Andrew Cuomo Can Still Save New York City

Wall Street Journal

2 days ago

Who can save New York from Zohran Mamdani, the callow Democratic mayoral nominee who would bankrupt the city economically with socialism and morally with antisemitism? Not Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, who received less than 28% of the vote in 2021 against Eric Adams. Not Mayor Adams himself, who didn't even seek renomination as a Democrat and is running as an independent.
Perhaps counterintuitively, the city's best hope is former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the primary to Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Cuomo also is running as an independent.
Ironically, Mr. Cuomo owes his primary loss to a bill he signed as governor in 2019. Before then, New York City held its Democratic mayoral primary in September, and if no candidate got 45%, the top two finishers faced each other in the runoff. The 2019 law moved the primary to June, when turnout was sure to be lower, and introduced 'ranked-choice voting,' a difficult-to-understand system that effectively disfranchises voters who can't figure it out. As a result, the primary became easy to game.
Under the old system, even if Mr. Mamdani had finished first in a September primary, which is doubtful, he would have faced a runoff that would have fully vetted his extreme views.
Mr. Cuomo can still give him that runoff. Turnout in city general elections has been dropping—only 23% in 2021—so there are millions of voters who could get involved and stop Mr. Mamdani before it's too late.
Democratic Party leaders have to rally behind the best Democrat in the race. They should abandon Mr. Mamdani's Democratic Socialists and affirm that the Democratic Party stands for funding the police, protecting citizens, improving schools, creating good jobs, and making the city affordable through economic growth.
Mr. Cuomo is a lifelong mainstream Democrat. But he is a builder and a doer—look at the new LaGuardia Airport—and he knows something about how to create affordable housing from his stint as secretary of housing and urban development. He was elected governor three times, and he apologized for the events that led to his resignation in 2021.
Why Mr. Cuomo and not Mr. Adams? In every poll conducted since the primary, the mayor barely breaks double digits. He has very high unfavorable ratings—61% in an American Pulse Research poll conducted a month ago. Mr. Cuomo has a significant base, and in head-to-head matchups either leads Mr. Mamdani widely (50% to 35% in a July 7-8 HarrisX poll) or effectively ties him (Mr. Cuomo leads 42% to 41% in a July 18-20 Wick poll). Mr. Mamdani beats Messrs. Adams and Sliwa in head-to-head matchups.
Mr. Mamdani has high negative ratings—43% in the Wick Poll and 45% in HarrisX. Except for one outlier, Mr. Mamdani doesn't get over 50%, and his RealClearPolitics average (in a four-way contest) is 35%.
New York's mayor needs experience and leadership ability. Mr. Cuomo has more than any other candidate, and he is the best hope for saving the city.
Mr. Penn was a pollster and adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, 1995-2008. He is chairman of the Harris Poll and CEO of Stagwell Inc. Mr. Stein served as New York City Council president, 1986-93.