'Will be hard for me to give money': Trump threatens to cut federal funding to New York if Mamdani wins

US President Donald Trump has said that he would restrict federal funding to New York if Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani wins Tuesday’s election and becomes the mayor of America’s biggest city.

“It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said.

This is not the first time Trump has threatened to cut federal grants to states run by Democrats. Opinion polls show that Mamdani is ahead of his main contender, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York.

New York received a federal funding worth $7.4 billion this fiscal year. However, the president did not reveal how and when the funding would be cut if Mamdani wins.

‘You must vote for Cuomo’

Trump endorsed Mamdani’s contender, Cuomo. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” adding that the former governor is “capable” of the job while Mamdani “is not”.

Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo, whom he praised for his “record of success”, could hurt the former governor with Democrats as much as it helps him with Republicans in deep-blue New York City. Mamdani, who stunned Cuomo in June’s Democratic primary, has repeatedly linked the former governor to Trump and argued that he would challenge powerful interests in both New York and Washington.

Although Trump accuses Mamdani of being a left-winger, Mamdani himself has rejected the assertion, despite being a self-proclaimed democratic socialist. “The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall,” Mamdani said on Monday.

He added, “It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home.”

The big fight

Cuomo decried socialism as he shook hands in Manhattan and the Bronx, Mamdani walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with supporters at sunrise, and Republican Curtis Sliwa campaigned on Coney Island as New York City’s mayoral candidates sprinted through their last full day of campaigning before Tuesday’s election.

The campaign hurtled toward its end after a final stretch that included the conclusion of early voting, President Donald Trump throwing his support behind Cuomo and Cuomo releasing AI-driven attack ads.

More than 735,000 votes were cast during the city’s nine days of early, in-person voting — more than four times the number of ballots cast during the only other mayor’s race to allow early voting, in 2021.

With inputs from agencies