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Photo: Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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 on Monday, 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 did not acknowledge Trump’s quasi-endorsement but on Monday insisted again that he was the candidate best-suited to challenge any federal overtures from the president. “If you want President Trump to try to take over the city — national guard on streets, choking federal funding — vote for @ZohranKMamdani because Trump just said he will be coming and this poser @ZohranKMamdani won’t be able to stop him,” he posted.

Also on Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk threw in his support for the former governor, knocking Republican nominee Curtis 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 also picked up endorsements from a number of self-professed foes, including some Republican members of the state’s 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 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.

Cuomo Is Racking Up Weird Last-Minute Endorsements

Cuomo Is Racking Up Weird Last-Minute Endorsements

Cuomo Racks Up Weird Endorsements From Trump and Musk