David Paterson weighs in on the NYC mayor’s race – again

Former Gov. David Paterson seems to have some election fatigue. And that’s understandable. While the moderate Democrat is sure he’s against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, he’s previously supported all three independent candidates – and he’s stepfather to the son of the Republican nominee.

Paterson convened a press conference in Midtown, Manhattan Monday morning to call on the three independent candidates to “find a way to unite behind one of them” to defeat Mamdani, but he declined to say who he thought voters should support come November. Instead, he called on city leaders in business, education and political spaces to help “put together a search” to assess which candidate is best positioned to win the general election and to govern the city. John Catsimatidis, a billionaire conservative radio host, Sid Rosenberg, a right wing radio personality, and others were also in attendance. 

Paterson’s been all over the place with the 2025 mayoral candidates.

Last election cycle, he endorsed Mayor Eric Adams during the waning days of the competitive 2021 Democratic mayoral primary and continued to support the mayor throughout his tenure. While many elected officials called for Adams to step down in wake of his federal indictment, Paterson repeatedly said that Adams had a right to defend himself, that the allegations were unsubstantiated, and was even named as a booster to help raise money for the his legal defense fund after the federal investigation went public toward the end of 2023.

As for this election cycle, Paterson was initially a chief campaign strategist for independent candidate Jim Walden, but Politico New York reported in December that he’d been fired after telling the press that Walden was “not a factor” at that point in the race just a few weeks into the job. In June, Paterson endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, setting aside old beef over how Cuomo – then state attorney general – had handled a probe into him back in 2010.

Now as Mamdani’s opponents scramble to identify a way to stop the 33-year-old democratic socialist from winning in the general election, Paterson is in the middle. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s son is his stepchild. Walden, Adams and Cuomo (albeit to a less certain degree after his bruising loss last month to Mamdani) are positioned to run as independent candidates. Nobody seems keen to drop out. All are swiping at one another. The clock is ticking. 

“We can do this, but it’s going to take a united effort and it’s going to take some sacrifice that someone is going to have to make to make this work,” Paterson said, suggesting that some candidates should withdraw to consolidate support. When pressed by reporters on whether he no longer thought Cuomo was the best choice, he again declined to say.