“Ya no tiene vida política”

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Andrew Cuomo is not dropping out of the race for New York City mayor.

Cuomo, the former three-term New York State governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals, has decided, for now, to move ahead and run in the general election as an independent candidate, two sources confirmed to Fox News on Thursday night.

The announcement by Cuomo came three days after progressive upstart Zohran Mamdani shocked the political world, as he topped Cuomo and the rest of the 11-candidate field in heavily blue New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary and took a big step toward becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist state assemblyman from Queens who originally hailed from Uganda, captured 43.5% of the first round unofficial primary results, with Cuomo at 36.4%.

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While he acknowledged Mamdani’s victory in the primary, Cuomo left the door open to a November run as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit.

«I want to look at all the numbers as they come in and analyze the rank choice voting. I will then consult with my colleagues on what is the best path for me to help the City of New York, as I have already qualified to run for mayor on an independent line in November,» Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo was facing an end-of-the-day Friday deadline for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line.

The former governor will keep his place that he already secured earlier this year on the «Fight & Deliver» ballot line. But the sources said that Cuomo had not committed yet to running an active general election campaign through the summer and into the autumn. 

If Cuomo drops out of the race at a later date, his name will stay on the general election ballot.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a speech to supporters, acknowledges that rival Zohran Mamdani ‘won’ the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary, on June 24, 2025, in New York, N.Y. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

Once a longshot in the race, Mamdani closed the gap with Cuomo during the final stretch of the primary race thanks to an energetic campaign that focused in part on New York City’s high cost of living.

Endorsements by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left, and by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, helped Mamdani consolidate much of New York City’s Democratic Party base

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And Mamdani rode a wave of support from younger and first-time voters to catapult himself into first place.

«I will be the mayor for every New Yorker,» Mamdani said in his victory speech. «Whether you voted for me, or for Governor Cuomo, or felt too disillusioned by a long broken political system to vote at all, I will fight for a city that works for you, that is affordable for you, that is safe for you.»

Since none of the candidates topped 50%, counting technically now heads into rounds of ranked-choice elimination. But the combined totals of votes Mamdani and other aligned progressive candidates won are likely to be more than enough to topple Cuomo as the ranked-choice tabulations begin on July 1.

Cuomo, seeing the writing on the wall, admitted defeat and complimented Mamdani as the initial primary results poured in on Tuesday, telling supporters that «tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won.»

Cuomo, in an interview on Wednesday with CBS New York, noted that «in the general election, more people come out to vote. It’s a broader pool, if you will, of New Yorkers, more representative pool of New Yorkers.»

«There are about 5 million voters in New York City, there are about 8 million people in New York City, and about 1 million people vote in the Democratic primary. So it’s not, necessarily, representative of the city at large,» the former governor said.

Former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner in the race for the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary, speaks to a large crowd of union supporters, on primary eve, June 23, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

And a poll from a consulting and lobbying group that was aligned with an outside group supporting Cuomo released a poll on Thursday that suggested Mamdani and Cuomo tied in a possible general election matchup, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who’s running for re-election as an independent – and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa far behind.

Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels, ran for a second straight election cycle. Also running this November as an independent is former federal prosecutor Jim Walden.

Asked if Cuomo should drop out of the race, Mamdani said Thursday in an interview with Fox News affiliate WNYW in New York that «I think there’s room for everyone because, ultimately, we’re going to win it.»

The 67-year-old Cuomo has spent the past four years fighting to clear his name after 11 sexual harassment accusations, which he has repeatedly denied, forced his resignation. He was also under investigation at the time for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic amid allegations his administration vastly understated COVID-related deaths at state nursing homes. 

Last month, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Cuomo after Republicans accused him of lying to Congress about the decisions he made as governor during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo, thanks to his name recognition, was the front-runner in the polls even before he announced his candidacy earlier this year. But he ran a safe campaign that relied on union support, and he shied away from often engaging with local or national media.

Mamdani, meanwhile, made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged the primary electorate. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) «tuition-free,» freezing rents on municipal housing, offering «free childcare» for children up to age five, and setting up government-run grocery stores.

New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a campaign launch rally at City Hall, Thursday, June. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Adams, in formally launching his campaign on Thursday on the steps of City Hall, said «this is a city not of socialism,» in an obvious jab at Mamdani’s proposals.

«There’s no dignity in someone giving you everything for free. There’s dignity in giving you a job, so you can provide for your family and the opportunities that you deserve. This is not a city of handouts. This is a city of hands up.»

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Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged «long-running» scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.

The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.

He announced in early April that he would run for re-election as an independent and forgo the Democratic primary.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cut the inaugural tape at a new coastal tourist site during an extravagant ceremony on Tuesday, though the resort won’t immediately be open to foreign tourists.

Kim toured the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, calling its construction «one of the greatest successes this year» and «the proud first step» toward a new era in the government’s tourism industry, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Hotels and other accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests were built on the Hermit Kingdom’s east coast, where visitors could engage in activities such as swimming, sports and recreation and dining at restaurants at the resort, state media said.

The resort, North Korea’s biggest tourist site, will open for domestic tourists next Tuesday, KCNA said, but the report didn’t say when it will start receiving foreign tourists. 

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Experts believe North Korea invested heavily in the construction of the resort and eventually will have to accept Chinese and other foreign tourists to recoup costs.

But North Korea has been slow to resume its international tourism because of lingering COVID-19 pandemic curbs, a flare-up of tensions with the U.S. and South Korea in recent years and worries about Western tourists spreading a negative image of its system.

Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tour the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Analysts say the resort will open to Russian tourists first, as evidenced by its booming military and other partnerships with Russia, before eventually opening to Chinese tours.

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The Russian ambassador to North Korea and his embassy staff appeared at Tuesday’s ceremony, according to KCNA, though the report didn’t say whether any Chinese diplomats were also invited.

South Korean and American tourists won’t be as fortunate, Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump met with Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June 2018 during his first term as president. During the first months of his second term, Trump maintained that the U.S. will have relations with North Korea.  (AP/Evan Vucci)

Lim said those tours won’t likely restart anytime soon, though both new liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump have expressed hopes to revive dialogue with North Korea.

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Kim has been pushing to make the country a tourism hub as part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, with KCNA reporting that North Korea will soon confirm plans to build large tourist sites in other parts of the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.