Rev. Al Sharpton is turning up the pressure on Andrew Cuomo, publicly urging the disgraced former governor to abandon his struggling campaign for New York City mayor in the wake of a bruising primary defeat.

“I think, in the best interest of the legacy of Andrew Cuomo, that he ought to let them have the one-on-one race,” Sharpton told MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday, calling on Cuomo to step aside and clear the path for a head-to-head fight over the city’s future. “He can endorse one or the other, and let them have a battle over what is best for New York.”

Sharpton, a longtime power broker in Democratic politics, revealed he had already reached out to Cuomo’s inner circle, trying to convince him to bow out.

Cuomo’s camp pushed back, with senior adviser Rich Azzopardi insisting the campaign would “continue to assess the current situation in the best interest of the people of the City of New York.” Azzopardi took a swipe at both ends of the political spectrum, warning that “most New Yorkers are not Trumpers, and most New Yorkers are not socialists — the majority lies in the middle.”

Sharpton’s call came just a day after final primary results showed socialist Zohran Mamdani trouncing Cuomo by 12 points in three rounds of ranked-choice voting — a crushing blow for the onetime Democratic powerhouse.

In a sign of shifting alliances, Sharpton had recently hosted Mamdani at his National Action Network headquarters, giving the progressive firebrand a chance to connect with Black voters and praising elements of his agenda, including a proposed rent freeze. Though Sharpton stopped short of a formal endorsement, the appearance sent a clear signal of where the civil rights leader’s sympathies lie.

Cuomo, despite wavering repeatedly on whether to stay in the race, remains on the November ballot on an independent line, joining Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and two other minor candidates, including Eric Adams and Jim Walden.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)