Andrew Cuomo Would Rather Run a Red Light Than Answer Reporters' Questions

There are 26 days until the Democratic mayoral primary, and the frontrunner in the race, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, has yet to hold an actual press conference inviting reporters to question his positions and priorities.

This is not normal. In the 2021 election cycle, the first of the ranked-choice era, the mayoral candidates held scores of press conferences, sometimes more than once a week, to allow a variety of reporters and often, random New Yorkers, to ask them whatever they wanted. 

In addition to simulating what it is actually like to be the mayor of New York City, these press conferences are in fact useful to the public: They revealed, for example, that Andrew Yang didn't actually know that much about how New York City works. All of the efforts of the powerful consulting firm Yang hired to manage his campaign melted away when the candidate was forced to answer a few basic questions off the dome. 

This time around, the top mayoral candidates are just as accessible. They give lengthy interviews to legacy print publications and lowly worker-owned outlets alike; they hold press conferences, sometimes in front of just a handful of reporters (there is such a thing as too many press conferences!) And if you can't catch them at a press conference, you can find them at a parade or another public event and hit them with a question. Or set up a phone call. 

Not so with Cuomo. While it's true that the former governor has been peppered with a few quick questions after his carefully stage-managed appearances, and while he has consented to some local TV and radio interviews, Cuomo has almost never answered questions from print journalists since he began his campaign in early March.