Cuomo’s Pitch as He Claws for Votes: I’m Not the Divider, Mamdani Is

Faced with accusations of amplifying or inserting Islamophobia into the New York City’s mayor’s race, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo struck a familiar, aggressive pose last week.

It was his opponent, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who sought to offend and divide, not him, Mr. Cuomo said.

“Who haven’t you offended?” he asked Mr. Mamdani rhetorically at a news conference in Queens. “Jewish, Italian, L.G.B.T.Q., N.Y.P.D., the Black community, saying that Barack Obama is evil and a liar. Who have you not offended? Who have you not tried to divide and attack? Hindu community. Sunni Muslim community. Who have you not attacked?”

As Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat running as an independent, tries to improve his standing in the final stretch of the race, he has cast a wider net to attract voters. To win Republican supporters of that party’s nominee, Curtis Sliwa, Mr. Cuomo has courted them at campaign stops, in interviews on Fox News and with appearances on conservative podcasts.

But Mr. Cuomo has also targeted groups that have longstanding affiliations with Democratic candidates and that may be more inclined toward Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, whether because of his views, background or the fact that he is the Democratic nominee.

To bolster his case, Mr. Cuomo has used tactics reminiscent of those used by President Trump to cut into the margins of reliable Democratic constituencies, including Black, Hispanic and Jewish voters.

Mr. Trump tried to woo these groups by arguing that Democrats had abandoned them in favor of undocumented immigrants who were taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

And the strategy seemed to be effective: Mr. Trump made gains this year among Black voters and he made significant inroads with Hispanic voters, including in Democratic strongholds like New York City.

But Mr. Trump could also count on a reliable Republican base. As an independent candidate in a Democratic city, Mr. Cuomo has a different challenge: He must create a new base of support outside of traditional partisan politics that includes Democrats who spurn their party’s nominee.

On Saturday, Mr. Cuomo went on MSNBC and condemned Islamophobic remarks, then he suggested that the city’s diversity could be both a “strength” and a “weakness.” “So you have to work very, very hard to make sure you’re always keeping people united,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo has exploited political tensions to target key demographic groups in the city, particularly Jewish voters, by repeatedly citing Mr. Mamdani’s long-held pro-Palestinian views and vocal criticism of Israel. Mr. Trump has often focused on the left’s criticisms of Israel when he claims Jewish voters backing Democrats are betraying their identities.

Mr. Cuomo’s campaign has also taken aim at Mr. Mamdani’s support among South Asian voters, in part by pointing to his family’s mixed religious heritage. The assemblyman’s mother is Hindu and his father is Muslim, and Mr. Mamdani has said his Muslim faith has been central to his political views.

The former governor has also singled out Sunni Muslims as he argues that Mr. Mamdani, who is Shiite, holds views on decriminalizing sex work that are “haram,” or forbidden by Islamic law.

Mucahit Bulici, a sociology professor at John Jay College, said the split between the Shiite and Sunni sects did not tend to be central in Muslim American communities.

Separately, the Cuomo campaign posted a video last month that featured a group of supporters who called themselves “Muslims Against Mamdani” and argued that Mr. Mamdani was not really Muslim. “He’s a self-proclaimed Hindu,” one man says.

“Whenever he goes to a mosque, he says, ‘I’m a Muslim,’” another man says, adding that when Mr. Mamdani is at a Hindu temple, “he says, ‘My mother was Hindu.’ He’s misleading people.”

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Mr. Trump said last year. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, dismissed suggestions that his tactics were divisive and said that the Cuomo campaign was trying to provide information to voters who were not properly informed about Mr. Mamdani’s past statements.

“Zohran is the least vetted candidate since George Santos,” he said, “and the most unqualified since” Bill de Blasio, the former mayor. “Voters,” Mr. Azzopardi added, “need to know the facts.”

Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, accused Mr. Cuomo in a statement of “corrupt, self-serving politics” that “New Yorkers can hardly wait to leave behind for good come this Tuesday.”

Mr. Cuomo has also tried to sow doubt among L.G.B.T.Q. voters, who largely vote for Democrats, by pointing to a photo of Mr. Mamdani with a Ugandan elected official who has supported laws that would make same-sex sexual activity illegal.

Mr. Mamdani has characterized his encounter with the official as an airport run-in and has said he did not know her views. But Mr. Cuomo, who pushed to legalize same-sex marriage in New York when he was governor, has cited the picture as evidence that he would better represent the L.G.B.T.Q. community as mayor. (Mr. Cuomo has also campaigned with a former Bronx elected official who has made anti-gay statements, and with a Republican City Council member who opposed bills related to transgender rights.)

Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, said that Mr. Cuomo’s attempts to target other groups — L.G.B.T.Q. voters, Black residents, Muslims — with identity-based appeals struck her as “very disingenuous.”

Joseph Borelli, a Staten Island Republican and former city councilman who supports Mr. Cuomo, rejected the idea that the former governor’s campaign efforts were inherently divisive.

“I think he’s trying to put a lasso around people who are simply concerned about the rise of progressive socialism in New York,” Mr. Borelli, who also supports Mr. Trump, said.

As part of those efforts, Mr. Cuomo is also trying to court Republicans. He has appeared on podcasts hosted by Emily Austin, a conservative influencer who campaigned for Mr. Trump last year, and Logan Paul, a wrestler and social media star who endorsed Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cuomo was asked this week by the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo if he worried that a victory by Mr. Mamdani might “change the look of New York.” She cited London, which has a Muslim mayor, and which she caricatured as “largely Muslim” with women who were “completely covered up.”

Mr. Cuomo brushed the question aside and returned to a favorite subject: Mr. Mamdani’s previous association with Hasan Piker, a popular streamer who once said that America “deserved 9/11.” Mr. Mamdani, who was 9 when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, objected to the comments at a debate last month.

Mr. Cuomo then referred to Mr. Mamdani’s birth and early years in Uganda and his dual citizenship and cast doubt on whether the assemblyman could sufficiently represent New Yorkers.

“He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant,” Mr. Cuomo said.