In the final stretch of the 2025 New York City mayoral race, President Donald Trump made a striking intervention by urging voters to cast their ballots for Andrew Cuomo and explicitly discouraging support for Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa.
Trump characterized Mamdani as a “communist” and warned that if he wins, federal funding to New York City would likely be restricted to the bare minimum. He argued that Cuomo, despite his own controversies, “has a record of success” and presented him as the safer choice.
Trump also made clear that a vote for Sliwa, the Republican candidate, would effectively aid Mamdani’s campaign by splitting moderate and conservative votes. In his statement, he stressed that voters “really have no choice” but to back Cuomo in order to prevent what he described as an “economic and social disaster” under Mamdani.
Despite this strong language, Cuomo’s campaign maintained that Trump’s comments did not constitute a formal endorsement. Nonetheless, the move by Trump elevated the stakes of the mayoral contest, signaling national attention and amplifying the ideological divide in the race.
