Cuomo Racks Up Weird Endorsements From Trump and Musk
Donald Trump has made no secret of his feelings about New York’s mayoral race, inaccurately denouncing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani as a “communist” and threatening to withhold federal funding to the city if he wins. But in an interview on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, the president finally gave his official half-hearted backing to another candidate in the race: independent Andrew Cuomo.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
Mamdani and his campaign gleefully responded to Trump’s announcement, sharing a graphic congratulating Cuomo:
Congratulations, @AndrewCuomo. I know how hard you worked for this. https://t.co/qePAGqDk0K pic.twitter.com/6CKqyZE6ne
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 3, 2025
Cuomo disappeared from weird confrontation over Trump’s quasi-endorsement during a radio interview on Monday:
Cuomo’s campaign said his phone call dropped right as Ebro was berating him over having Trump’s support. But it seemed like Cuomo might have hung up. Either way, HOT 97 apparently deleted the awkward moment from the YouTube page, but here’s the video: pic.twitter.com/RIaJLljB6h
— Jeff Coltin (@JCColtin) November 3, 2025
He later acknowledged Trump’s comments during a campaign stop:
He called me a bad Democrat. First of all, I happen to be a good Democrat and a proud Democrat, and I’m going to stay a proud Democrat. Mamdani is not a communist. He’s a socialist. But we don’t need a socialist mayor either.
Cuomo also called Mamdani a liar and denied Trump’s message was an endorsement. “Trump did not endorse me. I said repeatedly I would not accept Donald Trump’s endorsement,” he said. And he insisted in a social-media post that he was the candidate best-suited to challenge any federal overtures from the president.
On Monday evening, Trump doubled down, attacking Mamdani and dismissing Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in a Truth Social post — and telling his followers “you must vote for” Cuomo:
A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani. Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!
President Trump makes his Cuomo endorsement clear: "Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 3, 2025
"If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is… pic.twitter.com/8nDqZSyfI0
This time, Cuomo partially agreed with Trump. He called into WABC and responded: “The president is right. A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani. Now it’s gonna be up to the Republicans, and I hope they listen to the president.”
Soon after Trump, his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, seemed to endorse Cuomo, as well:
Stephen Miller: The Anti-Mamdani vote which is really the pro-NYC vote, the pro-America vote needs to unite behind a leading candidate and that’s Andrew Cuomo. pic.twitter.com/A3bd3v8ijV
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 4, 2025
Also on Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk threw in his support, knocking Sliwa and mocking Mamdani’s name in the process. “Remember to vote tomorrow in New York! Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is,” Musk wrote on his social-media platform. “VOTE CUOMO!”
Musk has his own bit of history with Cuomo. In 2014, the then-governor came to a deal for the construction of a solar-panel factory in Buffalo with a company that was ultimately bought out by Tesla. The factory project, which was bolstered by just under a billion dollars in state funds, has been criticized for not delivering on the number of jobs promised, as Politico noted earlier this year.
In the waning days of the mayoral race, Cuomo has picked up endorsements from a number of self-professed foes, including some Republican members of the New York congressional delegation who opted for Cuomo over Sliwa. Representative Nick Langworthy told Fox News that he would be endorsing Cuomo from across the aisle, saying that the longtime Democrat is the only clear option in the race as Sliwa continues to trail in third place. “I’ve had plenty of disagreements — very publicly over the years — and fought tooth and nail with Governor Cuomo. But there’s no doubt in my mind he would be a far superior mayor than a communist,” he said.
Representative Mike Lawler also suggested Cuomo is the best choice between him and Mamdani, telling WABC host Sid Rosenberg that the former governor was the “lesser of two evils.”
Cuomo also got the reluctant backing of former congressman and felon George Santos who said Mamdani posed an existential threat to the city and that a vote for Sliwa is ultimately a vote for the Democratic nominee. “I am urging you all to really consider voting for Andrew Cuomo because it is the only solution we have,” he said on social media Monday.
But not all of the state’s Republicans are switching sides in the race. Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican member in New York City, urged moderates and conservatives to consolidate support behind Sliwa, calling him the “ONE mayoral candidate who has NOT contributed to the demise of our city” back in September.
This post has been updated.