Cuomo, Chastened, Will Reassess Plans to Run as an Independent

New York Times

4 hours ago

For months, Andrew M. Cuomo insisted he would be on this fall's general election ballot for mayor of New York City, no matter what — even saying so as recently as Tuesday morning.
But after conceding the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday night to Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, Mr. Cuomo's path forward is no longer as clear.
Mr. Cuomo told The New York Times in a phone call shortly after his concession speech that he was still considering whether to run in the general election on an independent line.
'I said he won the primary election,' Mr. Cuomo said, referring to Mr. Mamdani. 'I said I wanted to look at the numbers and the ranked-choice voting to decide about what to do in the future, because I'm also on an independent line. And that's the decision, that's what I was saying. I want to analyze and talk to some colleagues.'
In March, after months of equivocation, Mr. Cuomo, 67, announced he would run in the Democratic primary for mayor. From the start, he cast himself as the lone adult with the requisite competence and experience to manage a city that was spiraling out of control. He pointed to his 10-plus years as governor, when he helped legalize same-sex marriage and build the new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station.
But Mr. Cuomo ran what was widely considered a joyless and lackluster campaign, largely limiting his appearances to Black churches, synagogues and union halls, and rarely engaging in the kind of retail politics and ground game necessary to win a heavily contested election.
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