Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a “more than 50% chance” of reclaiming political office by defeating Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani in the city’s November mayoral race — if the contest narrows to a head-to-head battle, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman said Sunday.

Ackman made the prediction during a visit to Israel, where he and his wife, Neri, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa. Following a lecture, the outspoken investor weighed in on the high-stakes mayoral contest, suggesting the race could be upended within days.

Ackman forecast that Mayor Eric Adams — currently polling fourth in a crowded four-way race — would withdraw from contention in the coming week. He also suggested that Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa was likely to follow.

“The latest polls show Cuomo has a path to victory, but only if it’s him versus Mamdani,” Ackman said.

Mamdani, a progressive state assemblyman and Democratic nominee, has come under fire for refusing to condemn the chant “globalize the intifada” and for pledging that, if elected, he would order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit New York City.

“He’s never run anything,” Ackman said of Mamdani. “He was a rapper, but not a successful one. He’s benefited from a weak field of candidates and from being a strong speaker.”

Ackman, 59, one of the most influential figures in U.S. capital markets, has been an outspoken supporter of Israel during its war against Hamas in Gaza and a vocal critic of antisemitism on American college campuses, including at his alma mater, Harvard.

Ackman’s comments came two days after former President Donald Trump suggested Mamdani was on track to win the race.

“I call him my little communist, he’s my little communist mayor,” Trump said on Fox & Friends. “You look at the other candidates — maybe one-on-one somebody could beat him, and I’m not looking at the polls too carefully — but it would look like he’s going to win. And that’s a rebellion.”

Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid scandal, has been seeking a political comeback and could benefit from a fractured field consolidating. Whether Adams and Sliwa step aside — and whether Cuomo can consolidate the anti-Mamdani vote — may determine the direction of the race in the final weeks before November.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)