New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Andrew Cuomo, who is running against NYC socialist party candidate Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral elections, made a dramatic statement to an audience of business leaders at the Hamptons on Saturday, The New York Post reported.

The former governor told the group he would be relocating to Florida and received laughs in response to his statement, “It’s all or nothing. We either win or even I will move to Florida. God forbid!”

“It was a wow line. It got everyone’s attention,” said one person who had been at the Hamptons breakfast, which was hosted by supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.

His spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, later said Cuomo was joking about moving to Florida and that the crowd knew it was not a serious comment.

“Governor Cuomo would never give up on New York,” said Azzopardi. “That said, the line underscored the stakes in the upcoming election and the risk of electing a dangerously inexperienced, hate-spewing 33-year-old socialist whose campaign consists of unrealistic bumper sticker slogans.”

Cuomo lost the Democratic primary last month to Mamdani and is now running as an independent candidate in the general election in November.

Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to the comment.