Photo: Getty Images North America
At this time two months ago, former Governor Andrew Cuomo had a long list of endorsements from various public servants that he hoped would sway voters as they made their minds up in the Democratic mayoral primary. One of those politicians, however, appears to have voter’s remorse as the general election approaches. Former Governor David Paterson is now backing incumbent Eric Adams in the general election, despite the fact that Adams is a distant fourth in most of the polls handicapping the mayoral race. Paterson appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning to explain the flip-flop on his endorsement.
As Paterson explained his endorsement take-back for host Larry Mendte, Adams was his first choice all along: “In 2021, my endorsement for mayor in the Democratic primary was Eric Adams, and I had planned on endorsing him again, but because of his legal problems and he was out of the process, he withdrew from running in the primary, so Cuomo was the best candidate to endorse. So, when the county leader asked me to do it, I was happy to do it. But now we’re in the general election. Neither Adams nor Cuomo is on the Democratic line, and Adams being the candidate that I wanted from the very beginning, that’s why I endorsed him.”
In fact, Paterson implied he’s hardly the only politician who would openly root for as catastrophic a loss for Cuomo as possible, if the stakes weren’t so high: “He just does these things that you can’t understand what the logic of it is. Unfortunately, it really hurt him. He didn’t go to any of the debates, He didn’t participate in the public forums, He want campaigning in the streets… [and] when people go the polls, they’re not thinking about that, they’re thinking more grass roots, and they saw Mamdani as an alternative to his conduct.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images