Former President Bill Clinton will offer a last-minute boost of support for former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo by endorsing him in the New York City mayor’s race on Sunday, the last day of early voting.
Mr. Cuomo worked in the Clinton administration as the housing secretary, and the former president’s backing, as well as a taped robocall providing his support, could help turn out older voters in the tightening Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday.
Mr. Clinton will use the robocall to tell voters that he hired Mr. Cuomo “because he knows how to get things done” and that they had worked together on homelessness and on improving “communities that had been left behind.”
“He’s a fighter who knows how to make government work, and at a time when our basic rights are under assault, I know he’ll stand up and protect the people of this city,” Mr. Clinton says in the recording.
Mr. Clinton, 78, who lives in a Westchester County suburb north of New York, has not often weighed in on city primary races. His endorsement is another indication that some establishment Democrats prefer Mr. Cuomo to Zohran Mamdani, a state lawmaker and democratic socialist who is second in the polls.
“I am honored to have the support of President Bill Clinton, a personal mentor, friend and hero,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “His administration was one of the most accomplished in modern political history — and that’s what government is supposed to be all about.”
Mr. Cuomo said that he and Mr. Clinton had worked together and “built housing, battled homelessness and fought for justice for communities too often left out and left behind.”
The former governor was endorsed on Friday by Representative Jim Clyburn, who was once the highest ranking Black member of Congress, and by some newspapers, including The New York Daily News.
Mr. Clinton’s endorsement came as the leading candidates hit the campaign trail this weekend to make their final arguments to voters, and to urge them to turn out — especially with a 100-degree forecast for Primary Day on Tuesday.
The left-leaning Working Families Party will hold a rally on Sunday evening with Letitia James, the state attorney general, to support its slate of four candidates, including Mr. Mamdani, the group’s first choice. The party’s slate also includes Brad Lander, the city comptroller; Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker; and Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn.
A flood of endorsements have arrived during the final weeks of the campaign, reflecting the ideological and generational divide between Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Mamdani and within the Democratic Party nationally. Mr. Mamdani, 33, was endorsed by prominent progressive leaders, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.