Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo escalate their attacks after Eric Adams exits NYC mayoral race

Even after Adams ended his re-election bid, Cuomo faces an uphill climb to close his polling gap with Mamdani in the campaign's final weeks.

New York mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo escalated their attacks against each other on the campaign trail Monday, less than 24 hours after Mayor Eric Adams' exit from the race effectively set up a two-man clash in the race's final weeks.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, slammed Cuomo, the former governor who is running as an independent, over his “record of disgrace.” Meanwhile, Cuomo blasted out statements criticizing Mamdani, a democratic socialist state assemblyman, over a litany of his past statements and challenged him to a slate of debates ahead of the November election.

The back-and-forth suggests that Mamdani, who has held a consistent lead in the polls, aims to deny Cuomo the momentum he is seeking after Adams dropped out. Cuomo hopes he can cobble together an anti-Mamdani coalition that would allow him to close the gap with just over five weeks to Election Day.

But given Adams' relatively low standing in the polls, political strategists who are watching the race closely said they were skeptical that his decision to end his campaign would alter Mamdani’s status as the front-runner.

New York Mayor Eric Adams ended his third-party campaign for re-election Sunday. Seth Wenig / AP file“The fact that this happened when we’re five weeks out, that suggests to me there isn’t much of an opportunity to significantly change the narrative of this race,” said Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist who previously was the executive director of the New York State Democratic Party. Smikle also noted that early voting begins Oct. 25.