New Yorkers will soon be enduring a crush of slanderous commercials aimed at former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — as the Big Apple’s mayoral race takes on TV.
Anti-Cuomo ads are hitting the airwaves — with hopeful candidate Brad Lander taking out a whopping $750,000 ad buy to attack the mayoral race’s frontrunner.
“Andrew Cuomo spent $60 million of your money to defend himself in court — that’s corrupt, but Brad Lander fights corruption,” the ad, which depicts Lander in a car junkyard “crushing” corruption, declares.
The city comptroller isn’t the only one using ad dollars to call out the ex-gov. Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, who is consistently polling second, has also taken to major programming to slam Cuomo — though with a smaller initial spend of $100,000.
First premiering his ads during a Knicks playoff game, and later during an episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the Queens Assembly member’s ad harped on a similar message.
“Corrupt politicians like Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo have sold us out to billionaires and corporations rigging the economy against us,” Mamdani says to the camera while walking down an city block.
But Cuomo is well-positioned to fight back — his PAC group, Fix the City Inc., has already released an ad on his behalf, and has put over $5.6 million into ad spending for the former governor.
Mamdani has maxed out on funding for his campaign as the first candidate to hit $8 million, which can be used toward future expenses like ads.
Lander, who has raised close to $6 million in total funding, will be the third candidate in the Democratic primary to launch a campaign against Cuomo — following Mamdani and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
“This ad will introduce Brad Lander to voters as the honest, effective fighter New York City needs to stand up to Trump and turn the page on Eric Adams’ chaos, in stark contrast to Andrew Cuomo — a corrupt politician who continues to spend more than $60 million of New Yorkers’ taxpayer money to try to make his personal scandals go away,” said Lander’s press secretary Dora Pekec.
Lander’s first commercial, which is the largest spend on an ad spot in the mayor’s race so far, will premiere Wednesday morning across multiple local broadcast channels, including MSNBC, NY1, and more.
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