Andrew Cuomo, Jim Walden Pledge to Drop Independent Bids in NYC Mayoral Race if Not Leading Come Fall

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.