New York City mayor Eric Adams said there is only one thing left for former New York governor Andrew Cuomo to do after losing the Democratic primary for mayor: “Get out of the race.”

“That’s the right thing to do for the city of New York,” Adams said in an exclusive interview with Coleman Hughes, host of The Free Press’s Conversations with Coleman podcast. Again and again, Adams made it clear that he still sees Cuomo as his chief rival in the general election campaign, despite the emergence of Zohran Mamdani as the front-runner.

And that makes sense, given that Adams and Cuomo are running in the same lane right now: as independents. If they both remain in the race, they will likely split the votes of moderates, especially with Republican Curtis Sliwa still running. If that happens, it will be hard for anyone to stop Mamdani, 33, from becoming New York City’s first socialist mayor.

Adams also has been sharpening his attacks on Mamdani, calling him “a snake oil salesman” the day after Mamdani’s triumph in the Democratic primary.

In the interview Monday at Gracie Mansion, Adams detailed why he believes he is in the best position to reverse what Mamdani supporters call “Zomentum,” or his rapid rise from obscurity amid a crowded Democratic primary field.