The second and final New York mayoral debate took place Wednesday night, giving voters perhaps one final insight into how the candidates visualize their agendas before early voting begins on Saturday. For Zohran Mamdani, who appears to be leading comfortably in all the polls, that meant not rocking the boat and handing voters a reason to choose otherwise. For Andrew Cuomo, however, that meant one last best chance to sway voters and generate momentum to move up from a distant second place. The former governor has a Herculean task ahead of him if he wants to pull off the upset; he would need at least some Republican voters to pull the lever for him instead of Republican standard-bearer Curtis Sliwa and accomplish the unthinkable. Cuomo appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to plead his case with just twelve days left until Election Day.
Cuomo laid out his reasoning for host Larry Mendte about why he could appeal to Republican voters: “I’m a New Yorker. I was New York Governor. I had a Republican Senate; everything I did I negotiated with a Republican Senate. I was HUD Secretary; it was a Republican Congress. Everything I did, I negotiated with a Republican Congress. I worked well with the Republicans. We got a lot done… I think if the Republicans think about what they want in a mayor- public safety, hire more cops, clean the damn city up, get jobs coming back, lower taxes- that’s my agenda.”
Cuomo was able to chuckle at himself when it was suggested that Republicans would only vote for him because they dislike Mamdani even more: “Look, if you are saying you will only vote for me because you dislike Zohran more, it’s not flattering. That’s the Trump rationale, right? He says Zohran is a Communist and the last thing we can let happen is a Communist. I understand that.”
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