Cuomo: 'I will move to Florida. God forbid!' if Mamdani become NYC mayor
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Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday he’ll pack his bags and flee to Florida if he loses the NYC mayoral race to socialist Zohran Mamdani.

“It’s all or nothing. We either win, or even I’ll have to move to Florida. Heaven forbid!” Cuomo expressed to business executives and attendees at a Hamptons breakfast organized by supermarket titan John Catsimatidis.

The statement drew laughs — and Cuomo’s campaign later insisted he was joking.

“It was a wow line,” said one attendee. “It got everyone’s attention.”

Cuomo, after losing last month’s Democratic primary to Mamdani, is now campaigning in the November general election as an independent. Throughout the event held at the popular venue 75 Main, he consistently referred to the 33-year-old socialist as “kid.”

The governor criticized Mamdani’s ambitious proposals to freeze rents on stabilized apartments, describing it as a “death sentence” for the housing market. He argued that this plan would likely result in landlords reducing their investment in property maintenance.

Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to The Post.


Andrew Cuomo giving a concession speech at his NYC mayoral primary election night event.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo told business leaders at a Hamptons breakfast Saturday he’ll move south to Florida if he loses the NYC mayoral race to socialist Zohran Mamdani, but his campaign later said he was joking. John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

Cuomo saved plenty of ammo for Mayor Adams, another Dem seeking re-election as an independent.

He claimed the Big Apple hasn’t had “a competent mayor” since Michael Bloomberg left office at the end 2013 and that Adams “could not focus” for much of his three-plus years on the job because of a now-closed federal corruption probe and other controversies.

The city “feels out of control,” Cuomo said.

The Hamptons crowd included real estate titan Bruce Mosler, former US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis, state Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, Democratic fundraiser Dennis Miehl and longtime Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa.


Zohran Mamdani at a press conference.
Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, is the frontrunner to win the NYC mayoral race. Paul Martinka

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo was joking about moving to Florida and that the crowd got it.

“Governor Cuomo would never give up on New York,” Azzopardi said. “That said, the line underscored the stakes in the upcoming election and the risk of electing a dangerously inexperienced, hate-spewing 33-year-old socialist whose campaign consists of unrealistic bumper sticker slogans.”

Adams – who told The Post earlier this week he’d never leave New York even if it’s run by a socialist – said Saturday if Cuomo “is serious about moving to Florida, he should go ahead – he’s already spent three weekends in the Hamptons.”

Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy.

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