Cuomo Takes Page From Mamdani Playbook

NEW YORK — Andrew Cuomo released a pair of policy proposals Thursday designed to one-up the populist platform of Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.

At a press briefing at a Midtown hotel, the former governor laid out a counterproposal to Mamdani’s promise of free buses and articulated his plan to lower the price of groceries.

“What this all comes down to, I am proposing real change that will help working families, working New Yorkers, and I have the experience to actually get it done. I make government work. I've done it all my life. I've gotten big projects done,” Cuomo said before pivoting to the Democratic nominee and general election frontrunner. “He's proposing a theory of socialism that has never worked anywhere.”

Cuomo has been undergoing a reset after losing to Mamdani in the June primary by nearly 13 points. Eschewing the aloofness with which he approached the campaign in the months leading up to his defeat, the former governor has instead been doing more interviews with the press and has twice held court at the Sheraton Hotel with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation. On Wednesday, he appeared to tacitly concede the popularity of Mamdani’s platform, even as he sought to improve upon the specifics.

Mamdani has pledged to make buses free for all New Yorkers, a plan that would cost around $900 million annually. On Wednesday, Cuomo proposed fully subsidizing subway and bus fares for New Yorkers earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which would apply to a family of four making up to $4,000 monthly. He pegged the annual cost at $140 million.

In response to Mamdani’s proposal for a city-run grocery store in each borough, Cuomo floated a new program to subsidize $100 worth of food purchases for households who make too much money to qualify for federal nutrition assistance. He pegged the cost of that initiative at $200 million a year.

More broadly, Cuomo cast his proposals as more targeted to New Yorkers in need.

“I come back to it because it's constant throughout this discussion: Why is government supposed to be subsidizing the rich?” he asked, suggesting wealthy New Yorkers would take advantage of Mamdani’s free buses and cheap groceries even though they are able to pay their own way.

Cuomo also argued that strengthening the city’s business community is the best way to ensure affordability for the populace and criticized Mamdani’s plan to increase business taxes.

“What is the best answer to affordability?” he asked. “It is business development. It is opportunity. It is jobs. It is economic growth. It is not anti-business socialism.”

Mamdani’s campaign pushed back against Cuomo’s characterization and pointed to the former governor's fraught stewardship of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Trusting Andrew Cuomo to address New York’s affordability crisis is the equivalent of tasking an arsonist with putting out a fire — he created this crisis,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. “Throughout his career, he systemically gutted our unions and social services, screwing over working people to please Republicans and billionaires. Donald Trump’s chosen candidate for Mayor would only continue his lifelong assault on working people and do the bidding of the GOP billionaires funding his flailing campaign.”