Evening Roundup: Mayor Adams Endorses Cuomo as Successor, and Sugar Warnings on Fast Food Menus

Janae Pierre: From snake to successor. Mayor Adams endorses Cuomo. Sugar warnings are popping up on fast food menus across the city. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre. Andrew Cuomo has a new ally in his push to become New York City's next mayor. Its current mayor, Eric Adams. Adams announced Thursday that he's endorsing the former governor's campaign. Cuomo is running as an independent and trailing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in the polls with just days to go before early voting. Adams and Cuomo were rivals just last month. So, how did we get here? WNYC's Jon Campbell is here to explain.

Jon Campbell: Hey, Janae.

Janae Pierre: So, Jon, did you watch the Knicks season opener Wednesday night?

Jon Campbell: Well, I was watching the debate. I got a job to do.

Janae Pierre: Adams and Cuomo were there looking like pals, courtside. Right after the debate. That really grabbed my attention, but I did not think that it would lead to an endorsement the next day. Did we see this coming?

Jon Campbell: Well, we certainly didn't see Cuomo at the Knicks game coming, because the debate ended at 8:30, and Cuomo, I mean, zoomed right over-

Janae Pierre: Right through traffic.

Jon Campbell: -to MSG from-- yes, he was in Long Island City, but that's not what we're here to talk about.

Janae Pierre: Right.

Jon Campbell: I mean, the short answer is, yes, there were certainly some signs that this was coming, ever since the mayor dropped out of the race. I mean, Adams and Cuomo are both centrist Democrats, and they're certainly more aligned than Adams and Mamdani, who is a Democratic socialist. During yesterday's debate, Cuomo was the only one of the three candidates to say, yes, he would actually accept the mayor's endorsement. Now, the question is, is this going to help Cuomo or is it going to hurt him? I mean, remember, Janae, the mayor dropped out of the race because there wasn't a path forward for him. I mean, his poll numbers were very poor.

Now the hope for Cuomo is that Adams can help him reach some of the communities that helped propel Adams to office four years ago, particularly Black and brown communities in the outer boroughs.

Janae Pierre: Yes, but these two aren't really friends, right? I mean, Adams had some choice words for the former governor during the campaign. I remember him calling him a snake.

Jon Campbell: Yes, I'd say there were some choice words. I mean, just listen to that clip of Mayor Adams talking about Andrew Cuomo just last month.

Mayor Eric Adams: Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar. I am in this race, and I'm the only one that can beat Mamdani.

Jon Campbell: Then later in that same press conference, Adams would call Cuomo and Mamdani "spoiled brats." Now, flash forward to today, and Adams and Cuomo are all smiles, they appeared together at this public housing complex in East Harlem.

Mayor Eric Adams: I'm fighting for the family of New York. That's why I'm here today to endorse Andrew Cuomo to be part of this fight.

Jon Campbell: Yes, that's a huge change in tone, obviously, and it happened over the course of just about a month and a half, but really, these two have had a pretty volatile relationship over the last four years. They dined together a couple times when Adams first took office, and Cuomo was still kind of considered politically toxic after he resigned from office. Then Cuomo runs against Adams, and things took a turn for the worst, and now they seem to be friendly again.

Janae Pierre: Yes. What changed?

Jon Campbell: Well, I mean, the big thing is Mayor Adams threw in the towel. Adams blamed Cuomo for trying to push him out of the race, which included some talks between the mayor's allies and President Trump's allies about a potential federal job, but then when Adams dropped his re-election bid, Cuomo started saying nice things about the mayor in hopes of kind of courting him to his side. Adams made the calculation that he wants to try to stop Zohran Mamdani from winning. His remarks with Andrew Cuomo today were very much more of the anti-Mamdani variety than they were pro-Cuomo.

