Aug. 7 (UPI) — New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani says former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be disqualified from the race due to an alleged call with the president.
That Cuomo recently spoke with President Donald Trump regarding the city’s mayoral race is in doubt, but Mamdani called the potential of such a conversation “disqualifying” for Cuomo.
“This is not just a shady backroom deal by a cynical politician; it is disqualifying,” Mamdani said in a prepared statement on Wednesday.
He also held a news conference on Thursday morning and was interviewed by a local radio station to address that matter, despite denials that such a conversation happened between Trump and Cuomo.
“The fact is, the president has three candidates in this race,” Mandani told WNYC public radio on Thursday morning, as reported by the New York Intelligencer.
“One that he’s directly been in touch with, another that he bailed out of legal trouble and now functionally controls, and the final one literally being a member of the same Republican Party,” Mamdani told WNYC.
Trump and Cuomo “in recent weeks” spoke over the phone, but representatives for both have denied it, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
When asked by reporters if he had spoken with Cuomo, Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”
A spokesman for Cuomo, likewise, denied that any recent conversation occurred between Trump and Cuomo.
“As far as I know, they have not discussed the race,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told the Times in a prepared statement.
Mandani defeated Cuomo in the Democratic Party’s primary for the New York City mayoral race, but Cuomo has continued his candidacy as an independent.
Mayor Eric Adams also seeks re-election as an independent, while Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is the Republican Party’s candidate.
The Trump administration recently dropped a federal case against Adams after a grand jury in September indicted him on federal charges accusing Adams of bribery, campaign finance and conspiracy.
Trump said the charges against Adams were “politically motivated” due to the mayor’s assistance with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Cuomo resigned as New York’s governor in 2021 amid an impeachment investigation regarding accusations of sexual harassment.
The president has expressed concerns about Mamdani, whom Trump has called a “communist” whose election would be disastrous for New York City.
Trump was born and raised in New York City and has property and business interests there.
