Cuomo and Adams won't get out of each other's way

Politico

a day ago

With help from Amira McKee
This town isn't big enough for Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams.
And the heavyweight bout between the two practically seals victory for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
The former governor and incumbent mayor are seeking out the same big-money donors and blue-collar voters. Potential endorsees are getting phone calls and texts from the candidates.
Both men warn a Mamdani mayoralty would pose an existential crisis for the nation's largest (and deep blue) city.
Then there's Republican Curtis Sliwa, who will draw support from voters concerned with crime, and vows he won't leave the race unless he's in a 'pine box.'
'You'd be hard pressed to find a collection of New Yorkers who are more stubborn than Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa,' said Democratic strategist Trip Yang. 'The only shot that the anti-Mamdani forces have of stopping the Democratic nominee in a heavily Democratic city is to consolidate. The chances of that happening are slim to none.'
Adams and Cuomo share an overlapping base of moderates, Black voters and Jewish New Yorkers. Both have a disdain for Mamdani's far-left politics, which they consider out of step with New York's pro-business sensibility.
And both men have had their careers upended by scandal and controversy. (They deny any wrongdoing.)
Institutional support, so far, has eluded them in the wake of Mamdani's shocking June Democratic primary win.
Key labor unions, once Cuomo backers, have quickly endorsed the 33-year-old nominee's bid.
Some local party leaders have also thrown their weight behind Mamdani, though prominent Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul remain on the sidelines.
Wealthy donors have not coalesced behind either candidate in their independent bids.
It adds up to a summer of uncertainty for the city's powerful and rich who fret that Mamdani's hard-left platform will badly damage a city still struggling to recover from Covid trauma.
'Right now the business class, when it comes to the mayoral election, they're sitting in stunned disbelief,' former Gov. David Paterson said in an interview. 'They can't recognize that this actually happened.'
Cuomo is desperately trying to coax Adams from the race, backing a proposal that the field support the strongest possible Mamdani challenger by mid-September — a scenario that favors the ex-governor given his second-place showing in polls.
He's also brushed aside his decisive loss in the closed party primary — insisting Mamdani won with the help of new voters and left-leaning New Yorkers and that the makeup of the November electorate will be far different.
'It shouldn't be a game of chicken, it shouldn't be random,' Cuomo said on CNBC last week. 'Whoever is the stronger candidate, put that candidate forward and the candidate who is not as strong should defer.'
Adams, the city's second Black mayor, isn't budging. He's accused his rival of trying to muscle Black candidates out of campaigns.
'He has a history when it comes down to Black elected officials,' Adams said to podcaster Stephen A. Smith. 'I'm not calling him a racist. He has a problem against Black men.'
Cuomo counters by noting many of the Black politicians he's challenged over the years, like former state Comptroller Carl McCall and Paterson, endorsed his primary campaign.
'Desperate people say desperate things,' Cuomo said in a separate interview with Smith. 'Forget the implication, it's factually wrong.'
Read more about the independent-versus-independent feud by POLITICO's Nick Reisman.
HAPPY TUESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
WHERE'S KATHY? In Saratoga County and Albany.
WHERE'S ERIC? Schedule unavailable as of 10 p.m. Sunday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Come talk about affordability for families. This is who Democrats fight for, and Zohran is on the front lines in that fight out there fighting for families.' — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) boosting Democratic nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City as the future of the party, POLITICO reports
ABOVE THE FOLD
HIS NEXT MISSION: CONGRESS: Democrats' best bet to flip a Long Island House seat that's been red for more than a decade looks great on paper.
Chris Gallant is a Black Hawk pilot, Army veteran, national guardsman, former air traffic controller and union leader and volunteer firefighter. He's also a gay millennial, political newcomer and Long Island native.
Now, Gallant is looking to prove he can turn that stellar resume into a competitive political campaign. He's kicking off a bid today to oust Rep. Nick LaLota and help the Democratic Party retake the House majority in 2026. His launch video features him riding a motorcycle and piloting a helicopter.
'My entire life's been kind of grounded in service,' Gallant said in an interview. 'I've always placed the mission first throughout all of my careers, and I'm doing the same now. This is what I want to do to make Washington and government work again for the people.'
