Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, is focusing his mayoral campaign on taking down Andrew M. Cuomo, the former governor leading in the polls, rather than the current mayor, Eric Adams. Lander has been criticizing Cuomo's leadership and alleged corruption, hoping to gain support from voters who want a stark alternative. However, Lander is currently polling at 6 percent among registered Democratic voters, behind liberal upstart Zohran Mamdani. Lander believes he can build a coalition of progressive and managerial voters to win the primary.