(AFP) – Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo is eying a political comeback after being dogged by sex assault claims, hoping to become mayor of the largest US city, New York. But to take the big chair, he must first get around an insurgent leftist candidate who is closing the gap on the political scion with major financial firepower. The other major obstacle facing Cuomo at the June 24 Democratic party mayoral primary, in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one, might prove to be his past.
In August 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Cuomo, whose father was also governor, of sexually harassing eleven women. He resigned, and then his brother Chris, a star anchor on CNN, had to leave for advising him. It marked a spectacular downfall for the Cuomo dynasty. But just four years later, cries of “Cuomo, Cuomo, Cuomo” rang out at a small Harlem venue, where the candidate and his Hollywood smile were welcomed by cheering supporters.
As mayor of the mega-city, the winner of the November election will have a unique berth from which to stand up to President Donald Trump and his campaign against migrants in diverse metropolises. “We have that existential threat, called Donald Trump, and now, that is a serious threat… he has declared war on New York City,” Cuomo said from the podium. When a handful of reporters pressed Cuomo on his checkered past with women, the former governor fired back. “This would have been a high-profile case against the governor of New York; it would have got a lot of headlines, they could have been a hero to the ‘MeToo’ movement… and there was no case,” he said.
In the audience, Iris, a Democratic activist, expressed that she does not want to revisit the past but wants to focus on the future. Cuomo can be the future of resistance to Trump and improve the lives of the middle class and the most disadvantaged in society by building social housing, she said. As forward-looking as his supporters might be, Cuomo still has to contend with his complicated legacy. “Cuomo did not erase the scandal from the past. His sexual harassment scandals are still on voters’ minds,” said Ester Fuchs, a professor of political science at Columbia University. But the central issue of the campaign is who can stand up to Donald Trump, Fuchs continued. “And this is where Cuomo rises above the rest of the candidates in the pool.”
Once the front-runner, the 67-year-old centrist candidate has seen his lead shrink against openly “socialist” Zohran Mamdani, 33, in a battle that has laid bare divisions within the Democratic Party. A fresh survey by Public Policy Polling had Mamdani beating Cuomo 35 percent to 31 percent for the first time, with the rest split between seven other candidates. In the primary, Democratic voters rank the candidates in order of preference. The winner will be the first to pass the 50 percent support mark, whether outright or after votes have been reapportioned according to voters’ candidate rankings.
Born in Uganda, Mamdani is the son of renowned historian Mahmood Mamdani, author of the book “Saviors and Survivors” about the Darfur war, and filmmaker Mira Nair, who directed the classic “Salaam Bombay!” While former New York Mayor billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Democratic heavyweights have endorsed Cuomo, the young Democratic Congressional star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind Mamdani. “The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in DC,” said Mamdani, whose eye-catching posters adorn storefronts in neighborhoods including Brooklyn.
A New York State Assembly representative, Mamdani bills himself as Trump’s “worst nightmare” and champions social policies like free bus travel, raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030, and a tax hike for the wealthy. “Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani like a hot knife through butter,” Cuomo said during a debate, criticizing his rival for lacking the experience to run a city with a $112 billion annual budget and 300,000 employees. Mamdani insists he is ready and more than capable of addressing the number one issue for New Yorkers — the high cost of living.
– Guillaume LAVALLÉE
© 2024 AFP
