Mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos Friday joined a string of unions, curiosity teams and elected officers lining as much as endorse former governor Andrew Cuomo’s bid for mayor regardless of beforehand demanding his elimination from workplace in 2021 amid a number of allegations of sexual harassment.
Ramos, who slammed Cuomo over the allegations as not too long ago as Wednesday, has stated it took “tremendous courage” for the accusers to come back ahead publicly. However she stated the previous governor’s potential to face as much as President Trump largely outweighs her considerations concerning the allegations.
The explosive claims that rocked Albany simply 4 years in the past seem like taking part in little function amid Cuomo’s political comeback run and his present standing because the frontrunner heading into the Democratic mayoral major. Polls constantly present Cuomo popping out on prime, at the same time as his unfavorability scores stay excessive.
It’s a outstanding and fast turnaround for Cuomo, who stepped down from his submit as governor after an investigation discovered he had sexually harassed almost a dozen girls, accusations he denies, and amid an imminent risk of impeachment from state lawmakers.
Two key components have helped gas Cuomo’s run: Shifting attitudes about sexual harassment and the #MeToo motion and the demand for a robust chief to navigate a fraught political panorama marked by the chaos of President Trump’s second stint within the White Home.
“This today is not about forgiveness or about forgetting anything,” Ramos, who in 2021 was among the many first to name for Cuomo’s resignation, stated Friday. “This is a very sober take on where we are in this race and the type of leadership that is required at a time when I need workers and I need immigrants protected.”
A altering local weather
On the time of Cuomo’s resignation, public outrage on the sexual misconduct and harassment carried out by males in energy was working excessive.
The leak of Trump’s notorious “Access Hollywood” tape shortly earlier than his election in 2016 and the revelations about Harvey Weinstein within the New York Instances and the New Yorker in 2017 touched off a robust motion that unfold to Hollywood, sports activities, enterprise and politics.
Over the previous couple of years, although, many see the motion as having misplaced some momentum, particularly with Trump’s election to a second time period.
Each the upcoming mayoral election and final November’s presidential contest unfolded in opposition to a nationwide backlash to not solely #MeToo, however to Black Lives Matter and the broader idea of “wokeness,” which turned a key speaking level for Trump in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign.
A few of these nationwide sentiments could also be trickling into New York’s mayoral race. Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by greater than two dozen girls and was discovered civilly accountable for sexually assaulting E Jean Carroll in 2023.
Cuomo’s skill to mount a comeback is a “feature of the Trump era,” Smikle stated.
KENA BETANCUR/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo attends an occasion at New York Metropolis Council of Carpenters in New York on March 2, 2025. (Photograph by KENA BETANCUR/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Cuomo’s regular lead within the race has held regardless of his opponents’ makes an attempt to resurface the scandals and stir public outrage, particularly proper after Cuomo entered the race. Throughout a radio look earlier this month on 97.9 La Mega, for instance, Cuomo flirted with a radio host half his age.
As music performed within the studio, host Excarlet Molina, 29, requested Cuomo if he would “dance merengue with the Dominicans.”
“Are you asking me to go dancing with you?” Cuomo responded.
After the music stopped, he adopted up: “I want to know if we have a date?”
Cuomo’s camp maintained that the interplay was a joke.
The incident generated backlash on social media, with customers calling him a “sex pest” and “gross.”
Regardless, it barely made a dent within the marketing campaign.
And at Wednesday’s debate, the place Cuomo confronted assaults on all method of points, the allegations weren’t a serious line of assault.
Brad Lander stated that having “sexually harassed 13 women” ought to disqualify Cuomo from being mayor. And Michael Blake, a former state assemblymember who’s polling poorly, stated that “the people who don’t feel safe are the young women, mothers and grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo.”
Through the debate, Cuomo identified that he was by no means charged in reference to the allegations. “I said at the time that if I offended anyone, it was unintentional, but I apologize, and I say that today,” he stated. His crew declined to remark for this story.
Cuomo’s seeming skill to brush previous the allegations doesn’t sit properly with some.
“He has been welcomed back into the political class with open arms as opposed to being required to take responsibility for his actions,” Erica Vladimer, co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, stated. “He continues to harass and retaliate against the women he already sexually harassed and retaliated against and there’s no indication that he’s going to change his ways.”
Vladmier was referencing to Cuomo’s circle of attorneys and aides efforts because the accusers went public to discredit them, difficult their credibility together with in courtroom proceedings. The previous governor’s authorized bills, have value taxpayers tens of tens of millions of {dollars}, in accordance with the state comptroller.
