Pity the Cuomosexual, for his or her hero has fallen to date.
Andrew Cuomo, as soon as the swaggering face of Democratic energy in New York, misplaced twice to Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who’s now mayor-elect of New York Metropolis. First got here June’s Democratic major, then Tuesday’s normal election, the place Cuomo, clinging to political relevance, ran as an unbiased and was trounced once more.
For a person who had beforehand gained 4 statewide races—one for New York lawyer normal and three for governor—the collapse is staggering. New Yorkers turned out in report numbers to reject him, delivering a transparent verdict on greater than only one marketing campaign.
And so they had motive.
Cuomo’s unraveling didn’t start with the #MeToo motion or the COVID-19 pandemic, however far earlier, throughout his first time period as governor. In 2010, he solid himself as a reformer, promising to tackle Albany’s entrenched pursuits and vowing to ascertain an unbiased redistricting course of. By 2012, these guarantees have been gone. Cuomo reduce a take care of Republican state Senate chief Dean Skelos, permitting the GOP to attract its personal maps and protect management—betraying those that had helped elect him.
In return, lawmakers gave Cuomo what he wished: a brand new pension plan that raised the retirement age for some workers, and an unlimited growth of the state’s DNA database to incorporate misdemeanor convictions.
Impartial candidate Andrew Cuomo participates in a New York Metropolis mayoral debate on Oct. 22.
The brand new map traces led to years of GOP dominance within the state Senate—sustained by districts drawn by a person who later went to jail for corruption. Cuomo let it occur.
For him, being feared was all the time higher than being beloved. Throughout his almost 11 years as governor, he dominated by way of intimidation, utilizing the state authorities as a weapon to punish rivals and reward loyalty. He appeared untouchable—till he wasn’t.
When COVID-19 hit, Cuomo’s picture crumbled beneath the burden of scandal. His administration reportedly undercounted deaths at nursing properties, then allegedly tried to cowl it up. Across the identical time, he launched a self-congratulatory e-book titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” And fewer than a yr later, a state report accused him of sexually harassing not less than 11 ladies, which he has denied.
Lastly, in August 2021, Cuomo resigned.
However the true humiliation got here this week.
It started with a surreal twist: On Monday, President Donald Trump endorsed him for mayor.
5 years in the past, Cuomo was seen as a number one anti-Trump determine in Democratic politics. His day by day COVID-19 briefings have been handled because the sane counterpoint to Trump’s chaos, by which the president advised treating the virus by injecting disinfectant, amongst a litany of different scientifically unfounded claims.
After initially denying Trump’s endorsement, Cuomo admitted on Election Day that the president’s help might be “very helpful” to him.
New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, proven on Nov. 4.
It wasn’t.
MAGA politics don’t play in New York Metropolis, and voters recoiled on the sight of a disgraced Democrat embracing the identical president who terrorized their communities and threatened to chop off federal funds if Mamdani gained the race.
Cuomo’s comeback bid had all the time felt like a fever dream. He entered the race satisfied that outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption scandals had created a vacuum solely he might fill. For a time, the numbers backed him up: Early polls of the Democratic major confirmed him main, and nostalgia for his pandemic-era briefings lingered. However that goodwill evaporated after he misplaced the first, didn’t take “no” for a solution, and compelled himself on voters as an unbiased.
The mayor’s race was presupposed to be his comeback—the fallen governor clawing his manner again to energy at Metropolis Corridor. As a substitute, it’s his curtain name. Nearing 70, Cuomo is out of tips. To beat Mamdani, he wanted to maintain his base and win over Republicans and independents. He did neither. Voters have been performed with him.
Mamdani, for his half, mentioned Wednesday on NY1 that neither Cuomo nor Adams referred to as to congratulate him on his victory. He did, nevertheless, get a name from Sliwa—proof that in New York politics, unusual bedfellows abound.
On Tuesday, New Yorkers noticed one thing contemporary and thrilling in Mamdani. And in Cuomo, they noticed solely the weary shadow of an city boss gone his prime.
Andrew Mangan contributed reporting.
