What do you do when hosting a podcast and doing your best to continue to make the lives of the women whom you sexually harassed as difficult as possible no longer fill the many hours of your aimless days? If you're disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, you apparently begin thinking of running to be mayor of New York City.
Cuomo has been itching for a political comeback for a while now (he reportedly also mulled running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand). At the end of November, after news broke of a federal investigation into possible corruption during Eric Adams's 2021 mayoral campaign and Adams's approval ratings began their sharp nosedive, a poll sent to possible voters that many believe was commissioned by Cuomo started making the rounds. It included questions such as, "Who do you think would do a better job of managing New York City? Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams?" and "How concerned would you say you are about former Governor Andrew Cuomo's actions towards women?" Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo's longtime spokesperson, claimed to have no idea who was behind the poll, though he also somewhat cryptically said, "The future is the future." Despite that denial, Politico reported that Cuomo was indeed contemplating a mayoral run.
On Tuesday, another poll—notably funded by a group chaired by Adams's 2021 Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa—came out, which found that in a hypothetical match-up, Cuomo would handily defeat Adams in 2025.
Via the New York Post:
Of those Democrats with an opinion, 44% favored Cuomo to 24% for Adams with one-third undecided, according to the survey conducted by American Pulse & Research Polling.
Cuomo led Adams among all racial groups and especially among women.
"Our American Pulse survey revealed what I found to be a big surprise: If Andrew Cuomo ran as a Democrat for mayor, he would decisively trounce Mayor Adams in a primary," said Dustin Olson of American Pulse Research & Polling.
Is there anyone who can head off the mind-obliterating potential of an Eric Adams-Andrew Cuomo cage match? (Interestingly enough, that poll also found that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the most popular elected official in the city.) Somebody, save us!
But maybe we don't have to be concerned. After all, in a world where Cuomo defeats Adams in a long and brutal primary and finds himself in power after a years-long exile, he'd still find himself having to go to Albany to prostrate himself before New York’s most powerful executive, and his former subordinate: Kathy Hochul.
And some links that are definitely not running for office:
