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Andrew Cuomo, Jim Walden Pledge to Drop Independent Bids in NYC Mayoral Race if Not Leading Come Fall
Independent Political Report ^ | July 25, 2025 | Jordan Willow Evans

Posted on 07/25/2025 4:52:44 PM PDT by Angelino97

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Jim Walden, both independent candidates in this year’s New York City mayoral race, said in separate interviews this month that they would exit the race if not leading in the polls later this year, urging unified support behind a challenger to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

In an interview this week with CBS News New York, Walden, a former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York, warned that the crowded independent field risks splitting the vote and clearing an easy path to victory for Mamdani.

Walden framed his pledge as a good-faith effort to avoid a “spoiler situation” and encouraged other independent candidates to step aside with him by early September if they are not leading, in order to give voters what he called a “clean choice” between a socialist and free-market agenda.

“I advanced it not for my own personal gain, [but] because my political interests and everyone else’s ambitions should take a backseat to giving New Yorkers a very clean choice between one candidate and Zohran Mamdani,” Walden said.

Walden’s campaign has since said it submitted 23,750 signatures to appear on the ballot under the “Integrity Party” label, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected his attempt to use the word “Independence” in his ballot line. The court has not yet released a written explanation of its decision.

Cuomo shared a similar sentiment in a separate CBS interview earlier this month, saying he too would withdraw from the race and back incumbent Mayor Eric Adams’s independent bid if it became clear he lacked a path to victory, and cited a desire to avoid contributing to Mamdani’s chances. However, unlike Walden, Cuomo has not offered a specific timeline.

“I don’t want to be part of a suicide mission,” Cuomo said to CBS at the time. “If [Eric Adams] is a stronger candidate, I’m not going to be a spoiler and I’ll defer. I’m not going to be a reason that this assemblyman became mayor of the city of New York.”

Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June, remains on the general election ballot under the “Fight and Deliver Party” line, a line his campaign created earlier in the year. Before his loss in the primary, he said the ballot line was intended to appeal to voters outside the Democratic base.

Meanwhile, Adams petitioned for two independent ballot lines, “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe&Affordable,” but New York law allows him to appear on only one in November. He has not yet indicated which line he will use. According to the most recent CBS interview, Adams has declined to join Walden’s pledge to withdraw if not leading.

Beyond the independent candidates and Mamdani, the city’s Republican and Conservative parties are also fielding nominees. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican Party’s 2021 nominee, secured the nomination again last month.

The Conservative Party is running Irene Estrada, a registered Democrat who is appearing on the party’s ballot line through special Wilson Pakula authorization. State Conservative Party chair Gerard Kassar has said Estrada’s campaign is intended to give voters additional options, though he initially stated after the primary that the party’s focus would be on opposing Mamdani.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: New York
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 07/25/2025 4:52:44 PM PDT by Angelino97
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To: Angelino97

blind item

This former state A++ lister was trying to be a city A++ lister and was staying at one of the places the brother of the billionaire pedos owns.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wealth-of-jeffrey-epsteins-brother-is-also-a-mystery-11565607148?


2 posted on 07/25/2025 4:59:36 PM PDT by RummyChick
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To: Angelino97

Can Sliwa win, 1v1?


3 posted on 07/25/2025 4:59:45 PM PDT by FatherofFive (We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor)
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To: FatherofFive

in ny? Very doubtful


4 posted on 07/25/2025 5:01:55 PM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana)
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To: Angelino97

Sort of looks like NYC could be getting a Republican mayor - due to their own primary election fraud.

Oh wait...more voter fraud coming. Get out the prayer rugs.


5 posted on 07/25/2025 5:02:46 PM PDT by FLNittany
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To: FLNittany

These are the kind of posts that make people give up.


6 posted on 07/25/2025 5:33:51 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Beowulf9
These are the kind of posts that make people give up.

Yup. It's like poison. If winning is impossible, we may as just as well shut down FR and barricade ourselves in our homes in a fetal position until we die. The despairing serve no useful purpose except to their own bitter selves.

7 posted on 07/25/2025 5:43:18 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: Angelino97

Scum politician and scum lawyer.

Nobody really wants them.

Why not drop out now?


8 posted on 07/25/2025 5:58:13 PM PDT by x
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To: Angelino97

9 posted on 07/25/2025 5:59:36 PM PDT by know.your.why
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To: Angelino97

Everyone needs to stay in the race so as to split the vote and propel Mamdani into Gracie Mansion.


10 posted on 07/25/2025 6:41:47 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: FatherofFive

I don’t think so, I’m sad to say.


11 posted on 07/25/2025 7:52:35 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: FatherofFive

Nope, not a chance. The NY Liberal women are going to put the commie in.


12 posted on 07/25/2025 7:57:20 PM PDT by iamgalt
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To: iamgalt

Sad to agree those women are swooning over Mamdani. They think he’s swell and a dreamboat. 💓💞

Early in his career, teenage girls used to have Elvis sign the tops of their breasts to get his autograph. First name on one, last name on the other.

That’s what fans do.


13 posted on 07/25/2025 8:09:36 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: frank ballenger

Equally sad to say but the 19th was catastrophic but inevitable. The rats could not win a state wide let alone a national election without it.0


14 posted on 07/25/2025 8:23:02 PM PDT by iamgalt
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To: Angelino97

All of s sudden cuomo has morals and a conscience, must be the spirits of all the nursing home people he killed during covid


15 posted on 07/26/2025 3:03:44 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: Bob434

NYC’s elections are rigged for a reason.

No, Gotham wouldn’t vote for this.


16 posted on 07/26/2025 3:48:30 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: AlaskaErik
Everyone needs to stay in the race so as to split the Democratic vote and propel Mamdani Sliwa into Gracie Mansion.
17 posted on 07/26/2025 5:24:38 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: FatherofFive

That leaves Adams and the city’s left doesn’t like him so much anymore.

EC


18 posted on 07/26/2025 7:56:42 AM PDT by Ex-Con777
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