He received a lengthy and warm introduction from one of the mosque’s leaders and rose from his chair. Then, as congregants watched with some bemusement, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stared intensely at a small notecard and mangled a traditional Arabic greeting. “Assalam Alaikum,” he finally said, haltingly and after several attempts.
The slip-up might not come as a surprise. Though Mr. Cuomo has held frequent events at churches, synagogues and Sikh temples, Friday’s visit to the Futa Islamic Center in the Bronx was his first campaign event held at a mosque since he declared his run for mayor in March. Mr. Cuomo, who served as governor of New York for 10 years, faced widespread criticism after he struggled during a primary debate to remember the last time he had visited a mosque at all.
In his remarks on Friday, Mr. Cuomo spoke of New York as a beacon for newcomers seeking economic opportunity, a message that seemed to resonate with many congregants of the mosque, many of whom emigrated from West Africa.
Mr. Cuomo told the congregants that his grandfather’s journey from Italy nearly 100 years ago was no different than theirs, and said that, if elected, he would ensure they found the success that had brought them to New York in the first place.
And in a tacit response to the front-runner in the mayor’s race, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who captured the Democratic nomination by focusing on affordability, Mr. Cuomo said he would make buses and subways free for families making less than $50,000 and work to reduce the cost of housing.
“People talk about affordability," he said. “Affordability is a new fancy word, because they have to come up with a new fancy word for an old problem. The old problem is the middle class, the working families, the poor, are under tremendous economic pressure.”
His appearance on Friday before dozens of congregants was emblematic of the more visible approach to campaigning Mr. Cuomo has taken since losing the Democratic primary to Mr. Mamdani, himself a Muslim who has stopped by this congregation multiple times.
Recent polls show Mr. Cuomo, who is now campaigning as an independent, running far behind Mr. Mamdani, as are Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, and Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent. Mr. Adams campaigned on Friday at a nearby mosque that predominantly serves West African immigrants as well.
Mamadou Diallo, a leader at the Futa Islamic Center who spoke after Mr. Cuomo, said that it was no surprise candidates were flocking to mosques, and that Muslim New Yorkers wanted their voices to be heard. He expressed hope that if Mr. Cuomo were to be elected, he would return and address their concerns about housing costs and crime.
Mr. Diallo, 39, said he was unsure who he would support, but he added that many congregants had fond memories of Mr. Cuomo’s governorship.
Boubacar Sowlamougom, 60, a security guard who is originally from Guinea, said he appreciated Mr. Cuomo’s efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour during his governorship.
“He did a good job,” he said.
Others in attendance, like Osmane Diallo, 23, were less impressed with Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Diallo said he supported Mr. Mamdani in the primary and found Mr. Cuomo’s visit — coming only now, when the general election was nearing — cynical.
“His time has passed,” he said, while acknowledging that Mr. Cuomo had done good work as governor on gun violence prevention. “We need new politicians with fresh ideas.”
In June, weeks before the Democratic primary, Mr. Cuomo touted the endorsements of “over 100 faith leaders,” a list that included two imams from Brooklyn. In interviews on Friday, both of them told The New York Times that they had never endorsed the former governor’s campaign and had been incorrectly included on the list.
“We were expecting his team to reach out to us and have a meeting. The team did not respond at all,” said one of the imams, Muhammad Siddiqui of Al Madina Mosque Islamic Center of Brooklyn.
“That’s what our experience was, and then they put our name on a list. Rather than frustration, it was carelessness. Right now we are not in position to endorse anyone until we have a serious conversation with them.”
The other imam, Ahmed Ali of the Igra Masjid mosque, said his congregation had a similar experience in the spring. It was a “miscommunication,” Imam Ali said, adding that the former governor “should have come and spoken with us.”
Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, said including the imams had been a mistake. The Times reviewed internal Cuomo campaign correspondence that appeared to indicate that there had been a mix-up between two members of the campaign staff, one of whom had told another that the endorsements were confirmed.
Mr. Cuomo’s appearance Friday came in the aftermath of a paroxysm of political violence and the day after the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Cuomo alluded to the division in the country presently but on Friday eschewed attacking his opponent by name.
In recent weeks he has increased the intensity of his criticisms of Mr. Mamdani, whom he has regularly called an antisemite, as well as a terrorist sympathizer.
Mr. Mamdani has been a frequent critic of the Israeli government and its invasion of Gaza but has forcefully pushed back on the notion he is antisemitic and has earned the support of many of the city’s Jewish residents.
Mr. Mamdani has also spoken bracingly about the experience of growing up as a Muslim in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11.
On Friday, reflecting on the precarious moment for many immigrants under President Trump, a local lawyer spoke before Mr. Cuomo and explained recent policy changes relating to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can detain people. When he finished, about a dozen congregants asked for his card, and still more circulated one of the cards so others could take photos of it.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, Mr. Cuomo was a loud critic of the administration’s travel ban on residents of predominantly Muslim countries, which was eventually overturned. Earlier in his tenure Mr. Cuomo defended the construction of a mosque that was being planned near the former site of the World Trade Center.
“As a New Yorker, I am a Muslim. As a New Yorker, I am Jewish,” Mr. Cuomo said in January 2017.
“As a New Yorker, we are one community,” he added. “And the New York community is composed of all of the above.”
But during the primary, Mr. Cuomo’s opponents, especially Mr. Mamdani, said his failure to visit any mosques or Islamic cultural centers while campaigning was evidence of how he was out of touch with the diversity of the city, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Mr. Cuomo faced similar criticism for not visiting mosques as governor. During his 2018 run for re-election, his primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, criticized his lack of outreach to Muslim New Yorkers. Later that year, Mr. Cuomo visited the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to his public schedule at the time.
Imam Ali, who was mistakenly included on the Cuomo campaign’s list, said he was unsure who he would support in the general election and hoped that he and his congregants would hear from all the candidates.
He said he had appreciated Mr. Mamdani’s criticisms of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and his response during a primary debate to a question about where he would travel first if elected mayor: Mr. Mamdani said he would stay in New York City; Mr. Cuomo, answering the same question, said he would travel to Israel.
Whomever he supports, Imam Ali, who is originally from Pakistan and has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, said Mr. Mamdani’s ascendance was a milestone for all Muslims.
“People will say that the Muslim vote matters,” he said. “We will have a voice in the city.”