New York, New York - Zohran Mamdani's campaign has once again accused New York City mayoral challenger Andrew Cuomo of trying to buy the election with the help of billionaire backers of Donald Trump.

Bill Ackman on Tuesday gave another $1 million to the Defend NYC super PAC, which is run by former Donald Trump campaign adviser Jason Meister and is supporting Cuomo for mayor.

Ackman is a billionaire hedge fund manager who backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election. He is a vocal supporter of Israel and opponent of the student movement for Palestine.

Ackman previously gave $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Cuomo in the primary.

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"Bill Ackman cannot stand the idea of New Yorkers being the ones to choose their next mayor, so he's doing the only thing he knows how: throwing money at this race," Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement.

Cuomo, the former governor of New York State, resigned in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment from numerous women and of covering up Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes. He lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani back in June, but has since launched an independent bid for the mayor's office.

Cuomo's bid to topple Mamdani has received financial support from additional Trump-affiliated billionaires, including oil executive John B. Hess, Estée Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, and Walmart heiress Alice Walton.

"Zohran defeated the billionaires once, and he’ll do it again because we can't be bought and New York City is not for sale," Pekec insisted.

During a campaign rally in Washington Heights on Monday, Mamdani said the movement he represents poses an "existential threat to billionaires who think their money can buy our democracy."