If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, hug \u2018em. Mayor Bill de Blasio wouldn\u2019t endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo before the Democratic primary last\u2026<\/b>
\nIf you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, hug \u2018em.
Mayor Bill de Blasio wouldn\u2019t endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo before the Democratic primary last week, but five days later he was hugging him.
It was a fence-mending mission for the mayor, who largely remained on the sidelines for the election \u2014 even as he talked up Cuomo\u2019s pesky foe and his old pal Cynthia Nixon.
\u201cThank you governor, lieutenant governor,\u201d de Blasio said at a Democratic unity rally Tuesday in the Sheraton Times Square, including Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul in his salute.
Cuomo\u2019s entire slate \u2014 Hochul and attorney general candidate Letitia James \u2014 emerged with victories in the Sept. 13 primary .
So de Blasio had a lot of ground to make up with fellow Democrats who\u2019ll be running the state for the next four years.
That was especially true for James, the public advocate who had served with de Blasio in the City Council.
Not only didn\u2019t the mayor support her, but Chirlane McCray \u2014 the mayor\u2019s wife \u2014 actually endorsed rival Zephyr Teachout .
James won handily, and sources close to her said she was personally stung by McCray\u2019s action.
De Blasio effusively praised James at the rally, gave her a hug and recalled how she took on former Mayor Mike Bloomberg by fiercely opposing a change to the term limits law in 2013.
\u201cShe stood up to a billionaire,\u201d de Blasio recalled. \u201cShe\u2019ll stand up to Wall Street. I\u2019m proud to endorse her (in November\u2019s general election).\u201d
Having clobbered Nixon by a 2-to-1 margin, Cuomo could afford to be magnanimous\u2013 at least for the day.
During his remarks, he described de Blasio as \u201cthe great mayor of the city of New York.\u201d
And de Blasio was happy to return the favor.
He gave the governor \u201ccredit\u201d for standing up to President Trump, hardly a tough stance in solidly blue New York.
The mayor also pointed out that Cuomo enacted the $15 minimum wage and approved the city\u2019s new family leave law.
De Blasio went on to explain that he and Cuomo have a 25-year relationship and worked together at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, when de Blasio backed Cuomo\u2019s first ill-fated run for governor in 2002.
De Blasio claimed that \u201cdespite disagreements\u201d he and Cuomo \u201ctalk all the time.\u201d
\u201cThe things that unite us are greater than the things that divide us\u2026believe in unity and that time is now!\u201d the mayor said to applause.
His comments were a far cry from what he said about the governor in 2015, when he blasted Cuomo as a vindictive man who exacts \u201crevenge\u201d and wages a \u201cvendetta\u201d against those who disagree with him.
Afterwards, The Post caught up with a cheery Cuomo and asked what he thought of de Blasio\u2019s compliments.
\u201cWe are the big tent party!\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n

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