Politico reports:

Andrew Cuomo’s counting on President Donald Trump and top Republicans to tell the party faithful to vote for Cuomo for mayor if they want to stop Zohran Mamdani, and not to vote for GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“We can minimize (the Sliwa) vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate,” Cuomo told the crowd at a Hamptons fundraiser Saturday, according to audio obtained by Playbook. “And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that.”

Publicly, Cuomo has shunned the idea of getting any help from Trump. Cuomo said he’d decline an endorsement, and denied a New York Times report that he’d spoken with the president about the race.

But Cuomo seemed hopeful for the president’s help behind closed doors, speaking to the more Trump-friendly crowd gathered at media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein’s home in Southampton. Another co-host, former New York City Council President Andrew Stein, briefed Trump last month on how Cuomo would be competitive in the general election, according to the Times.

An attendee asked Cuomo directly if he or his team was in conversation with the White House about how Trump might influence the race. Cuomo didn’t directly deny it this time.

“Let’s put it this way: I knew the president very well,” Cuomo said. “I believe there’s a big piece of him that actually wants redemption in New York. He feels that he was rejected by New York. We voted for Hillary Clinton. Bill de Blasio took his name off things. So I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he’s not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it.” [Continue reading…]