ALBANY, N.Y — First Andrew Cuomo launched a TV advertising blitz aimed at redeeming his scandal-scarred name. Then the former New York governor took the pulpit at two Black churches to decry the "cancel culture" he says forced him from office.
Now he has a decision to make.
For Cuomo, the ultimate move in his quick-turn bid to revive his career would be to run for governor in the Democratic primary in June, which he is seriously considering, according to six former aides familiar with his thinking.
One scenario being discussed: He could upend the three-candidate Democratic primary, battle Gov. Kathy Hochul using his dwindling $16 million campaign warchest and hope to twist up the race so much that he comes away with a plurality of the vote and wins.
"He effectively creates a split vote in the primary, and it’s not impossible," said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who has worked on previous Cuomo campaigns but is not involved in the current discussions. "He has nothing to lose."
But time is short. Cuomo has barely two weeks left to get the required 15,000 petition signatures to reach the primary ballot — including at least 100 each he would need from half of New York's congressional districts.
And that's the bare minimum: Every campaign knows it probably needs close to double that to ensure enough valid signatures are approved by the state Board of Elections. Those could be tough requirements to meet in a short time, some Democratic leaders said.
"At a certain point, the clock runs out," a leading Democratic official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to not anger the former governor.
There's one other option: Cuomo could skip the primary and run as an independent in November. He'd face both a Democrat — likely Hochul, who was his hand-picked lieutenant governor — and the winner of the Republican primary.
An independent bid would come with its own, more arduous set of requirements. He'd need 45,000 petition signatures and at least 500 each from half of the state's congressional districts. But it would buy him more time, with petitions not due until the end of May. And even if he fell short in the election, he'd likely win enough votes as an independent to create his own political party, giving him more influence in years to come.
A Cuomo bid, some Democrats fear, could disenfranchise party faithful, leading many to stay home on Election Day in November and helping Republicans pick up seats down ballot — particularly battleground House seats in New York that could affect whether Democrats retain control of Congress.
One of the aides, who remains close to Cuomo, said the former governor and his allies are polling whether a race is viable.
An internal poll could be telling. While Cuomo's camp has been buoyed by a recent Emerson Poll that showed him within 4 percentage points of Hochul, other polls have shown her with strong popularity and Cuomo with weak support. A Siena College poll last month had Cuomo with a 60 percent unfavorability rating.
But the Siena poll was before Cuomo's public blitz, which his inner circle has so far been pleased with.
Some Democrats think Cuomo has sought to keep the idea that he might run alive — "I have a lot of options open, and I'm considering them," Cuomo said last week — in order to simply stay relevant, but will ultimately decide against a quixotic run.
His campaign cash would surely dwindle fast; he'd have a hard time raising money; and most of the union and special interest support is already behind Hochul after 11 years of being by Cuomo's side.
"This is all about saving a bit of his reputation, trying to make himself viable again," said Peter Kauffmann, a consultant who helped run Cuomo's campaigns in 2010 and 2014. "And he’s going to try to build up enough buzz about himself where he can come in and present this as his choice not to run in a magnanimous way to make himself the hero of his own story."
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi declined comment on Cuomo's future, instead referring back to comments the former governor made last week at his public appearances.
If Cuomo were to run, it would be met with a swift rebuke by his opponents that would make his comeback extraordinarily difficult.
Some of the women who accused him of sexual harassment are already warning him not to try to reenter political life; he still faces criticism for underreporting Covid-19 nursing home deaths; and a state agency is trying claw back $5 million from a deal he signed to write a book about the state's Covid response.
Critics said Cuomo's public comeback has been devoid of contrition and has relied on a bevy of mistruths about the allegations against him — spinning a tale that he is victim of a political hit job orchestrated by those who wanted to be governor or opposed his policies.
After all, he resigned in the face of likely impeachment rather than fight to stay in office.
"The more @andrewcuomo tries to make a comeback the more the world gets to see who he really is: A narcissistic bully who can’t stand not being in the spotlight," Janice Dean, a Fox News meteorologist and a critic of his nursing home policies after the death of her in-laws to Covid in New York nursing homes, wrote March 9 on Twitter.
Ana Maria Archila, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor running with gubernatorial hopeful Jumaane Williams, said Cuomo should still be impeached to thwart any future political aspirations.
"His attempt to return to public office without accepting responsibility or facing real accountability is offensive and grotesque, and he must be stopped," Archila wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News.
Perhaps even more blunt, Attorney General Tish James, whose office investigated the sexual harassment allegations, ripped Cuomo's first public speech March 6.
"Even though multiple independent investigations found his victims to be credible, Cuomo continues to blame everyone but himself. Cuomo wasn’t railroaded; he quit so he wouldn't be impeached. New Yorkers are ready to move forward from this sick, pathetic man," she said in a statement.
Still, Cuomo has 40 years of New York political experience, and one of his trademarks is always looking for a political opportunity that he could capitalize on.
He might see one now, some current and former advisers hinted.
Hochul is facing a potential rough patch as she tries to negotiate her first budget deal and secure agreements on changes to bail laws sought by moderate Democrats. With New York City facing a crime wave, Cuomo last week urged changes to the bail laws that he himself championed as governor; soon after, Hochul's own proposal leaked to reporters.
A top issue for voters is crime, Sheinkopf said, and Cuomo could capitalize on it: "Everybody who’s involved seems to be not dealing with the way he would be perceived as dealing with it."
Another aspect: Cuomo and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have remained friendly, even going out to dinner recently — one of his first sightings in public and a signal that Cuomo still has political clout. And Cuomo touted Adams' efforts to crack down on crime in the city.
Asked Tuesday if he thinks Cuomo should run, Adams did not give a direct answer.
"He has to make his decision," the Democratic mayor, a moderate who ran on an anti-crime message, told reporters after an unrelated event. "As I stated, I thought it was important for him to step down at the time and thought it was the right decision. He can make the determination what he wants to do with his life in the future."
