Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat running as an independent in the New York City mayoral race, is under fire for remarks he made in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
Describing the Democratic nominee, State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, as “totally out of sync with New Yorkers” and “how New Yorkers feel,” Cuomo — who has been trailing by double-digits in most polls — told Bartiromo that Mamdani “is dual citizenship” and “was a citizen of Uganda.”
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to New York City when he was seven.
“He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant, what entrepreneurial growth means, opportunity means, why people came here,” Cuomo alleged.
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“Well, this is very important, because next year, we’ll be 25 years since 9/11, I believe,” Bartiromo told Cuomo. “And if he’s the mayor, how is he going to treat all of those people who are still in mourning, from losing their lives, 3,000 people?”
“I mean, all of the first responders that we lost on 9/11, I was there at the New York Stock Exchange,” she noted. “I guess I’m wondering if you’re expecting New York to look more like London? You go to London right now, and it is largely Muslim. Women are completely covered up. I don’t know if you expect, if Mamdani were to be in charge, him to change the look of New York as well.”
“Look,” said Cuomo, the former New York State governor who was forced to resign amid sexual harassment allegations and a damning report released by the Office of State Attorney General Letitia James, “he is out of sync with how New Yorkers feel.”
“I just think he doesn’t get it, you know?”
“His parents owned a mansion in Uganda,” Cuomo continued. “He spent a lot of time there. He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant, what entrepreneurial growth means, opportunity means, why people came here.”
Critics blasted the former governor.
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“What an odious thing to say,” remarked author Rebecca Fishbein, who has written for The New York Times. “I hope New York Jews understand that the dual loyalty trope is used against them, too. If Cuomo feels comfortable attacking Mamdani in this way, what’s to stop him from turning on NY’s Jewish pop[ulation] when it stops being politically advantageous for him to support?”
“Politician who resigned last position in disgrace is desperate for comeback so using religious bigotry,” commented Brian Kaylor, author of “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists.”
“Cuomo and Bartiromo, two Italian Americans, repurposing the same type of xenophobia, bigotry, and religious prejudice that was used to discriminate against Italian Catholic immigrants,” observed Ron Cassie, a senior editor at Baltimore magazine.
“This is easily as racist as anything Trump has said,” noted attorney Noah Popp.
Historian Paul Cohen, a faculty member at The University of Toronto, wrote, “there is here no moral compass, no human substance, no political commitments, no attachment to virtue, no sense of character, no nagging voice of conscience … there is only the hunger for power, and the readiness to pay whatever price necessary to acquire it.”
So here's Andrew Cuomo reacting to Maria Bartiromo wondering if Mamdani will "change the look of New York" and have Muslim women "completely covered up," telling her that Mamdani "doesn't understand New York culture" because he has "dual citizenship" and "he's a citizen of Uganda."
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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) Oct 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
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