Columnist David Marcus writes that Andrew Cuomo’s bid for the job of New York City mayor is not the full extent of his planned comeback.
Make no mistake, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t running for mayor of New York City just for the title of Hizzoner and digs at Gracie Mansion. The Democrat scion is once again, as many of us suspected he would, offering himself up to be the leader of the national party.
Democrats are desperate for a new leader. Cuomo, 67, who has already been floated as a possible 2028 contender, has the resume, name recognition and political chops to fill the void.
FORMER GOV. ANDREW CUOMO LAUNCHES NYC MAYORAL BID
Looking back, it seemed strange in the summer of 2021 when Cuomo stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations, which one of the accusers, former aide Karen Hinton brought to the fore again after Cuomo announced his mayoral bid, saying “women’s rights will suffer.” In all, 11 women accused him of harassment ranging from naughty remarks to unwanted kissing and touching, according to a report released by New York’s attorney general. Cuomo has denied allegations.
The crisis appeared to be survivable, if ugly, but in retrospect the decision looks like a strategic retreat, a chance to let things die down a bit while Cuomo bided his time, waiting for another chance at the national glory he had during COVID.
Well, here we are, not quite four years later and the entire Democratic Party has imploded like the planned demolition of the local mall, and worse, nobody appears to be leading the party. Cuomo could not have dreamed of a better vacuum.
After all, he has been widely absent over the last three years as Democrats hid the truth about former President Biden’s mental condition, oversaw shocking price hikes, opened up the border, alienated Americans with woke identity politics and presided over a foreign policy the primary principle of which seemed to be “make everything worse.”
Cuomo may have baggage, but, unlike most Democrats, he is free of the stench lingering from the Biden years. He doesn’t have to apologize for or walk back anything his party has foolishly championed over the last four years. He can just resume the place he had as President Donald Trump’s primary foil during their dueling COVID press conferences back in 2020.
Cuomo also has no particularly strong connections to the Barack Obama/Nancy Pelosi political machine that many Democrats want to toss in the dustheap of history, and which Biden blames for his ouster from the ticket.
Now, I know what everyone is going to say, and I want to make it as crystal clear as possible that I agree with it: What about his COVID policies that many say got senior citizens killed? Yes, under his administration, New York sent infected seniors back into nursing homes where the virus spread like wildfire. And even though a federal judge last year dismissed a lawsuit against him over the matter, in normal times, it would be a career-ender.
But these are not normal times. The last time the Democratic Party faced a political wilderness this bleak and barren was in 1992, having dropped three straight general elections in rather embarrassing fashion.
The party turned to a new, more moderate choice, a governor named Bill Clinton, who was not afraid to challenge the leftist orthodoxies, and not just that, Democratic voters looked the other way at some very questionable behavior, sexual and otherwise.
It can happen again.
If Cuomo becomes mayor of Gotham next year, then you can bet your 401(k) that he and Trump will be publicly squaring off constantly leading up to the 2026 midterms. Such a reprise of 2020 would give Cuomo a wide-open lane to take charge of the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
One difference between Cuomo and Clinton is that the latter was a new figure on the scene. Cuomo is well known already, but that could help him. Many Democrats I speak with on the road don’t want something new so much as they want the Democratic Party they remember, before it lurched radically left.
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Cuomo, who was never a radical leftist, can be the physical embodiment of that, as was his father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, whose basic retail political skills he also inherited.
Cuomo as the Democratic Party’s savior may seem like a stretch, but when you look at the bench you see who? Gavin Newsom, whose incompetence is as legendary as his hair? Kamala Harris, who has only seemed more incoherent since her crushing defeat?
Is there any wonder that Cuomo is yelling, “Hey coach, put me in?”
Soon we will start seeing Cuomo’s name in national polling for 2028, but none of it will matter if he doesn’t win the mayor’s office first, which is not a foregone conclusion. Incumbent Eric Adams is running, and the field grew when he was the subject of a federal bribery indictment that has since gone away.
So, in a very real way, New York City’s voters will not just be deciding the future of their city, but the future of the Democratic Party, and therefore, the nation.
Republicans should hope New Yorkers hold Cuomo accountable for his failings and not let him whitewash his past with a mayoral victory party later this year. Because if that happens, Cuomo could become the most formidable weapon in the Democrats’ arsenal, limited as it may be.
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