Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has backed former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to run as an independent in the New York City mayoral race, renewing his attack against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Asked about Cuomo’s decision to stay in the contest after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, Trump said on Tuesday that the former governor can still win in the general election in November.

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“I think he should stay. I think he has a shot,” Trump told reporters.

The former governor, 67, announced on Monday his intention to run as an independent after handily losing the Democratic contest to Mamdani last month.

But Cuomo has a mountain to climb in the overwhelmingly Democratic city, especially given that he will be competing for the anti-Mamdani vote with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

In an early sign of the challenges he is facing, Cuomo’s announcement on X received a flood of negative responses, with many citing his sexual harassment scandals.

Cuomo resigned as New York governor in 2021 after facing mounting sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.

On Tuesday, Trump, a native New Yorker who moved to Florida after his first term as president in 2021, stopped short of fully endorsing Cuomo.

Asked whether he prefers Cuomo to win, Trump said: “I don’t want to say. I’m a Republican; he’s a democrat or an independent.”

“I think Andrew would have a good shot of winning. He’s got to run a tough campaign. You know, he’s running against a communist,” he added, referring to Mamdani.

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The US president has been increasingly critical of Mamdani, 33, a left-wing state legislator who has made affordability the key component of his campaign.

Accusing Democrats of being communists or communist sympathisers is a frequent, misleading attack line by some Republicans. Analysts have told Al Jazeera that Mamdani’s platform does not contain the key tenets of communism, such as government takeover of industry and private property.

Last week, Trump suggested that he could use the “tremendous power” of the White House to take over New York City if Mamdani wins.

“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” Trump wrote in a social media post earlier this month.

“Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”

Many of the president’s close allies, including several members of Congress, have deployed overtly Islamophobic language to attack Mamadani, who is of South Asian descent.

Last month, the White House said that baseless allegations that Mamdani has supported “terrorism” in the past “should be investigated”, with the intent of revoking his US citizenship.

Some close Trump allies, including billionaire Bill Ackman, backed Cuomo during the primaries.

The race to lead the largest US city has been capturing national and international headlines, in part due to the attacks on Mamdani over his support for Palestinian rights.

On Tuesday, Mamdani’s campaign sarcastically congratulated Cuomo on winning Trump’s backing.

“Obviously, this triumph speaks for itself. The question now is whether Cuomo will embrace Trump’s support publicly or continue to just accept it in private,” the campaign said in a statement.