Cuomo Jolts New York's Mayoral Race as His Challengers Attack

New York Times

02-03-2025

For months, the race for mayor of New York City has felt stuck in suspended animation. Not anymore.
The contest was expected to lurch into motion on Sunday with a new front-runner: former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. He, Mayor Eric Adams and seven fellow Democrats will face off in a four-month fight to Primary Day.
Fresh off announcing his candidacy, Mr. Cuomo, 67, planned a burst of activity to reintroduce himself to New Yorkers and show the range of his appeal. Among other events, he was expected to pick up his first labor endorsement as a candidate at a rally with the carpenters' union in Lower Manhattan.
The events marked Mr. Cuomo's first experience as a bona fide candidate since 2018, and the start of a bid to convince voters to give him a second chance after he resigned the governorship in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment. Mr. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing, but his opponents are determined to remind voters of the scandal.
His comeback attempt was met with immediate blowback from political forces as diverse as women's rights organizations and The New York Post. The right-leaning tabloid slammed him on Saturday as 'colossus of canards, a freak of fabrication, a behemoth of balderdash,' while the other candidates argued he had failed New York City as governor.
A left-leaning super PAC was already engaged to stop Mr. Cuomo, an avowed moderate. The group, New Yorkers for Better Leadership, held a call on Saturday to highlight stains on Mr. Cuomo's record, including criticism from a woman who lost her mother at a nursing home during the pandemic and blamed Mr. Cuomo's leadership.
Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the group, said that Mr. Cuomo had worsened problems like subway delays and street homelessness.
'We cannot trust Andrew Cuomo with our subways or our streets, our grandmothers or our granddaughters,' she said.
While other candidates hustled out statements bashing Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Adams remained silent on Saturday. The mayor has faced growing calls to resign over concerns that he is beholden to President Trump after his administration moved to drop federal corruption charges against Mr. Adams.
Mr. Adams has kept his resolve to remain in office, and maintains that he has a path to re-election. Yet his campaign has been almost nonexistent. He recently set up a simple campaign website but has not hired a campaign manager and his fund-raising has slowed.
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, is expected to decide whether she will run for mayor in the coming days. She recently created a campaign fund-raising committee and has support from Letitia James, the state attorney general, who has been a fierce critic of Mr. Cuomo.
Mr. Cuomo made his first campaign stop on Saturday at a restaurant in the Bronx and was endorsed by Yudelka Tapia, a state lawmaker and ally of Representative Adriano Espaillat. Mr. Espaillat endorsed Mr. Adams in the 2021 mayoral race and met recently with Mr. Cuomo.
'All too often the needs of my constituents are ignored — that wasn't the case when Andrew Cuomo was governor,' Ms. Tapia said, citing his efforts to raise the minimum wage as governor.
Each mayoral campaign sought to make their strongest arguments against Mr. Cuomo. Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller, released a combative video, comparing Mr. Cuomo's comeback campaign to that of Eliot Spitzer, the former governor who lost to Mr. Stringer in the 2013 comptroller's race.
'We shocked a lot of people when we won that race,' Mr. Stringer said. 'You'll forgive me if I'm not shaking in my boots when people say Andrew Cuomo is the front-runner for mayor, the same Cuomo who has always put his ego and his interests ahead of our city.'
Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, said that Mr. Cuomo's policies often hurt Black New Yorkers, through funding cuts to schools and the subway.
'New York City deserves a mayor who cares about our city, lives in our city and puts our city first,' he said.
Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, took the opportunity to knock both Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams in the same breath.
'If New Yorkers want a corrupt bully with a record of alleged sexual misconduct, supporting Republicans, selling out to developers, and exacerbating crises, they can just stick with the current mayor,' she said.