Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to be on his way to becoming the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor.
Cuomo currently holds a double-digit lead over second-place candidate Zohran Mamdani in a Marist College survey obtained by Politico. In the first round of ranked-choice voting, the former governor has 44% versus Mamdani’s 22%, a lead that appears to hold throughout all six rounds. The survey shows Cuomo’s lead over Mamdani ranging from 20-24% overall.
Marist College found just two other Democrats in the crowded primary who were able to garner double-digit percentages: City Council speaker Adrienne Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander. In the survey, Adams was knocked out of the race in round four and Lander in the fifth. The rest of the candidates were in the single digits with just two of them making it out of the first round, and by round three, all five were out.
Despite his popularity in the Marist College poll, Cuomo’s campaign has faced several setbacks. The former governor has missed out on matching funds twice. In April, the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) indicated that at least 20% of Cuomo’s required disclosures contained documentation errors related to contributions.
The NYCCFB also said that the Cuomo campaign failed to meet its required two-part threshold of total contributions, which must be at least 1,000 different individuals, and contributors, which must amount to at least $250,000, needed to obtain the publicly matched funds.
The Cuomo campaign blamed a “technical software error” for the denial.
CUOMO LANDS KEY ENDORSEMENT AS COMEBACK BID FOR NYC MAYOR HEATS UP
On Monday, the Cuomo campaign was docked over $622,000 in matching funds for allegedly coordinating with a super PAC, according to New York 1, marking another financial setback for the former governor’s campaign.
Cuomo’s opponents have also criticized him over his past controversies, including his 2021 resignation and handling of COVID-19. Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams has demanded that Cuomo “answer” questions about allegations surrounding COVID-related nursing home deaths. Mayor Adams said that the allegations should not “be an automatic disqualification,” but that those who lost loved ones want to know “exactly what happened.”
Mayor Adams is running for re-election; however, he is doing so as an independent, not a Democrat. The Big Apple mayor won in the eighth round of voting in the 2021 election cycle.
“I’m in the race to the end. I’m not running on the Democratic line. It’s just not realistic to turn around my numbers and to run a good campaign (from) where we are right now,” Adams told Politico in April.