NYC mayoral candidate Jim Walden drops out and implores rivals to consolidate against Zohran Mamdani

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NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Walden, an independent candidate in New York City’s mayoral race, announced Tuesday that he was suspending his campaign, while urging his fellow candidates to unite against the Democratic primary winner, Zohran Mamdani.

“For those still trailing in the polls by month’s end, I implore each to consider how history will judge them if they allow vanity or stubborn ambition to usher in Mr. Mamdani,” Walden wrote in a statement announcing his exit.

He warned that Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, would represent a “Trojan Horse taking over City Hall," adding that time was “slipping away" for an alternative option to gain momentum in the crowded field.

Walden, an attorney who has represented Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, had positioned himself as a free-market technocrat in the mold of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But he struggled to register among voters already contending with several familiar names: current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

Walden last month issued a “drop out challenge” to those three candidates, arguing that they would maximize their odds of beating Mamdani if they collectively agreed to consolidate behind whoever was leading in the polls come fall.

None of the candidates agreed to the proposal, though both Adams and Cuomo have called on the other to drop out.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Cuomo, Richard Azzopardi, praised Walden for “putting aside ego and ambition," adding that the decision “underscores the existential threat our city faces in Zohran Mamdani.”

A spokesperson for Adams’ campaign, Todd Shapiro, said the mayor had no plans of dropping out and was “focused on the future — delivering results and leading this city forward.”

Mamdani's spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said in a statement: “While support of Zohran’s vision for an affordable New York continues to grow across all five boroughs, the billionaire class is narrowing their selection process — and Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams are pulling out all the stops to charm them alongside Donald Trump.”