Cuomo slams Sliwa in NYC mayor race: ‘A spoiler’ for Mamdani

New York mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo (I) on Sunday said his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa is “a spoiler” for the race, while also slamming Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. 

“Zohran, he’s not a Democrat. By the way, he’s never been at 50 percent in the polls, so New Yorkers get it. The problem is, Curtis Sliwa is a spoiler in the race,” Cuomo said during a Sunday interview on the “Cats Roundtable” radio show hosted by John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM.

“And a vote for Curtis Sliwa is really a vote for Zohran Mamdani,” he added.

Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York, said Sliwa has no chance of winning the race. All three candidates on Thursday faced off in the first of two mayoral debates planned before election day

“Curtis cannot win. Seventy percent of the voters are Democrat. Curtis has run 1,000 times. He’s never come close,” Cuomo said. “There’s no poll that shows him close. He cannot win, put aside the fact that does he have the background of the credibility or the qualifications. He just can’t win.”

Cuomo continued, “What he can do is take enough votes to make Zohran the mayor, and he’s gonna make Zohran the mayor.”

Sliwa, however, said the same of Cuomo.

“Andrew Cuomo is desperate, and desperate people will do and say outlandish things. He had his chance, and he failed,” the New York Republican said in a statement to The Hill.

“He resigned in disgrace, lost the primary, has already admitted defeat, isn’t running a real campaign, and after flopping in the first debate, he should step aside so I can defeat Mamdani and deliver for New Yorkers,” he added.

A September survey showed Mamdani holding a 20-point lead over Cuomo. The Suffolk University CityView poll also pegged Sliwa at 9 percent and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has since bowed out of his campaign for reelection, at 8 percent. 

Suffolk University Political Research Center director David Paleologos said it “shows that the issues New Yorkers really care about in this election are affordability, crime, and the economy.”

Mamdani has rallied supporters with a campaign platform covering rent freezes, city-run grocery stores and free child care for all New Yorkers. He has also painted a clear contrast to how he would approach a relationship with President Trump.

“I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail. I won’t be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election, I can do those things on my own,” Mamdani said during a Fox News appearance earlier this week.

Updated on Oct. 21 at 3:07 p.m. EDT