Trump backs Cuomo for New York City mayor and threatens to cut funding if Mamdani wins

US President Donald Trump supported Andrew Cuomo in the New York mayoral race and called on voters not to elect leftist leader Zohran Mamdani.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you have no choice. You have to vote for him and hope he does a great job,” Trump said on Truth Social Monday night. “He can do this, not Mamdani!”

Responding to Trump’s lukewarm support on the eve of the highly watched election, former New York governor Cuomo said: “He’s not supporting me. He’s opposing Mamdani.”

The President said before If elected, Mamdani would be reluctant to send more than minimal federal funding to his home state of New York.

Opinion polls show Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, ahead of Cuomo, who is running as an Independent after Mamdani defeated him in the Democratic primary. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa follows him.

Trump, himself a Republican, refused to support Sliwa, saying in his post: “A vote for Curtis Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.”

The President added that if Mamdani were elected, “I am unlikely to contribute Federal Funds beyond the minimum required.”

This was a transcript of comments Trump made in a television interview on Sunday, in which he mistakenly referred to Mamdani as a “communist.”

“As president, it will be difficult for me to give a lot of money to New York,” Trump said. “Because if a communist runs New York, all you’ll do is waste the money you send there.”

Responding to Trump’s comments on funding on Monday, Mamdani said he would “treat this threat for what it is: it’s a threat. It’s not a law.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects mostly in Democratic-run districts. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this financial year.

Also Monday, Mamdani said, “The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo reflects Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him.”

“He’s not the best mayor for New York City, he’s not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but he’s the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration,” Mamdani said.

In a wide-ranging interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said Mamdani would make left-leaning former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “look great” if in office.

“I’ve seen what a bad mayor de Blasio is, and this guy is going to do a worse job than de Blasio by far,” the Mayor said of Mamdani.

Trump grew up in New York’s Queens borough and still owns property in the city.

“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I’m always going to pick the bad Democrat, to be honest with you,” the Republican president told CBS.

Mamdani describes himself as a democratic socialist and denies accusations that he is a communist, joking in a television interview that he is “kind of like a Scandinavian politician”, only browner.

If he wins, he will be the city’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest in more than 100 years.

The 34-year-old state assemblyman called former New York governor Cuomo a puppet and parrot of Trump.

“The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create a mirror image here at City Hall,” Mamdani said Monday. he said.

“Creating an alternative that speaks to what New Yorkers long to see in their city, what they find every day in themselves and their neighbors—a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home.”

Cuomo has tried to deflect such attacks by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to take on the Trump administration.

He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many states clashed with the Trump administration; but Cuomo himself has come under scrutiny after state investigators found that nursing home deaths during the pandemic were significantly underestimated.

“I fought Donald Trump,” Cuomo said during a debate. “I won’t stop fighting for New York.”

Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of the fight against crime, while also trying to cut funding from jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.