AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

Ahead of the highly watched November 4th New York mayoral race, in which the Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani campaign will face off with disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani addressed a massive rally Monday night.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: There is something special in this room tonight. It’s power. It’s the power of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers united, ready to usher in a new day. It is the power of a movement that won the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party, that put Andrew Cuomo’s vision of austerity and smallness firmly where it belongs: on a ballot line no one’s ever heard of.

AMY GOODMAN: Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist assemblymember, shocked the political establishment throughout the United States when he defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary in June. Cuomo is now running as an independent.

Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a damning report finding he sexually harassed at least 11 women. During an interview on The View last week, Sara Haines asked Cuomo about his sexual harassment scandal.

SARA HAINES: What do you say to voters who have a hard time looking past this?

ANDREW CUOMO: Yeah, and it’s a good question. When the report was issued, I said I believed it was politically motivated. And it was. I didn’t even know the allegations at that time. … Nothing came from those allegations. It was a very painful period for me and for my family. … I did say, if I offended anyone in any way, I didn’t mean it. And I learned a lesson, a painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Lindsey Boylan. She served as a senior aide to Governor Cuomo from 2015 to 2018. In 2021, she became the first of 11 women to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, setting in motion events that would lead to his fall from power. After Cuomo announced he’s running for mayor, after having resigned as governor, Vanity Fair ran a piece by Boylan headlined “Andrew Cuomo for Mayor? His 'First Accuser' Says New York City Deserves Better.” And after Cuomo lost the primary, Lindsey Boylan published an “article”: in The Indypendent headlined “We Will Beat These Monsters.”

Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you respond to what Governor Cuomo said on The View?

LINDSEY BOYLAN: I mean, it’s a complete lie. Two investigations — three investigations found he did these things. Three women decided to pursue him in civil court. Two have settled with the state for an upwards of almost a million dollars. A third will go to trial. And this man resigned. He resigned because he did these things. There was no way to continue. And people powerful within his own party forced that resignation, because they knew he did these things. So he’s lying again.

AMY GOODMAN: So, I’m asking you to remind us what you did when you came forward, the first of 11 women to come forward, because there’s so little that is repeated about this during this race.

LINDSEY BOYLAN: Thank you. And we have to repeat it, because people have to know what abuser he is. I first tweeted about it because a young woman had reached out to me, explaining she was sexually harassed, Charlotte Bennett, and then his name was being floated for a potential attorney general, highest lawmaker in the land. And so I started tweeting, saying he sexually harassed me.

I was quickly smeared by him and his aides. And then I got my ducks in a row and put together all the evidence, all the details I had, for a Medium piece that would ultimately spur other women to come forward and tell their stories and initiate an investigation. So, you know, we haven’t backed down for one moment, even as he’s continued his abuse in the courtroom with taxpayer dollars.

AMY GOODMAN: And the significance of now-New York City Mayor Eric Adams pulling out of the mayoral race? Already, Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, said he was being offered a fortune to pull out, but he’s refused to. Who are the supporters of Cuomo? And again, you are publicly supporting now Zohran Mamdani.

LINDSEY BOYLAN: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Which is very interesting, because you were the economic adviser to Cuomo.

LINDSEY BOYLAN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And if you can talk about the political establishment, that you were very much a part of until you accused him of sexual harassment?

LINDSEY BOYLAN: Yeah. I mean, I’ve always focused on jobs for New Yorkers. And that was kind of my job working for the state, is: How do we bring more economic development, business and jobs to New York? And I have to say, I was at the Crain’s business breakfast, and Zohran did a tremendous job explaining that affordability is a key issue for attracting business talent to the city. How can you ask employees to live here if they can’t afford to do it? So, he answered those questions well. And my values have always been about helping New Yorkers. And that’s what he’s doing.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to Zohran Mamdani in an exchange from the last New York City mayoral primary debate, before Mamdani won it. This is between Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.

ANDREW CUOMO: To put a person in this seat at that — at this time, with no experience, is reckless and dangerous. To Mr. Lander and his experience, remember, this was the fiscal watchdog under the Eric Adams administration, which was like the bookkeeper at Tammany Hall.

ERROL LOUIS: Do you want to — Mr. Mamdani?

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records. And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuomo. And furthermore, the name is Mamdani, M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it, because we got to get it right.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo when they were in the mayoral primary. Mamdani won, trounced Cuomo.

LINDSEY BOYLAN: Trounced him.

AMY GOODMAN: And now they’re running in the general race, that will take place on November 4th, early voting already starting soon. So, if you can talk about, from sexual harassment, the charges of 11 women, including you, to what’s happening now at the national level? You have House Speaker Johnson refusing to seat Adelita Grijalva, Arizona congressmember-elect, because she would be the 218th to sign onto a discharge petition to release the Epstein files. What’s the relationship you see between the two?

LINDSEY BOYLAN: People who abuse women abuse every kind of power they have. And in all of this is trying to lie about the truth. Mike Johnson is trying to pretend as if he’s doing anything but cover for Donald Trump. Supposedly, in his campaign, Donald Trump was going to release the files. Lo and behold, he’s learned more, and he will do anything to avoid accountability and truth telling.

And I think that’s the very same thing with Andrew Cuomo. And you asked earlier: Who are his supporters? They’re the very same supporters as Donald Trump’s supporters. They have the same donor base. They have the same people in their ears, same pollsters going to the White House saying, “You should support Andrew Cuomo.” It’s been well documented. And that’s because these people value their power above all else.

AMY GOODMAN: Lindsey Boylan, former senior aide to the disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was forced to resign over charges of sexual harassment, now running for mayor of New York City. Boylan was the first of the 11 women to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment.

That does it for our show. Juan González will be speaking at Delaware Technical Community College in Georgetown, Delaware, tonight at 6:00, and tomorrow at 6:00 at the Delaware History Museum in Wilmington. I’ll be speaking in Santa Fe after the showing of the film Steal This Story, Please! at the Lensic Theater on Friday night, October 17th. I’m Amy Goodman. This is Democracy Now!