He's got a rocky road ahead. Gallant, 36, will face a two-term House Republican who defeated his last Democratic opponent by more than 10 points. LaLota and his predecessor, Lee Zeldin, now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, have held eastern Long Island for Republicans since 2014. LaLota had a $1.7 million campaign war chest at the end of June, according to his most recent federal filing.
And while Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler's seat is ranked 'lean Republican' by Cook Political Report, LaLota's seat is not yet on the election handicapper's radar as competitive.
The GOP incumbent, a Navy veteran, is confident about his reelection prospects, touting a big win on state and local tax deductions in the Republican megabill.
'Congressman LaLota has won three straight elections by double digits,' campaign spokesperson Mary O'Hara said in a statement. 'Now, with SALT quadrupled to deliver an average of $2,800 more to Long Island families and real border security, we're on track for an even bigger win in 2026.'
Read more about the newest candidate in Democrats' push to retake the House majority by POLITICO's Emily Ngo.
CITY HALL: THE LATEST
MAMDANI HELD HIS FIRE: Mamdani is no fan of guns. He called for a nationwide ban on assault rifles after the mass shooting in Midtown last week, and posted on X in 2022: 'We need to ban all guns.'
But back in 2021 he was one of only seven Democrats to vote against a bill meant to criminalize ghost guns which passed 106-43. That same day, he was one of just three Democrats to vote against a bill making it illegal to disguise a real gun as a toy. That bill passed 116-33.
'Zohran had concerns about language in those specific bills that went beyond gun control measures, and instead focused too heavily on increasing incarceration,' a Mamdani campaign spokesperson said, adding that 'he proudly voted to ban ghost guns the following year.'
Sure enough, when a bill was passed in 2022 to clean up some language in the ghost gun bill making it clear that only licensed gunsmiths and firearm dealers were required to put a serial number on guns, Mamdani voted yes — making him the only Democrat to flip his vote from the year before.
A Democrat involved in the negotiations on the original bill recalled that democratic socialists had raised concerns about the unintended consequences of creating new crimes.
'I think it's like the reflexive ideological position not to raise penalties. Even when you're talking about gun violence, I think there's a lot of concern — I think it's misplaced — that young kids of color are going to get swept up in a dragnet of criminal justice hysteria,' the Democrat, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations, told Playbook.
Mamdani's campaign is eager to show he's strong on gun control, highlighting his plan to increase funding for programs meant to preempt gun violence under his Department of Community Safety. His campaign also shared his votes in favor of various other gun safety measures, noted he was named a Gun Sense Candidate by Moms Demand Action in the primary, touted his endorsement by gun control activist David Hogg and even shared a supportive quote from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
'Zohran's principles haven't changed, but his approach has evolved since he first got to Albany. The bottom line is this — I know he is serious about addressing gun violence and getting guns off our streets,' Heastie said in a statement. — Jeff Coltin
GOOD NEWS FOR BALLY'S: It doesn't look like the City Council will override the mayor on a veto that could make way for a casino in the Bronx.
Mayor Adams last week vetoed a council decision that had blocked a suite of land use changes sought by Bally's for its casino plans. The Bronx site is among eight contenders for three downstate casino licenses.
The legislative body, which discussed the matter during a private conference meeting Monday, doesn't seem to have the appetite to take up the issue again, according to two people familiar with the conversation who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. — Janaki Chadha
More from the city:
— Long Island's Suffolk County offers tax breaks to city-based companies that relocate if Mamdani becomes mayor. (New York Post)
— Surveillance tech could identify your walk. A City Council member wants that info protected. (Gothamist)
— President Donald Trump's immigrant crackdown in New York has meant more arrests and longer detentions. (New York Times)
NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY
OH, CANADA (WE MISS YOU): It's the tariffs — but also the insults.
Hochul held an event outside Buffalo on Monday where she said Trump's jabs and insults about making Canada the 51st state have hurt New York's upstate economy and had a real impact on Canadians' hearts — the country's premiers even told her themselves.
'They don't want to come anymore because they've been insulted, disrespected by the President of the United States,' Hochul said during the Monday press conference. 'I know this personally because I convened, with other Northeastern Governors, the premiers of all the Canadian provinces — I sat down with them.'
