Despite his time in politics scarred by controversies, Andrew Cuomo remained a relatively popular governor of New York for over a decade.
Ultimately, it wasn't the prosecution of Cuomo's loyalists or even the deadly COVID-19 nursing home scandal that forced him out. (RELATED: Fox News Star Responds to Chris Cuomo's Secret Plot to Destroy Her)
Instead, an investigation from an independent law firm deputized by New York Attorney General Letitia James doomed his career. It concluded that Cuomo had incessantly sexually harassed women with unwanted groping, kissing and vulgar comments.
In August 2021, less than a year after Cuomo appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro after winning an Emmy for his COVID-19 press conferences, James made the investigatory report public.
Only then and only after New York State's entire congressional delegation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden called for his resignation, did Cuomo begrudgingly depart.
Power and hubris remain hopelessly intertwined. Still, only recently has America entered a state of utter political nihilism.
With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that since the criminal charges against Cuomo have gone away, he wants to be governor again. (RELATED: Judge Saves Cuomo From Criminal Prosecution)
What's far worse are the polls that show he could win.
Hot Air's Allahpundit adds:
His former spokesman posted this video a few days ago. Although Cuomo hasn't announced anything yet, it's clearly a campaign ad. And the strategy is sound: If you're a New York liberal, why not focus on the stuff about Cuomo that you like rather than the stuff you don't? Why throw away an effective leader over something as minor as serial sexual harassment or the fact that he'll lie to your face to cover up when his policies are grossly ineffective?
The one saving grace here, I hope, is that the Democrats' national leadership won't want Cuomo on the ballot this fall. In a heavily Republican environment, they'd much prefer a generic Democrat like Kathy Hochul to one with Cuomo's baggage. Flipping New York red would be a heavy lift for the GOP even with everything breaking its way, but all you need to do to grasp whether it's possible is look across the border to New Jersey. Phil Murphy eked out a three-point victory there in November despite having the advantage of incumbency and the virtue of being an exceedingly generic Democrat himself. Conceivably there are enough Democrats in New York who find Cuomo repellent to give Republican Lee Zeldin a puncher's chance at the upset in the gubernatorial race. In the Emerson poll featured above, fully 63 percent of New Yorkers said Cuomo shouldn't hold public office again.
So I'd expect the White House and congressional leaders to back Hochul. I'd also expect Democrats to recruit prominent African-Americans to get behind her, knowing that Cuomo has always done well with black voters. If the Obamas end up on Team Hochul along with top black New York politicians like Hakeem Jeffries, maybe that's enough to snuff out the Cuomo comeback. No doubt some anti-Cuomo Dems are warning him privately right now not to make their lives harder by contesting the New York primary or else they'll pull every lever they have to head him off.
Whether he listens or not probably depends on what those internal polls are showing. But if he's thinking seriously enough about running to have already begun cutting ads, I'm guessing the numbers must be encouraging.
Another report from CNBC suggests that, too. A person close to Cuomo told the financial news outlet that the recently ostracized governor was spending his day fielding calls from longtime allies encouraging him to get back in the fight.
Meanwhile, the burning desire for revenge consumes another Cuomo. Fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Andrew's younger brother, seeks an astounding $125 million in compensation from his old employer. (RELATED: Chris Cuomo Accused of Sex Attack Before Firing)
Bottom line? The Cuomos won't go away quietly. What exactly they will do remains to be seen.
Stay tuned.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
