Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primaries for New York City mayor, running a campaign built on policies for free buses, accessible housing, and taxing the rich that resonated among a majority of New Yorkers. Rather than taking a step back to focus on creating new policies more in alignment with voters, it appears the disgruntled former governor has taken to centering his platform on shallow attacks.
Recently, when I read that Cuomo’s newest bone to pick was over Mamdani’s family’s property in Uganda—utilizing the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws as cover—two thoughts crossed my mind: Cuomo has lost it, and this strategy is dangerous. Cuomo, who has long crafted his political persona as the sane voice of moderation, is taking after President Donald Trump, and not just from shared donors. While some might dismiss this as a desperate move from someone already defeated, if history repeats itself, Trump’s own rise and fall, and then rise again, is proof that ugly politics can still win an election, and we should all be concerned.
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Andrew Cuomo has never been a progressive, but rather has consistently teetered in a gray limbo between progressive and conservative. This strategy served him well during the 2010s, an era when institutional Democrats played last-minute catch-up to progressive ideas only once they became politically advantageous, allowing centrists to run campaigns stripped of anything that could be deemed too extreme. Now, caught between Trump’s authoritarianism and the self-titled socialist Mamdani, Cuomo’s centrist standing has drifted further to the right, clinging to attacks rather than policy.
In recent months, reports arose that Cuomo’s campaign has been in touch with Donald Trump regarding support in the election; true or not, there is a clear embrace of Trump-like tactics of cheap deflection and personal smears while avoiding any semblance of policy altogether.
Trump perfected this playbook. His nicknames—”Crooked Hillary,” “Sleepy Joe”—dominated headlines. Republicans normalized it. Now Democrats like Cuomo are recycling the same gimmick. The old right versus left divide is collapsing, giving way to establishment vs. progressive, and Cuomo—who accepted funding from Republican donors, many of whom raised money for Trump—has, by no surprise, chosen the side of the establishment.
What makes Cuomo’s latest attack especially hollow is his turn to pinkwashing, using support of LGBTQ rights as a cover-up. The irony: Cuomo, once celebrated by progressives for advancing LGBTQ rights, has seen the very same groups distance themselves from him. Still, Cuomo tries to not only hold onto his past victory, but weaponize it, crystal clear to the LGBTQ audience that he continues to push away.
Cuomo’s focus on Zohran Mamdani’s property in Uganda reveals a Trumpian method of communication: fear-mongering instead of policy. Political jabs are not a new phenomenon, but in today’s media-saturated environment, they sharpen into long-lasting takedowns. A throwaway line amplified by headlines and algorithms until a weak barb develops into a full-blown narrative.
All Cuomo has to do is land the punch; the press carries it the rest of the way, dressing it up as fact. That’s the frightening part. “Cuomo flips script on Mamdani for owning property in Uganda despite its anti-LGBT laws: ‘Silence is violence'” or “New York City Mayoral election: Former Governor slams Zohran Mamdani for his property in ‘anti-LGBT’ Uganda” are some of the resulting headlines.
Voters deserve campaigns built on policy instead of unfounded throw-away lines designed for clicks—especially when those tricks focus on someone’s country of origin—much similar to Trump’s false rumors regarding former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate—or try to use the veil of LGBTQ as a power-grab for LGBTQ voters.
Cuomo’s offensive strategy shows he’s absorbed the lesson Trump perfected where the way to win a campaign isn’t about persuading voters or even debating policies, but to fire-off enough attacks until one sticks, derailing the opponent, and burying policy. Cuomo may have missed the mark with this last shot, and if the polls are accurate, he may still lose the election. But it’s worth noting how the lessons the institutional Democrats are lifting come straight from the playbook that once belonged to their opponents.
Costa Beavin Pappas is a culture writer with bylines in ELLE, Oprah Daily, Business Insider, the Observer, and Newsweek, among others. He resides in New York City.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
