Neither New York City Mayor Eric Adams nor former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears any closer to dropping out of the mayoral race.
If both remain in the running, Zohran Mamdani, a member of the State Assembly and self-proclaimed democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary in June, is expected to glide to victory in November.
Cuomo and Adams, who are both running as independents, are going after the same donors and voting base and are attempting to get endorsements from the same people, Politico reported.
Republican Curtis Sliwa is also rebuffing calls to drop out, saying he will leave the race only if he's dead.
"You'd be hard pressed to find a collection of New Yorkers who are more stubborn than Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams, and Curtis Sliwa," Democratic strategist Trip Yang told Politico. "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."
Unions and local party leaders have endorsed Mamdani since his primary win, and deep-pocketed donors have not committed to either candidate. Meanwhile, Adams and Cuomo have continued sniping at each other, calling for the other to drop out, as moderates worry about what Mamdani's socialist agenda could do to New York City.
"It shouldn't be a game of chicken, it shouldn't be random," Cuomo said in an interview on CNBC. "Whoever is the stronger candidate, put that candidate forward and the candidate who is not as strong should defer."
Adams said in an interview that Cuomo has a history of trying to push Black men out of campaigns.
"He has a history when it comes down to Black elected officials," Adams told podcaster Stephen A. Smith. "I'm not calling him a racist. He has a problem against Black men."
Even though donors may oppose Mamdani's prior call to reduce funding to the police or his criticisms of Israel, they have held onto their wallets since his primary win.
"Right now the business class, when it comes to the mayoral election, they're sitting in stunned disbelief," former Gov. David Paterson, who endorsed Cuomo in the primary campaign, said in an interview. "They can't recognize that this actually happened."
Cuomo and Adams are also hurt by their respective pasts, with Cuomo resigning as governor in 2021 over allegations of sexual harassment while Adams was indicted last year on federal corruption charges. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing; the charges against Adams were later dropped.
The two are courting the same mix of donors and have showing a willingness to play ball with President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in the Big Apple.
"Both of them have made a grave mistake in this standoff that instead of fixing their low favorability ratings, they've tried to figure out which Trump donors will help them fight off Mamdani," Bill Neidhardt, a former staffer for former Mayor Bill de Blasio who runs a pro-Mamdani super PAC, told Politico.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.