Mayor Eric Adams criticized his main rival, Andrew Cuomo, on Monday, dismissing the former governor’s reputation as a “great manager.” He pointed to Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 crisis as evidence that the three-term governor was responsible for the mismanagement.
Adams spoke out alongside grieving families from New York and other 2025 mayoral hopefuls, both from the Democratic and Republican parties, who have strongly condemned Cuomo’s response to the pandemic as he seeks a political comeback in the race for City Hall.
“He incorrectly handled the nursing home issues,” Adams said, referring to Cuomo’s controversial decisions during the pandemic.
Adams sarcastically added, “Some people say, ‘He’s a great manager. Well, he darn sure managed that crisis well.’”
This latest round of criticism came after family members of nursing home residents who passed away during the pandemic fiercely criticized Cuomo. They laid blame on his disastrous directive that required facilities to accept COVID-19 patients, a decision some estimates say led to the deaths of about 15,000 individuals.
Several Democratic mayoral contenders, including Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, Jessica Ramos, and Scott Stringer, participated in a rally with the grieving families on Sunday. Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden also attended.
Adams revealed he has been in contact with the families and expressed his disapproval of Cuomo’s pandemic management, which the former governor continues to defend despite ongoing controversy.
The mayor further alleged that there was a “racial disparity” in how Cuomo managed the pandemic, especially when it came to the distribution of personal protective equipment and vaccines.
During the crisis, several Black and Latino lawmakers, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, pointed out that there were significant inequalities in the locations of vaccine and testing sites across the city.
In response to the mayor’s criticism, Cuomo’s spokesperson pointed out that Adams had previously refrained from making negative remarks about the governor’s pandemic response when asked about it in June 2024.
“New Yorkers are smart: they know the Mayor is a desperate man who is an Agent of Trump, and desperate men will do or say anything,” Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson, retorted.
Adams did not spare other mayoral candidates from his criticisms either.
When asked by The Post about his comment to Jewish leaders last week that there is an antisemite running for mayor, Adams declined to name the candidate but gave a clue: he suggested the candidate would be one aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.
Lander, currently the city comptroller, and Mamdani, the Queens state Assemblyman whose campaign has gained traction recently, both align with that ideology.
Lander, for his part, took the opportunity to criticize Cuomo on Monday for accepting campaign donations from individuals associated with President Trump.
“New York City deserves a Mayor who will stand up to Trump, not bend the knee like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams,” Lander declared in a statement.
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