Trump calls on 2 New York City mayoral candidates to drop out so Mamdani can be defeated

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump acknowledged Thursday his desire to see two New York City mayoral candidates drop out of the contest so front-runner Zohran Mamdani can be more easily defeated at the polls.

"I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one. And I think that's a race that could be won," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I don't think you can win unless you have one on one. Somehow he's gotten a little bit of a lead. I have no idea how that happened, but I'd prefer not to have a communist mayor of New York City."

Trump did not specify which two candidates he would like to see exit, but multiple media outlets reported Wednesday that Trump's advisers have reached out to independent incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Silwa to offer them positions in the administration if they end their campaigns.

The goal, the reports said, is to bolster former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's chances of victory come November.

Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has quickly become a rising star among progressive Democrats after he won New York City's mayoral Democratic primary in June, putting him on track to become the first Muslim and first South Asian to lead the US's largest city.

A survey conducted by American Pulse Research and Consulting in the middle of August found Mamdani holds a commanding lead in the contest. Nearly 37% of voters said they would cast their ballots for the Democratic nominee, compared to 24.6% who supported Cuomo, 17% who backed Silwa and 11.4% who said they would vote for Adams.

After Cuomo challenged Mamdani to a one-on-one debate Thursday, Mamdani shot back, saying he should "cut out the middle man" and just debate Trump instead.

"Let's cut out the middle man. Why should I debate Donald Trump's puppet when I can debate Donald Trump, himself," he said, according to CBS News. "If Donald Trump is serious about this, he should come to New York City and we can have as many debates as you want about why he is cutting SNAP benefits for hungry New Yorkers just to fund tax cuts for his billionaire donors."

The Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) is a government program intended to help low-income households buy food.