Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating a sizeable figure to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign in hopes the city’s voters don’t elect a full-on socialist.
On Friday, Bloomberg donated $5 million to the super PAC supporting Cuomo’s campaign, according to Politico. It is the largest figure yet from a single donor and illustrates the concern mainstream Democrats have over the rising poll numbers for socialist challenger and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani. With the Democrat primary only days away, the tightening race has seen New York’s wealthiest forced to choose a side.
A Wednesday poll by Public Policy Polling showed Mamdani with a 4-percentage point lead over Cuomo, 35% to 31%. Mamdani’s stock has risen substantially since receiving an endorsement from far-left congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Cuomo campaign has pushed back on the poll numbers saying it is from a biased service paid by the Mamdani campaign.
Although Bloomberg and Cuomo were rivals and did not see eye-to-eye during their overlapping years as both mayor and governor respectively, their mutual concern over the leftward drift of the Democrat Party has them now on a united front. Mamdani’s hard push to raise taxes on the richest New Yorker’s and his open antipathy toward Israel have given the two senior Democrats a common foe.
Current New York City mayor Eric Adams, who will be running as an independent in November, has parted ways with the Democrats over his positive relationship with President Donald Trump. If Cuomo does not capture the Democrat nod, he will appear as an independent as well.
Speaking with Bloomberg Surveillance earlier in the week, Cuomo lamented that some in his party feel they lost to Trump because they weren’t “left enough,” calling out Mamdani’s policies of “dismantle the police, everything free, and tax the rich.”
“It can’t matter who gives you money. People who have institutional interests are supporting me because institutional interests need a city that works. They want a city with a future. What they’re afraid of, if you elect a socialist, is double the taxes on the wealthy. And they wealthy say, that’s it, we’re gone,” he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