For Cuomo to really have any chance of winning in November, he needs to consolidate the anti-Mamdani vote behind him, which is really no easy task. I mean, Cuomo and Adams have a very similar political base. They're both moderates, and they've both performed well in Black and brown communities in the past. So, in some ways, this is a marriage of political convenience, but again, the question comes back to whether an Adams endorsement helps move the needle at all. I mean, he was pulling in the single digits when he dropped out.

Janae Pierre: Yes. What are the other candidates in the race saying? Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa?

Jon Campbell: Well, Zohran Mamdani has responded. He basically has been making the case that Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams are two peas in a pod. Earlier today, he reiterated that in an unrelated press conference.

Zohran Mamdani: Today will be an illustration for New Yorkers of the fact that Eric Adams' record is Andrew Cuomo's agenda.

Jon Campbell: Now, remember, when Mamdani first launched his campaign a year ago, he did so in a video that was highly critical of both Adams and Cuomo. This isn't really anything new for him. As for Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, he's no fan of Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo. He called Adams a crook during last night's debate. Sliwa, like Mamdani, said he wouldn't accept Adams endorsement. Not that Adams was offering up an endorsement. Earlier today, Sliwa issued another statement that said Cuomo and Adams are "corruption past, corruption present, and corruption waiting to happen again."

Janae Pierre: Wow. That's WNYC's Jon Campbell. Jon, thanks a lot.

Jon Campbell: My pleasure.

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Janae Pierre: Up next, new sugar warnings are popping up on menus at chain restaurants across the five boroughs. More on that after the break.

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Janae Pierre: New sugar warnings are popping up on menus at chain restaurants across the city. If you haven't seen them yet, the sugar warnings look like little black pyramids with white spoons suspended in the middle.

Caroline Lewis: Restaurants with at least 15 locations have to put the warnings next to menu items with more than 50 grams of added sugar.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's health reporter, Caroline Lewis. She says 50 grams of sugar is the daily recommended amount under federal dietary guidelines. New York is the first city in the country to require menus to have the special icons next to extra sweet foods and beverages. The City Council passed the Sweet Truth Act two years ago. It's been billed by supporters as a way to empower consumers with more information and address health complications that come from eating too much sugar.

Caroline went to a couple of fast food restaurants in Lower Manhattan this week. She says out of the six people she talked with, most of them didn't even notice the icon. Like Abelie Reyes, who says she eats at McDonald's multiple times a week.

Caroline Lewis: What'd you get today?

Abelie Reyes: Today I had a Big Mac meal. That's a large fry and a soda.

Caroline Lewis: What kind of soda?

Abelie Reyes: Dr. Pepper.

Caroline Lewis: Did you see any little, like, a black triangle with a white little spoon on it?

Abelie Reyes: I didn't realize it.

Janae Pierre: Caroline also met Tanner Crewson at a nearby Shake Shack.

Tanner Crewson: If there was a warning that was really got my attention, it might give me some pause, because I do think that people might be surprised by the amount of sugar or salt or whatever.

Janae Pierre: Caroline says health researchers she talked with actually echoed this idea. They said there's evidence suggesting that a warning label might be more effective.

Caroline Lewis: If it's a different color, like red, a little bigger, and comes with text attached that says something like, "Sugar warning." So people know what it means. Advocates who support the warning also say there's still plenty of opportunity to educate the public about these new symbols.

Janae Pierre: Public health researchers say these types of nutrition labels can help change customer behavior if done correctly. Caroline says, one study found a 6% reduction in the average amount of calories per purchase at Starbucks after New York started putting labels up in 2008.

Caroline Lewis: Another study found that after New York City put sodium warnings in place a decade ago, people eating at full service, sort of sit down chain restaurants did consume less sodium per order, but there wasn't the same impact in fast food settings. In Philadelphia, a similar warning led restaurants to actually remove some of their saltiest menu items, but that same effect, again, wasn't observed in New York. We'll see what happens here.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Caroline Lewis. Thanks for listening to NYC Now, from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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