President Donald Trump on Tuesday said former New York governor Andrew Cuomo should remain in the New York City mayoral race, asserting the long-time Democrat—now running as an independent—has “a good shot” of defeating party nominee Zohran Mamdani. Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, dismissed Mamdani as “a communist,” intensifying the president’s months-long attacks on the progressive state lawmaker. Cuomo, 67, relaunched his bid on 14 July after losing last month’s Democratic primary to Mamdani by more than 12 percentage points. In a campaign video he declared he was “in it to win it” but vowed to exit the contest if polls before early September show another candidate better positioned to stop Mamdani. Mamdani’s campaign labelled Trump’s remarks an endorsement of Cuomo, though neither Trump nor Cuomo signalled a formal alliance. The November ballot is shaping up as a four-way contest that also features incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who left the Democratic Party in April to mount his own independent run, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual-harassment allegations he denies, is pitching his comeback to moderate voters. Trump’s intervention underscores how the race for Gracie Mansion has become a national proxy fight between the White House and the Democratic Party’s left wing.