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reported in June that 400,000 fewer Canadians crossed by land into New York during the month of May compared to 2024. The Canadian government also said in July that road trips overall into the U.S. dropped 33 percent in June when compared to the same period last year.
'What will it take to get things back on track?' Hochul recalled the Canadian leaders asking her in a private meeting.
'We love you. It wasn't us, it was him,' the governor said they told her.
On Friday, Trump's executive order that raises the tariffs on many Canadian goods from 25 percent to 35 percent went into effect.
Hochul said the tariffs — spelled T-A-X, she quipped — are increasing the cost of home building in Western New York and ravaging many small businesses that rely on tourism.
One Buffalo childrens' museum that used to get 1,400 Canadian visitors a month now receives just 40, Hochul said.
'The hurt is deep when you insult them and their leaders, and say that you should be the 51st state,' Hochul said. — Jason Beeferman
More from Albany:
— Hochul is trying to drum up local opposition to federal spending cuts. (Spectrum News)
— County officials are not embracing the use of artificial intelligence. (Spectrum News)
— New Yorkers who were stuck in an expensive gym membership could get some cash. (Gothamist)
KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION
NADLER'S IN FOR 2026: Rep. Jerry Nadler is committed to running for reelection next year, his spokesperson told Playbook, amid a primary rival's calls for the veteran lawmaker to retire.
Nadler, 78, has served in Congress longer than his new challenger Liam Elkind, 26, has been alive. And the dean of the New York delegation plans to run on his three decades of experience while Elkind is poised to campaign on the need for a Democratic changing of the guard.
Elkind, a nonprofit leader, centered his campaign launch on turning the page on the gerontocracy in Washington.
'We need a new generation of leaders with the energy and urgency to fight Trump right now, and the vision to defeat Trumpism for good,' the newcomer said.
Younger Democrats have been seeking office in bids to broaden the Democratic base, though with mixed results.
The Nadler campaign's statement last week responding to Elkind's entry into the race noted the veteran lawmaker's past electoral victories, including his 2022 win over Carolyn Maloney, and long record in Congress, but did not explicitly declare his intention to seek an 18th term.
'The answer is yes,' campaign spokesperson Rob Gottheim said, when asked whether Nadler is indeed running again. — Emily Ngo
More from Congress:
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote a letter urging Trump to commute former Rep. George Santos' seven-year sentence for fraud. (POLITICO)
— Schumer and House Minority Leader Jeffries sent a letter to Republican leaders demanding a 'Big Four' leadership meeting this week to discuss how to avoid a government shutdown. (The Hill)
— Trump's executive order targeting 'crime and disorder on America's streets' drew Staten Island support from Rep. Nicoles Malliotakis. (Staten Island Advance)
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
— The adult smoking rate in New York has fallen to under 10 percent. (Spectrum News)
— New York's short-staffed prisons are going through a brutal summer. (NYS Focus)
— An upstate mayor is suing her opponent over voter fraud allegations. (Post-Standard)
SOCIAL DATA
MEDIAWATCH – Francesca Tucker is now a booking producer for Newsmax, where she will be booking for 'Sunday Agenda,' 'Sunday Report' and 'Wake Up America Weekend.' She most recently was a booking producer for Scripps News.
ENGAGED: Matt Potenza, VP of sales at Tenth Revolution Group, on Saturday proposed to Ashley Mocarski, principal at strategic communications and government affairs firm Forward Global and a Trump White House alum. The couple met in 2014 in college at St. Johns University. Pic … Another pic
WELCOME TO THE WORLD: Lauren Dickey, senior manager for geopolitical intelligence at Harman, a non-resident senior associate at CSIS' China Power Project and a DOD alum, and Jesse Sloman, chief information security officer for the State University of New York and a DOD alum, on Friday welcomed Samantha Sloman.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: A.G. Sulzberger … Planned Parenthood's Alexis McGill Johnson … Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman … former New York City Council Member Darma Diaz ... Jordan Levine … Alicia Amling … Donte Donald … Lila Cohn … (WAS MONDAY): Michael Gelman ... Helen Lapkovsky ... Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Haim ... Ellen Schrecker
Missed Monday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.