State Sen. Jessica Ramos turned her back on fellow progressive mayoral candidates Friday — making the shocking move to endorse frontrunner Andrew Cuomo despite previously questioning his mental acuity.
Ramos, a Queens rep since 2019, joined the former governor at a campaign event in Manhattan, where she made a veiled dig at socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani, who has been ranking second in the polls.
“This year’ s race has really come down to two candidates and only one of them has experience and the toughness to lead New York — and that’s Andrew Cuomo,” she said.
“This wasn’t an easy decision, for all the reasons you already know, but it’s a responsible one,” Ramos said.
“Leadership is knowing when we need to unite around what’s needed most,” she continued, pointing to Cuomo as the only candidate who she believed could take on President Trump.
The endorsement marked a sharp about-face from Ramos’ repeated public criticism of Cuomo — including questioning whether he was senile, telling The Post in April that New Yorkers couldn’t afford a “Joe Biden moment.”
She was also among the lawmakers who called on the then-gov to resign in 2021 in the face of a slew of sexual harassment allegations and a scandal over his handling of the COVID pandemic in nursing homes.
Ramos said Friday she would not be ceasing her campaign and will remain on the ballot — but the endorsement less than three weeks from the primary shows that she sees no path to victory.
The startling announcement came the day after lefty firebrand New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez named Mamdani as her top choice in the June 24 primary. She ranked five candidates, but left Ramos off her slate.
Ramos has been ramping up her criticism of Mamdani, the far-left 33-year-old state Assemblyman from Queens, who has shocked Big Apple political circles with his momentum in the polls, nipping at Cuomo’s heels.
During Wednesday night’s Democratic mayoral primary debate, Ramos, 39, took a few underhanded swipes at the card-carrying DSA lawmaker, including when asked about her biggest political regret.
“I regret not running for mayor in 2021. I had been in the Senate for two years. I’d already passed over a dozen bills. I thought I needed more experience,” she said.
“But turns out you just need to make good videos,” Ramos concluded, in a jab at Mamdani — who has made waves with his social media presence.
The lefty Working Families Party, which put Mamdani first and only ranked Ramos fifth on its slate of candidates, called her move to back him “disappointing.”
“We are reminding voters, don’t rank Cuomo and instead rank the slate, led by Zohran Mamdani, who is ready to usher in a new era of leadership … for all New Yorkers,” a spokesperson said.
Mamdani has run a radical platform, promising a number of government handouts — free buses, no-cost childcare, a rent freeze and city-run grocery stores — which he says will be paid for by boosting taxes on corporations and the city’s wealthiest.
Critics have pointed out that Mamdani’s pie in the sky plan would only be possible with Albany’s sign off — and that even if we were able to get his tax hikes, they could spark a mass exodus of businesses from New York City.
Still, Mamdani’s once long-shot bid has continued to surge to unexpected heights, including with his grassroots fundraising efforts.
Ramos’ campaign, meanwhile, never really got off the ground — even though she polled well earlier this year, despite little name recognition.
She raised only $300,000, with just $9,000 on hand as of mid-May, and failed to reach the low threshold to unlock public matching funds.
The ho-hum figures will keep Ramos, who held a fundraiser as recently as Thursday night, off the stage at the final Democratic mayoral primary debate next week.
A source with knowledge of the campaign’s finances also told The Post a contractor was billing it $250,000 for petitions, but it was disputing the charge.
Ramos, who is up for re-election next year, now joins the ranks of the many lawmakers who called for Cuomo to resign in 2021 after the sexual harassment allegations against him emerged, but have since backed him for mayor.
“People may want to be courteous to Cuomo’s face but they don’t forget the people he sent to die, the women he touched or the people he left in our streets needing mental health care and housing,” she wrote on social media as recently as late March.
In April, she told The Post’s editorial board that people in political circles had been raising questions behind closed doors about Cuomo’s mental acuity.
“I don’t think the City of New York can afford a Joe Biden moment,” said Ramos, referencing the former president’s noticeable decline as he insisted on continuing to run for a second term in 2024.
“His mental acuity is in decline,” Ramos repeated when pressed to clarify her allegation against the 67-year-old Cuomo.
In response, the Cuomo campaign insinuated Ramos was a drunkard.
“You can quote me rolling my eyes – this is a desperate attack from a desperate extreme left socialist who is in debt and polling at 3 percent,” Rich Azzopardi said.
“Was she sober when she said it?”
— Additional reporting by Matthew Fischetti.
