Trump suggests Mamdani will likely win NYC mayoral election in November

President Donald Trump on Friday suggested that it appears New York City's Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, is going to win the election in November and suggested his popularity is a response to bad choices of alternative candidates.

Mamdani surged to prominence this summer after defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic nomination. Cuomo is now pursuing an independent bid, along with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, also running as an independent. Republican Curtis Sliwa is also running.

Trump previously suggested two of the city's more conservative candidates drop out and unite behind one candidate, like Cuomo, in order to try and defeat Mamdani, but Sliwa and Adams have both vowed to stay in the race.

The president said in an appearance on "Fox and Friends" that Cuomo would probably be the best chance to defeat Mamdani, but that even Cuomo is still way behind. 

Mamdani is leading Cuomo by 22% in a poll released Tuesday. Mamdani scored 46% of the vote, while Cuomo raked in 24%. Sliwa is third with 15%, and Adams garnered 9% support.

"It almost looks like even one candidate wouldn't work at this point," Trump said. "I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he is going to win and that is a rebellion. It is a rebellion against bad candidates, OK? They’re tired of it."

Trump berated Sliwa as "not exactly primetime," and would try to fill the mayor's mansion with "thousands of cats," and slammed Cuomo for his handling of the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The president also referred to Mamdani as his "little communist mayor," and suggested that New York City will become a communist city if the Democratic nominee wins later this year. But he also suggested he could exert control over Mamdani if he wins because the mayor would be forced to come to Washington, D.C. for funding.

Mamdani has denied allegations that he's a "communist," describing himself as a "Democratic socialist," instead.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.