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Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned voters in Manhattan’s Washington Heights on Monday that President Donald Trump will send the National Guard to New York City if democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor on Tuesday night.
Trump’s name is not on the ballot this Election Day, but the native New Yorker is looming large over New York City’s mayoral race as the leading candidates seek to prove they are best positioned to reject his sweeping, second-term agenda, which has included deploying the National Guard to a handful of U.S. cities.
“We need to be able to stand up to Donald Trump and fight for New York,” Cuomo said Monday. “We know he’ll send the National Guard to New York” if Mamdani wins. The former governor said New Yorkers “cannot let that happen.”
Trump told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes” Sunday that if Mamdani wins, it is “going to be hard for me, as the president, to give a lot of money to New York.”
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“Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump added.
On the heels of Trump’s comments, Cuomo said Monday that he “can stand up to Trump,” and the city needs a mayor “who can get the funding that New York deserves, who can make sure the National Guard does not come to New York, because we don’t need the National Guard.”
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Cuomo said voters are telling him they “want a mayor who can actually make change and get something done, a mayor with experience and ability.”
“They don’t need a mayor whose first job is mayor of the City of New York,” he said, reiterating his claim that Mamdani, who is a second-term assemblyman, doesn’t have the experience necessary to lead the nation’s largest city.
“I did it once, I’ll do it again,” Cuomo said Monday, referencing his tenure as governor during Trump’s first term in the White House. Cuomo resigned in 2021 amid multiple scandals, including several sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.
Meanwhile, Mamdani began his election eve with a sunrise march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, where he accused Cuomo of securing an endorsement from Trump, during the same “60 Minutes” interview.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick that bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
Trump has refused to endorse Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who is also on the ballot.
“Late last night, Andrew Cuomo received Donald Trump’s endorsement,” Mamdani claimed. “If elected as mayor, our city will only descend deeper into a darkness that has forced too many of our neighbors to flee and made it impossible for working people to live lives of dignity.”
When reached for comment, Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital that Mamdani is “lying” about Trump endorsing the former governor.
“There’s only one candidate in this race who has a record of fighting for New York and battling the Trump administration when it was in New York’s best interest and winning, and that’s Andrew Cuomo. We’re not going to let him gaslight his way through Election Day,” Azzopardi said.
Cuomo rejected the endorsement implication when pressed by a reporter at the event in Washington Heights on Monday.
“First of all, I happen to be a good Democrat and a proud Democrat, and I’m going to stay a proud Democrat,” Cuomo said. “Mamdani is not a communist. He’s a socialist, but we don’t need a socialist.”
The president has criticized Mamdani’s mayoral campaign since the self-described democratic socialist defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June. Trump refers to Mamdani as a “100% Communist Lunatic” or “my little communist” — monikers Mamdani rejects.
Cuomo has run his Independent campaign in the general election as a referendum on socialism.
“Socialism didn’t work in Venezuela, and socialism didn’t work in Cuba,” Cuomo said Monday. “Socialism is not going to work in New York City.”
Cuomo said it would be “devastating” if Trump cut federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins on Tuesday.
“Mamdani cannot handle Trump,” he said. “That’s clear, and the next mayor has to be able to handle Donald Trump.”
On the last day before Election Day in New York City, Cuomo is meeting voters across the city, with stops planned across the Five Boroughs, while Mamdani is hosting a canvass launch in Astoria, Queens, on Monday night.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Mamdani’s campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News’ Sandy Ibrahim contributed to this report.
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