With New York City Mayor Eric Adams ending his bid for a second term, voters have 36 days left to choose from three other top candidates. 

The ones left standing are now starting to trot out all the negative research they've been doing. 

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and frontrunner, tried to sink former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday by tying him to the mayor. 

"When we think about Eric Adams' record and the ways in which it has priced out so many New Yorkers, we must remember that that is Andrew Cuomo's agenda," Mamdani said at a campaign event in Manhattan.

Dipping into his opposition research file, Mamdani attacked a decision he said was made by Cuomo to cut funds to a program that offered rental assistance to families experiencing homelessness. He was joined by a woman who said she was left homeless by the cuts.

"After being almost two years in a shelter with my newborn baby, I got to sign my lease in Staten Island. And then I find out that Cuomo, the state government, cut a program that has affected me for years," said Kasha Philips. 

"That is a program that Andrew Cuomo cut by $65 million -- a decision he made so he would have to avoid taxing his rich donors," Mamdani said. "A decision that, when he made it, led to what we are now seeing as a spike in homelessness."

Cuomo and Sliwa sharpen attacks on Mamdani

Mamdani is hoping to slice and dice the former governor, even as Cuomo sought to return the favor after an event where he picked up the support of a group of Hindu New Yorkers. 

"The intolerance that Mr. Mamdani represents, the judgementalism, the division that he causes among the people in New York -- the city would be splintered," said Cuomo.

Cuomo wants voters to see it as a two-man race, even though Republican Curtis Sliwa is a well-funded candidate. Sliwa has made it clear he isn't getting out of the race like Adams did. 

"I've never dropped out of anything in my life. I'm like John Paul Jones, you know this, that statue in Bay Ridge, I have just begun to fight," Sliwa said Monday. "Thirty six days and I'm taking it to Zohran Mamdani in his areas -- Astoria, Long Island City, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Sunset Park, Ridgewood.

"I carry the Republican banner, and I am not surrendering or retreating. I think it would be a horrible day for all America and Republicans if in fact Zohran Mamdani became the mayor," Sliwa added.

President Trump threatens to withhold funds if Mamdani is elected

President Trump again on Monday weighed in on the mayor's race with a post on social media.

He again called a Mamdani a "communist." Mamdani is a Democratic socialist.

Mr. Trump, who has previously expressed his desire to see a one-on-one race, said Mamdani "will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican party. He is going to have problems with Washington like no mayor in the history of our once great city. Remember, he needs money from me, as president, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE communist promises. He won't be getting any of it, so what's the point of voting for him?"

Cuomo explained what he thinks is the president's underlying message.

"You'd have President Donald Trump and Mayor Donald Trump," Cuomo said. "Donald Trump will have to come in to save New York. That's Donald Trump's point. He would then take the poster boy Democratic, socialist, communist, call him whatever you want, and parade him around the country and say, this is what happens when you elect a Democrat. They elect a radical extremist kid who doesn't know what he's doing and the city is now going to hell in a hand basket."

Mamdani was having none of it.

"I think that Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief. He began with denial, where he said that there was no way we could win this race and that he would use every tool at his disposal to ensure that that was the case. And now we've reached the point where he's coming to terms with the fact that we're going to win this," Mamdani said.

What does Adams' exit mean for NYC mayoral election?

The big question is who benefits from Adams' withdrawal. 

"There's no question that former Gov. Cuomo benefits a great deal from this," said political expert J.C. Polanco.

Polanco added it could also help Sliwa.

"He won't win the majority, but he believes that he could win a plurality of the vote if the Democrats are split between Assemblyman Mamdani and former Gov. Cuomo," he said. 

Adams has nothing on his campaign schedule Monday, and it might continue that way for the next several days. A spokesperson said that while he will continue to run the city, he's taking some time to spend with family and friends.