Heard Around Town
David Paterson, Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams: ‘WE are Democrats’
Three scandal-scarred New York executives visit the Bronx, declare civil war within the Democratic Party.
David Paterson, Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams appeared together Tuesday afternoon. Tsehai Alfred
Andrew Cuomo, alongside endorsers Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. David Paterson, made the argument at a senior citizen center in the Bronx on Tuesday that they represent the Democratic Party, not the Democratic nominee for mayor.
“Mayor Adams, Gov. Paterson, myself, we are Democrats. We've always been Democrats. We will always be Democrats,” Cuomo said, drawing a distinction between the three men standing on stage and his opponent, Zohran Mamdani. The progressive Democratic candidate for mayor does not hold the “core Democratic values” of respecting public safety, jobs and “the senior citizens who built this city as the greatest city on the globe,” Cuomo said, garnering applause and cheers from the seniors in the audience at the Boston Postino Senior Center.
The appearance at the outer-borough center came after early voting numbers from the weekend showed voters aged 55 and older making up a majority of the turnout. It also served as an endorsement announcement from Paterson. During the Democratic primary, the ex-governor backed Cuomo, but after Cuomo’s dramatic loss in June he switched to endorsing Adams, who was then running as an independent in the general election. Now, after Adams exited the race earlier this month, Paterson is back to siding with Cuomo, and gave his argument on Tuesday for why New Yorkers should cast their ballot for the former governor in the general election in one week.
“No one’s going to get a free ride no matter what some people are promising, but there is a great opportunity for this city if we elect this gentleman right now next Tuesday,” said Paterson.
Just two days before the three men slammed Mamdani’s democratic socialist policies as ineffective, undemocratic and infeasible, Mamdani signaled a widening of the Democratic tent at his “NYC is not for Sale” rally on Sunday. Alongside fellow democratic socialists U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he was joined by Gov. Kathy Hochul, an upstate moderate Democrat who endorsed the candidate in September.
Despite the unity Mamdani signaled in the party, Adams and Cuomo both said that there is “civil war” in the Democratic Party right now – one between “a socialist masquerading as a Democrat,” as Adams put it, and those that hold traditional Democratic positions.
“One side is fighting to save our police. The other side is moving to harm them. One side believes we should have encampments on our streets. The other side is fighting to clean them up,” Adams said, using a live AI Spanish translation device to address the senior residents.
As Adams and Cuomo attacked the Democratic nominee on policy lines of public safety and prostitution during their remarks, they later referenced the personal attacks they have recently made against Mamdani, directed at his Muslim faith.
Disagreeing with Mamdani’s recent claims that Adams’ and Cuomo’s criticism of his faith are divisive and Islamophobic, Adams said that Mamdani is the “divisive” one.
“We need to bring our city together, and that is for Democrats,” said Adams, the once independent candidate, backing the now independent nominee for mayor, who have both received backlash for reportedly communicating with the Trump administration.