Andrew Cuomo’s campaign is entirely based on MAGA influencers

With only 13 Just days before New York City’s mayoral election, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is teaming up with some of the same influencers who helped President Donald Trump win the White House last year.

Over the past week, right-wing content creators like Logan Paul, the former vlogger turned podcaster and WWE wrestler, and Emily Austin, the influencer and sports commentator, have posted content featuring Cuomo as a guest on their shows. These appearances marked a new investment by Cuomo’s team in generating online attention as a way to compete against the social media-savvy Democratic candidate Zahran Mamdani. But instead of trying to sever Mamdani’s support online, Cuomo appears to be trying to siphon support from GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“It’s a desperate swing,” says one Democratic strategist who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly without involving the firm they work for. “The clear desire to join power at all costs, wherever that power may be, is one of the reasons he was so rejected online. It’s a misunderstanding of the moment.”

The Cuomo campaign’s decision to attach itself to the online right comes after new polls show that if GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa withdraws, the race between Cuomo and Mamdani will be tighter. Cuomo, a registered Democrat, is running on the independent track after failing to beat Mamdani in the Democratic primary.

Cuomo’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“I’m sure his advisors give him advice like, ‘You need to get customers online,’ and they want to get it at any cost,” the strategist tells WIRED. “It’s the same kind of advisory mind that they think they need to expand on and get attention without realizing that the attention Zahran gets isn’t paid for. It comes from creatives who believe in him and see his vision as their vision.”

Cuomo’s collaboration with conservative influencers comes days after the former governor’s campaign brought in pro-Israel creator Zach Sage Fox to run his “social media campaign,” according to a recent post from Fox on @fuckjerry and LADBible, two huge social media brands and Instagram accounts that aggregate viral content online.

On the Fat Camp Films website, the company is promoting Fox’s work with Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign, which flooded social media with pro-Bloomberg memes at the time, becoming one of the first political campaigns to officially partner with the parent company of meme pages like Fuckjerry.