Eric Adams to endorse once bitter rival Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s mayoral race

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams will endorse Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral election, a spokesperson said Thursday, throwing his weight behind a bitter rival he recently called a “snake and a liar” as the former governor tries to defeat Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Adams’ spokesperson Todd Shapiro said the mayor will endorse Cuomo and intends to campaign alongside him. Adams also told reporters at an unrelated new conference that he “would be with Andrew later today” but declined to answer other questions on the race.

The two leaders met Wednesday night — at Madison Square Garden for the New York Knicks’ opening game of the season — right after the city’s final mayoral debate. They were photographed looking chummy, fueling speculation of an incoming endorsement.

It’s not immediately clear if Adams’ endorsement would help Cuomo in the city’s November election. Adams, who abandoned his reelection campaign late last month, has seen his political capital crumble under the weight of a federal corruption case that was ultimately dismissed following an extraordinary intervention from the Trump administration.

Cuomo, a centrist, has cast himself as the only candidate who could beat Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblymember who shocked the political establishment by soundly defeating the former governor in the June primary.

In a statement Thursday, Mamdani said “Andrew Cuomo is running for Eric Adams’ second term.”

“It’s no surprise to see two men who share an affinity for corruption and Trump capitulation align themselves at the behest of the billionaire class and the president himself,” Mamdani said.

Cuomo’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

Cuomo’s path to victory rests on his ability to win over moderates and Republicans, but in recent days he has admitted that it is becoming “harder mathematically” for him as long as Republican Curtis Sliwa remains in the race. At the same time, the former governor has significantly amped up his criticism of Mamdani, appearing on conservative media to claim the city would descend into chaos if Mamdani were to win.

Sliwa, the colorful founder of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, has steadfastly refused calls to drop out from both Cuomo and his supporters.

The endorsement would mark a reconciliation between the two longtime New York politicians, each of whom had escalated attacks against the other before Adams ended his campaign.

Shortly before dropping out, Adams accused Cuomo making “a career of pushing Black candidates out of races,” referring to the former governor’s past state races.

Cuomo, meanwhile, has described Adams’ management of the city as a “never-ending series of government corruption.”

“New Yorkers had turned off on his management of his city,” he said earlier this year.

The days after Adams’ exit brought some signs of a thawing of tensions, with several of the mayor’s allies and deputies coming out in favor of Cuomo.

In a video announcing he was leaving the race, Adams mentioned neither candidate by name, but warned of “insidious forces” using local government to “advance divisive agendas” — which many interpreted as a reference to Mamdani.

___ Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York.