NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo calls opponent Mamdani divisive: ‘You can be a New Yorker and not understand New Yorkers’

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, independent candidate for mayor of New York City, called his opponent and Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani “very divisive” and said he doesn’t understand the “New York way,” during a wide-ranging interview with “ABC News Live Prime” anchor Linsey Davis just days before Election Day.

During the interview, Davis asked Cuomo about comments he made during a recent Fox News interview, in which he mentioned Mamdani was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Uganda, and said that Mamdani doesn’t understand “the New York culture, the New York values.”

Cuomo said in response: “You can be a New Yorker and not understand New Yorkers, right? He has been very divisive through this campaign. He has said things that are highly inflammatory. And that’s not the New York way. Because you have the diversity that we have [in New York], you have to be very careful as a leader, not to inflame division.”

ABC News has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment on Cuomo’s claim.

Mamdani, who has emphasized receiving support from a wide swath of New Yorkers from many backgrounds, told Davis on Monday that he is “looking to serve everyone who calls the city home.”

Watch Linsey Davis’ interview with New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, streaming on ABC News Live Prime at 8:00-8:30 p.m. ET on All Access with Linsey Davis and on Disney+ and Hulu.

Cuomo brought up some previous statements of Mamdani’s, including calling the New York City Police Department “racist” and “wicked.” Mamdani has since apologized for those remarks and said they do not represent his current views.

Later during the ABC interview, speaking about his experience as governor and how he’d deliver for New Yorkers, Cuomo said he’s running for mayor because he thinks “the city is in trouble. I think it’s in real trouble; I think cities across America are in trouble.”

Bringing up his time as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton, the former governor said he is seeing what others call “the urban death spiral. So I’m worried about New York City, and I know that I know how to make government work and actually make change.”

Cuomo has faced recent accusations of Islamophobia from Mamdani after he appeared to agree with a radio host that Mamdani would cheer “another 9/11.” Cuomo later said he thought the host was joking and that the host’s remark was offensive, but that Mamdani was being divisive and falsely alleging Islamophobia.

Davis asked him what he would say to Muslim New Yorkers offended by the comment and who described his reaction to the radio host as Islamophobic.

“The Muslim community didn’t say that. I was just endorsed by major leaders of the Muslim community,” Cuomo responded.

“What I was saying is, he is inexperienced, right … Being mayor is a complicated job. It’s 300,000 employees, it’s [a] $115 billion budget, and it is a situation where on any given day, you can deal with any unknown crisis,” Cuomo said.

Bringing up the possibilities of crises such as terror attacks, pandemics and natural disasters, Cuomo added, “that person has to be ready. There is no on-the-job training. So yes, [Mamdani is] dangerously inexperienced for mayor of New York, I believe it.”

During the first mayoral general election debate, Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s attacks on his experience, saying, “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity, and what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.”

Cuomo is attempting a political comeback after resigning as governor in 2021 following sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.

At the second mayoral debate earlier this month, Mamdani referenced the women who have accused Cuomo of harassment.

Davis, bringing up that moment, asked Cuomo if all of the women who made the accusations were lying. 

“Well, we know the facts there, right? There was a report done. I said it was political. I said it was done for political reasons and that there was no fact or merit to it. That was my statement,” Cuomo responded during his interview with Davis, adding that the cases against him were dropped and were “political”. 

He added later during the ABC interview, “Lying is a harsh word. But was there any harassment? No, and that’s why I wanted my days in court,” he said. “I wanted people to hear the facts … I never had the opportunity, frankly, for people to actually hear the facts, but they know the cases were dropped, and there was no there, there.”

Cuomo is running as an independent on the “Fight and Deliver” ballot line after losing the Democratic primary in June to Mamdani. But he has emphasized that he still identifies with the Democratic Party — which, he told Davis, is dealing with a schism between left-wing and moderate Democrats.

“They have a more radical agenda, and I don’t think it’s a radical agenda that works,” Cuomo said. “I know it doesn’t work for New York City, and I don’t think it works for the Democratic Party by and large.”

“I believe it’s an election that determines the future of New York City. I think it determines the future of the Democratic Party,” Cuomo said of Tuesday’s mayoral election.