Karen Hinton, who claims Cuomo acted sexually inappropriately in direction of her in 2000, when she labored for him as U.S. Secretary of Housing and City Improvement, stated she was dissatisfied about his bounce again into the limelight.
“It’s shocking in many ways and sad that New Yorkers are not standing behind these women,” Hinton stated.
“It’s just not an issue for people,” she continued. “People don’t care. People voted for Trump even though he sexually assaulted a woman in a department store in New York. People don’t care, so maybe it’s not that big a deal.”
Karen Hinton is pictured in Manhattan on Saturday, Could 7, 2016. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Every day Information)
Hinton additionally famous state lawmakers’ disdain for Cuomo’s usually retaliatory model of governance — leaving him with out allies he wanted when the allegations got here out. Stepping down from workplace additionally shot down the opportunity of impeachment within the State Meeting, giving him a clearer path to mount a political comeback.
“I think many of those members, and they’re mostly men, didn’t care about the sexual harassment claims,” Hinton, who additionally labored beneath Mayor de Blasio, stated. “They just cared to get rid of him because he’s nasty and mean and spiteful, and if you cross his path and do something that he doesn’t want you to do, he’s coming after you.”
Craving management
With White Home insurance policies sowing uncertainty and worry in New York Metropolis amid threats of slashing federal assist for vital packages like Medicaid and SNAP, many see a necessity for a robust chief to face as much as the president.
Mayor Adams is now not an element within the Democratic major. He introduced he’d run as an unbiased in November following widespread criticism for being overly acquiescent to Trump after the president’s DOJ dismissed the mayor’s corruption case.
The remainder of the mayoral area principally leans additional left than both Cuomo or Adams, with no robust center-left candidate, to date, posing a major problem to the previous governor.
His closest rival is Zohran Mamdani, a socialist campaigning on free buses and freezing lease for stabilized tenants. Mamdani dangers alienating moderates, particularly pro-Israel voters for his characterization of the nation’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza as a “genocide.” Cuomo has made his assist of Israel a central aspect of his marketing campaign and has known as rhetoric like Mamdani’s a “cancer.”
For a lot of voters, Cuomo seems to be the best choice. At the same time as Cuomo stepped down in 2021, he nonetheless had a base of assist. His title recognition, partially tied to his father, Mario, and the notion in the course of the Covid pandemic that his management was a foil to Trump’s chaos, continued to enchantment to some voters.
A Quinnipiac ballot from simply days earlier than his resignation confirmed that he had a 28% approval score, with 25% of ballot takers saying he mustn’t step down.
(L/R) Candidates Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Cuomo, Whitney Tilson, Zohran Mamdani, Michael Blake and Scott Stringer take part in a Democratic mayoral major debate, at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Heart studios in New York on June 4, 2025. (Photograph by YUKI IWAMURA/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Throughout his time away from the highlight, Cuomo loosely engaged that base, laying the groundwork for a possible run as he made stops at Black church buildings and met with political energy gamers.
“There was still a good chunk of the city that remembered that, and especially now that Trump is in office, they want someone who’s gonna fight for them, but also protect them and also make sure that they have a good quality of life,” Smikle stated.
Not everyone seems to be satisfied.
Vladimer, with the Sexual Harassment Working Group, stated that she doubts that Cuomo will really be capable to successfully confront Trump.
“The perception of Cuomo standing up for New Yorkers — that’s all it really is — a perception,” Vladimer stated. “It is not reality. Cuomo has only shown us through his actions that he can only and will only punch down and that includes on young women government staffers.”
However energy gamers, politicians and union leaders have largely coalesced behind the previous governor, though some had pressed for his elimination in 2021.
Tremendous PACs in his assist have collected tens of millions in donations, together with a $1 million donation from Doordash and $2.5 million by the Housing for All PAC, which is funded by the New York Condo Affiliation.
Manny Pastreich, the president of Resort and Gaming Trades Council and 32BJ, stated in April the union was endorsing the previous governor partially as a result of Cuomo would be capable to combat again in opposition to Trump’s “attacks.”
Others, like Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, haven’t outright supported Cuomo however have stayed silent as he makes his comeback — a pointy distinction to her condemnation of him in 2021.
“Andrew Cuomo is equipped to stand up to attacks on our city that threaten our finances, our jobs, our public transportation, our health care, our Social Security and our rights,” Pastreich stated in asserting his union’s endorsement.
Initially Printed: June 7, 2025 at 12:42 PM EDT
