NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will reportedly stay in the race for New York City mayor, running as an independent this fall after conceding to Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary.
Cuomo has until Friday to decline to run as an independent in the November election. Multiple media reports Friday indicated he won’t drop out by the deadline and will remain on the "Fight & Deliver" ballot line.
Sources told CNN that Cuomo’s team believes general election voters will be significantly different from Democratic primary voters, who were energized by Mamdani's skyrocketing campaign. Cuomo's camp also thinks Mamdani’s progressive policy ideas will face more scrutiny in the months ahead.
Cuomo would face off against Mamdani, as well as Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and two other independent candidates, Mayor Eric Adams and Jim Walden, a former prosecutor.
During an interview on CNN Thursday night, Mamdani reacted to reports Cuomo will stay in the race, saying of Tuesday’s results, “We did it once and it turned out pretty well.”
“Ultimately, Andrew's decision or my decision matters less than the decision the voters already took on Tuesday night, where we won from Bay Ridge to Dyker Heights to Harlem to Washington Heights,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani’s stunning upset upended the Democratic race. Cuomo had led in most polls since he announced his candidacy in March, though a couple more recent polls had shown Mamdani winning in later rounds of the ranked-choice system.
With 93% of votes counted on Wednesday, Mamdani was leading Cuomo 43.5% to 36.4% in the primary. Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed with Mamdani, had 11.3% of the votes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.