Cuomo's Social Media Manager Posted Video of Himself Posing As Mamdani Canvasser
“This violates New York Election Law §17‑212, New York Penal Law §190.25, and New York Penal Law §190.26, aka fraud and impersonation,” Hunter Boone wrote on X.
A video of primary loser Andrew Cuomo’s social media manager posing as a Zohran Mamdani canvasser is making the rounds on X.
Mamdani is the Democratic mayoral nominee after trouncing the disgraced former governor in the primary.
On September 10, Zach Sage Fox posted a video to X in which he wears a “Hot Boys for Zohran” shirt. The video is pinned to his X page.
“MOST Zohran Mamdani supporters CHANGE THEIR MINDS after learning about his RADICAL policies and past in my shocking new hidden camera social experiment,” Fox wrote in the September post.
“Which means there’s still hope we can save NYC if we get the TRUTH viral by November 4th.
#mamdani #zohran #nyc #mayor #vote #socialism #capitalism #politics #newyork #newyorkcity”
At the start of the six minute video, Fox says, “I’m about to go undercover as a Zohran Mamdani canvasser.”
“Hi, I’m with the Zohran campaign,” he says at one house.
The person who answers the door says he voted for him.
“Can I get your pledge to vote for him in the general?” Fox says, holding a clipboard.
While posing as a Mamdani canvasser, Fox speaks to voters, misrepresents Mamdani’s positions, and appears to be soliciting signatures.
“You don’t want to sign anymore?” he says in the video. “You can take back your signature.”
In the video, he asks someone, “Are you cool raising taxes in whiter neighborhoods? So basically taxing white people higher?”
He offers a “free keffiyeh” to a person and then sneezes in it.
The video does not state who paid for it.
On October 16, Fox posted on X that he was “leading @andrewcuomo’s social media campaign for the final stretch of the NYC mayoral election.”
In response to an email to the Cuomo campaign seeking comment, Rich Azzopardi, Founder and Principal of Bulldog Strategies wrote:
This is the dumbest boomlet of the campaign. Zach has been with the campaign since Oct 1. The video predates his involvement, but that’s besides the point:
“Mamdani is a serial liar who pretends the extreme views he held five minutes ago shouldn’t count today- and this weak gruel is the best they could come up with? He’s a comedian - this is clearly satire but the fact Mamdami’s people are pushing this shows they’re scared.” - me
Also, maybe check with an actual lawyer:
https://x.com/townsendsarena/status/1980039453755543959?s=46
Video producer Hunter Boone reposted the video on X on October 19, stating: “This violates New York Election Law §17‑212, New York Penal Law §190.25, and New York Penal Law §190.26, aka fraud and impersonation. also, who still uses hashtags? lmaoooo”
The New York State Board of Elections Division of Election Law Enforcement and the New York City Board of Elections did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
As Boone noted, New York State law says a person is guilty of criminal impersonation in the second degree when they impersonate “another and does an act in such assumed character with intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud another; or [p]retends to be a representative of some person or organization and does an act in such pretended capacity with intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud another.”
New York election law prohibits a person from:
knowingly us[ing] any deceptive or fraudulent device, contrivance or communication, that impedes, prevents or otherwise interferes with the free exercise of the elective franchise by any person, or that causes or will reasonably have the effect of causing any person to vote or refrain from voting in general or for or against any particular person or for or against any proposition submitted to voters at such election; to place or refrain from placing their name upon a registry of voters; or to request or refrain from requesting an early mail or absentee ballot.
This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.