‘He Has New York by the Short Hairs’: Trump Turns the Mayoral Race Into a Win-Win

No matter who wins the New York City mayoral race, President Donald Trump will likely come out on top. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
NEW YORK – President Donald Trump has turned New York City’s mayoral race into a political advantage, setting himself up to benefit no matter who wins.
If Zohran Mamdani, the progressive Democrat, takes City Hall, Trump gains a left-wing foil to attack as proof of “radical city mismanagement.” If Andrew Cuomo stages a comeback, Trump gains leverage over an old rival facing a possible Justice Department inquiry.
The president’s influence over New York politics is already visible. Mayor Eric Adams dropped out after his federal corruption case was quietly dismissed, deepening speculation that Trump now wields powerful control over the city’s fate.
With the midterms approaching, a Mamdani victory would give Trump a vivid example of socialist governance to rally Republicans nationwide. A Cuomo win, meanwhile, could pull the former governor into the president’s orbit especially as Trump’s DOJ shows willingness to pursue political foes.
Cuomo has tried to cast himself as Trump’s strongest opponent, but polls show him trailing Mamdani by double digits. Trump, meanwhile, has mocked Mamdani as a “liddle communist” and warned that federal aid could be cut if he wins.
Curtis Sliwa, the longshot Republican nominee, has urged cooperation rather than confrontation with Trump. “He has all the cards,” Sliwa said. “You don’t have to bow to him, but you do have to respect that he’s in charge.”
For Trump, the mayoral race offers no real downside. Whether he ends up battling a socialist mayor or maneuvering around a weakened Cuomo, the president once again dominates his hometown’s political stage and, as one observer put it, “has New York by the short hairs.”
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