U.S. President Donald Trump has formally endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral race, warning voters against choosing progressive front-runner Zohran Mamdani and hinting at potential federal funding cuts if Mamdani prevails.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday evening, Trump urged New Yorkers to rally behind former Governor Cuomo.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him—and hope he does a fantastic job,” Trump wrote. “He is capable of it. Mamdani is not!”
The president had earlier signaled he would be unwilling to send more than “the very minimum” in federal resources to New York City under a Mamdani administration. His warning echoed remarks made during a Sunday television interview, in which he labeled Mamdani a “communist”—an accusation the candidate strongly denies.
“It’s gonna be hard for me, as the president, to give a lot of money to New York,” Trump said. “Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.”
Mamdani fired back, calling the president’s comments a political threat with no legal standing.
“I will address that threat for what it is: it is a threat,” Mamdani said. “It is not the law.”
The Queens Assemblymember identifies as a democratic socialist, not a communist. In a recent interview, he dismissed the characterization with humor, saying he was “kind of like a Scandinavian politician—only browner.”
The Trump administration has previously sought to reduce federal grants and funding for projects in Democratic-led cities. New York City received $7.4 billion in federal funding in the current fiscal year.
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