Former New York Gov. David Paterson said his family was flooded with “vitriolic” calls from rabid Zohran Mamdani supporters after he suggested Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo should drop out of the mayoral race — to block the socialist from winning.
“I got a whole lot of nasty, negative phone calls — really vitriolic — from Mamdani supporters,” Paterson said on John Catsimatidis’ “Cat’s Rountable” on WABC 770 AM.
“[They] called my home. They called my wife. It was really kind of difficult for those 48 hours after the press conference.”
Unfazed, Paterson doubled down on his call to block Mamdani, who won the Democratic mayoral primary in a shocking upset, from City Hall.
“If Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams both stay in the mayor’s race, it will be [an] open door for Zohran Mamdani to win the election in November for mayor,” he said.
“My proposal was that there be a way to make a decision [on] which of these two candidates should run against Mamdani.”
Cuomo, meanwhile, is expected to announce this week that he is staying in the race as an independent, sources told NewsNation.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary for the mayor’s seat.
Mayor Adams is also still vying to return to office, running as an independent.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is running on the Republican line.
The victory by Mamdani, a Muslim born in Uganda, shook up the Big Apple political establishment.
“The reason I have such a problem with Mr. Mamdani is because, in the beginning, he was a young candidate,” the former governor told Catsimatidis. “Had new ideas, Very charismatic. Can make a crowd really cheer for him.
“But he has never evidenced a plan for changing pretty much anything in the city,” Paterson said.
He cited Mamdani’s comments after George Floyd was killed during a 2020 confrontation with police in Minneapolis, which sparked tensions and protests throughout the nation.
“He said things like, ‘Well, it’s too bad it had to happen, but it had to happen,’” Paterson recalled. “Why did it have to happen? This is not the way we make change in this country — by rioting.”
He said the best path to blocking a Mamdani mayoralty is for Adams or Cuomo to step aside.
“If they both don’t get out of the race and Mamdani wins, I think they’re going to draw a lot of criticism,” Paterson said. “The responsibility of these two candidates is to either get out or not get out.
“I don’t think that it’s fair to order anyone to get out of the a race, but I think it’s fair to tell the, ‘What’s going to happen if they stay in?”
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