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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo leads the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, according to a Marist College poll, despite financial and reputational challenges.
👥 Who’s Involved: Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Eric Adams, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
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📍 Where & When: New York City; poll and campaign developments reported in 2025.
💬 Key Quote: “I’m in the race to the end. I’m not running on the Democratic line,” said Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor running as an independent.
⚠️ Impact: Cuomo’s campaign struggles with funding issues could make it difficult to maintain his strong polling lead.
IN FULL:
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has emerged as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, according to a Marist College poll obtained by POLITICO. Cuomo holds a commanding 44 percent lead in the first round of ranked-choice voting, with his closest rival, Zohran Mamdani, trailing at 22 percent. The survey indicates Cuomo’s double-digit advantage persists across all six voting rounds, with a 20-24 percent margin over Mamdani.
Despite his polling strength, Cuomo’s campaign has encountered significant financial hurdles. The New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) denied him nearly $3 million in matching funds, citing errors in at least 20 percent of his required financial disclosures. The board further stated that Cuomo’s campaign failed to meet its two-part contribution threshold, which requires donations from at least 1,000 individuals and a total of $250,000 in contributions. Cuomo’s team attributed the denial to a “technical software error.”
Earlier this week, Cuomo’s campaign faced another setback when the NYCCFB withheld $622,000 in matching funds over allegations of coordination with a super PAC.
The crowded primary field features only two other candidates polling in double digits: City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander. According to the Marist poll, Adams was eliminated in the fourth round of voting and Lander in the fifth. Other candidates failed to gain traction, with most eliminated by the third round.
Cuomo’s opponents have criticized him for controversies surrounding his resignation in 2021 and his handling of COVID-19, including allegations related to nursing home deaths. Current Mayor Eric Adams, running for re-election as an independent, has called for Cuomo to address these issues but says they “should not be an automatic disqualification.”
Mayor Adams, who won the 2021 election in the eighth round of ranked-choice voting, confirmed in April that he would not seek the Democratic nomination, stating, “It’s just not realistic to turn around my numbers and to run a good campaign (from) where we are right now.”
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized white Afrikaner refugees for leaving the country, labeling their departure as “cowardly.”
👥 Who’s Involved: President Cyril Ramaphosa, Afrikaner refugees, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel.
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📍 Where & When: South Africa; comments made at an agricultural convention following the arrival of 49 Afrikaner refugees in Washington, D.C., on May 13.
💬 Key Quote: “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act, and I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.” — President Cyril Ramaphosa.
⚠️ Impact: The remarks highlight tensions over South Africa’s racist land redistribution policies and the U.S. granting refugee status to Afrikaners.
IN FULL:
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced white Afrikaner refugees who recently emigrated to the United States, describing their departure as an act of cowardice. His comments came after the first group of 49 Afrikaners, granted refugee status by the U.S., landed in Washington, D.C. Reports suggest up to 70,000 additional Afrikaners have applied for refugee status under the policy.
Speaking at a surprise appearance at an agricultural convention on Tuesday, Ramaphosa addressed the issue, stating that those leaving South Africa were unwilling to accept the government’s “transformation” policies. New “expropriation without compensation” laws aim to forcibly redistribute land and wealth along racial lines.
“They may be feeling excited they’ve left the country, they’ve got somebody like President Trump, but in the end, it’s a group of South Africans demonstrating that the changes and transformation that we are embarking upon here, they are not favourably disposed to it, and that’s why they are running away.”
He continued, “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act. I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.”
Afriforum, a group representing Afrikaners, pushed back against Ramaphosa’s statements. CEO Kallie Kriel issued a strong response on social media, accusing the South African government of fostering an unsafe environment for Afrikaners. The group often highlights threats and violence, including deadly violence, targeting white farmers in the country, even before the government’s moves to seize their land.
President Donald J. Trump has accused the South African government of presiding over a “genocide” against Afrikaners. Tensions between the governments of the two countries have been high in recent months over the mistreatment of white Afrikaner people, who have been in southern Africa since the 1600s—which is as long as some of its black African ethnic groups, with roots in tribes that migrated to the territory from further north, at least in some areas.
South Africa is a country where the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party, led by extremist Julius Malema regularly sing a song calling for the killing of Afrikaner farmers. Malema himself has not ruled out murdering white South Africans if his extremist party—already the fourth-largest in the South African legislature, out of 18 with representation there—ever comes to power.
“We’ve not called for the killing of white people, at least for now. I can’t guarantee the future,” he said in an interview in 2018.
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