By Dan Murphy
Anyone who has been watching Andrew Cuomo since his August 2021 resignation as Governor of NY can see that he still has the fire in his belly to run for office again. The next question always was, run for what office? Governor Kathy Hochul was just reelected, and a run for President may be too much to ask.
On March 12, The Daily Beast speculated that Cuomo could challenge incumbent democrat U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary next year. Gillibrand was one of many democrats who called for Cuomo to resign in 2021 amid 11 accusations of sexual harassment from former employees.
Several district attorneys in NY looked at the allegations and did not file criminal charges against Cuomo, who has maintained his innocence to the claims of unwanted sexual conversations and some touching.
If Cuomo were to run against Gillibrand, he would have that same number of elected democrats who called for his resignation standing against him, and with Gillibrand.
But perhaps the Cuomo camp is counting on his strong support from black democrats and the 30% or so who supported Andrew to the end, and still do. Is that enough for him to win a democratic primary in progressive NY?
The Daily Beast story, https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Fthe-nine-million-dollar-question-whats-former-democratic-new-york-governor-andrew-cuomos-next-move, which cited anonymous democrats and Albany insiders, is relevant for two reasons. One source for Jake Lahunt’s story said that they heard Gillibrand telling donors that Cuomo is preparing a challenge against her.
The other interesting piece of this story comes from Rich Azzopardi, who remains Cuomo’s spokesman and key advisory. “New Yorkers love a comeback story,” said Azzopardi, who added that “Five different district attorneys looked at Tish James’ sham report and every single one determined there was nothing to move on. This was a political railroading, Albany style, and with each passing day more people understand that.”
Remember that besides his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo’s political mentor was Bill Clinton, who reminded us to never say never to the end of a political career. And if A. Cuomo wants a political comeback, this looks like the best opportunity in New York State for him.
