Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg is endorsing Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic primary, saying the ex-governor is best equipped to run the Big Apple.
“I care deeply about the future of our city, and since leaving office, it has been difficult to watch its struggles, especially since the pandemic,” the former-three-term mayor said Tuesday.
“In sizing up the field in the race for mayor, there is one candidate whose management experience and government know-how stand above the others: Andrew Cuomo.”
The billionaire business mogul said he had differences with Cuomo when the two served as mayor and governor, respectively.
“But I also know his strengths as a leader and manager. Of all the candidates, Andrew has the skills our city needs to lead us forward,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg did not mention any of Cuomo’s rivals, particularly Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani.
But sources close to Bloomberg said he doesn’t want an anti-capitalist tax hiker and foe of Israel running City Hall.
He credited Cuomo with getting “big things done,’ citing the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport, the opening of the 2nd Avenue Subway and creation of Moynihan Station — “All long-stalled projects that he jump-started and completed.”
“He has decades of experience navigating state and federal governments. He has governed as a pragmatist, focused on solving problems rather than engaging in ideological or partisan warfare,” Bloomberg said of Cuomo.
“The question before New Yorkers is not: Who is the perfect choice? No mayor is perfect. The question is: Who is the best choice? To me, that choice is clear: Andrew Cuomo.”
The endorsement comes after Bloomberg’s top allies have poured money into Cuomo’s campaign.
Ed Skyler, a former deputy mayor to Bloomberg who is now a top executive at Citigroup, recently donated $400 — the maximum allowed under restrictions for employees of a firm that does business with city government.
He told a former colleague that he would have stayed out of the race, if not for polls showing Mamdani closing in on Cuomo in the June 24 Democratic primary.
A recent poll conducted for pro-Mamdani groups by the left-wing think tank Data for Progress showed the gap between the rivals narrowing to 51% to 49% for Cuomo, within the margin’s 3 point margin of error.
This as an internal Cuomo campaign survey released Monday had him beating Mamdani by 12 points in the ranked choice voting contest.
“Ultimately elections are about choices and there is no question New York City will be stronger and safer with a competent leader like Andrew instead of someone with a far-left agenda and no experience governing,” Skyler told the pal.
Skyler, a former Republican turned independent, previously eyed running for mayor himself. But he declined after Cuomo entered the race.
A former deputy mayor of operations in the Bloomberg administration, Skyler is concerned about bolstering public safety and boosting economic development.
He was floored, a source close to him said, after reading in The Post that Mamdani targeted the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island for a boycott because of the Ivy League university’s partnership with a leading Israeli tech school, Technion University. Bloomberg approved the high-tech campus to help diversify the Big Apple’s economy.
A pro-Palestinian activist, Mamdani, a state Assembly member from Queens, is a staunch foe of Israel and backs the boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, movement against the Jewish state.
Skyler is just the latest associate of Bloomberg to come off the sidelines to back Cuomo.
Last month, the former three-term mayor’s daughter, Emma Bloomberg, gave the $2,100 maximum contribution to the ex-governor’s political comeback bid.
Bloomberg’s right hand adviser Kevin Sheekey, who ran the billionaire’s 2020 presidential bid and is a top executive at his namesake media company, also donated to the Cuomo campaign’s kitty.
Thomas Secunda — the billionaire co-founder of Bloomberg LP — gave $40,000 to the pro-Cuomo super PAC Fix the City.
