Trump backs Cuomo for New York City mayor and threatens to cut funding if Mamdani wins



US President Donald Trump has endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayor's race, urging voters not to elect left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani.

"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 posted on Truth Social on Monday evening. "He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!"

The president earlier said he would be reluctant to send more than "the very minimum" level of federal funding to his hometown of New York if Mamdani was elected.

This echoed comments he made in a television interview on Sunday, during which he referred to Mamdani as a communist - a label that Mamdani rejects.

"It's gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York," Trump said in the interview. "Because if you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there".

Responding to Trump's comments about funding, Mamdani said he would "address that threat for what it is: it is a threat. It is not the law."

He describes himself as a democratic socialist, and has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.

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Independent candidate Cuomo, a long-term Trump critic who was formerly a Democratic governor for New York state, responded to the tepid backing from the president: "He's not endorsing me. He's opposing Mamdani."

Opinion polls suggest Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, is ahead of Cuomo, who is running as an Independent after Mamdani bested him in the Democratic primary. The Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, trails behind.

Trump, also a Republican, declined to endorse Sliwa in Monday's social media post, saying: "A vote for Curtis Sliwa ... is a vote for Mamdani."

Mamdani said that "the MAGA movement's embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump's understanding that this would be the best mayor for him".

"Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration," Mamdani said.