that he lost the primary. Now he gets something to go in his favor.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
