Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced Saturday that he’s running to be the next mayor of New York City.
Cuomo had been teasing a campaign launch for weeks and is now jumping back into politics just four years after he resigned from the governorship following multiple sexual harassment allegations.
“We know that the first step towards solving a problem is having the strength, having the courage to recognize it, and we know that today, our New York City is in trouble,” Cuomo said in a nearly 18-minute campaign launch video posted on X.
“But New Yorkers know the simple answer of what to do when there’s a crisis in leadership. You lead, you act, you do,” the former governor added.
He also ran through a list of accomplishments from his time as governor, telling viewers, “We didn’t do these things because they were easy. They weren’t. They were hard, but they were necessary, and today it is necessary to launch a bold action plan to turn New York City around, to save our city.”
Cuomo’s campaign launch comes as Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat, has been embroiled in scandal for months following a federal indictment on corruption charges.
The case against Adams is stalled as the Justice Department, led by President Donald Trump’s political appointees, seek to dismiss the charges.
A handful of other Democratic candidates — including city Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie — are also running ahead of the June 24 primary, challenging Adams’ path to a second term.
In a statement minutes after Cuomo launched his campaign, Stringer blasted the former governor, saying that Cuomo “spent years treating New York City like his personal punching bag — slashing MTA funding and wrecking the subway while funneling money to upstate ski resorts, and trying to cut billions in funding for public school kids and Medicaid for city residents. And now he wants New Yorkers to rehabilitate his reputation? Give me a break.”
Before he resigned in 2021, the former governor enjoyed high approval ratings, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as he gave near-daily briefings to New Yorkers and appeared often on CNN while his brother, Chris Cuomo, was an anchor there.
But as allegations of sexual harassment, including by nine state employees, surfaced, Cuomo faced bipartisan calls to step down.
A 2021 report written by state Attorney General Letitia James alleged that Cuomo had harassed 11 women and subjected some of them to uninvited touching and groping.
In his resignation speech, Cuomo told New Yorkers, “In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.”
He also said at the time that he stepped down not because of the allegations, but because “wasting energy on distraction is the last thing government should be.”
In his campaign launch video on Saturday, Cuomo seemed to nod to the past allegations against him, saying, “Did I always do everything right in my years of government service? Of course not. Would I do some things differently, knowing what I know now? Certainly. Did I make mistakes? Some painfully, definitely, and I believe I learned from them, and that I am a better person for it, and I hope to show you that every day.”
Before he even launched his campaign on Saturday, Cuomo had already earned the endorsement of Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who told the New York Post on Monday that “Andrew Cuomo has the competence to govern the city. He has the courage to stand up to extremist politics — both from the far left and far right.”
“America loves a comeback, New York loves a comeback,” Torres added.
