Andrew Cuomo shuns public stage in New York City mayoral campaign

Families grocery-shopped, hungry passersby bought beef patties and homemade ginger juice and ordered birthday cakes, gym members did cardio, women got their eyebrows threaded. And in the middle of this ordinary March weekend routine at a shopping plaza in Southeast Queens, there was City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, launching her mayoral campaign to which she had invited the public.

Contrast that scene with ex-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's mayoral campaign kickoff six days earlier at a union headquarters in Manhattan: carpenters, painters and other unionized trade workers had been instructed just to show up there, and some attendees did not learn until the last moment for whom, what or why they were there, according to Politico.

Security guards manned at least three entry checkpoints, two downstairs, one upstairs. Access was restricted via color-coded wristbands. The general public couldn't come in, and anti-Cuomo protesters raged outside: Demonstrators, reading aloud from the deposition of a woman who was one of the 11 who accused him of sexual harassment, chanted "Hell no to Cuomo!" 

Like Adrienne Adams, every other candidate for June’s Democratic primary routinely appears at open and publicly announced events. Some even hold events on the street, where passersby occasionally shout at them. The candidates regularly take reporters' questions, advertise events, and welcome the public. Even Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection but hasn't been campaigning, appears most weeks to answer press questions and presides over public "town-hall"-style meetings in the boroughs.

At least for now, Cuomo is running for public office mostly away from the public. His events are barely announced or unannounced entirely, the guest lists curated, encounters otherwise by happenstance, and security tight.

Cuomo went to his first mayoral campaign forum, in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, on Sunday night, one in which the onstage format did not include questions to the candidates, according to Politico.

He has had other events since the kickoff — such as more endorsement announcements and a Women for Cuomo breakfast — but they’re typically not open to the public or publicized much in advance, if at all. And in addition to the #MeToo critics, protesters picketing him have also included those critical of his handling of the COVID-19 crisis, particularly the deaths of the elderly.

Cuomo, the former governor who resigned in scandal in 2021, has been the clear front-runner, with a double-digit lead according to every public poll, including in surveys taken when his candidacy was just a rumor. Cuomo and his backers have raised millions in just a few weeks. 

Asked for comment about Cuomo's public appearances, his spokesman Jason Elan pointed to the campaign's fundraising haul, nearly three dozen endorsements and policy papers published on the campaign website.

"Unlike everyone else, Governor Cuomo is running a proactive, positive, issue based campaign and spending his days meeting with voters to hear directly from them on their concerns and share his plans to make our city safer and affordable," Elan said in an email, adding: "He is focused on retail campaigning to meet the voters where they are."

On Friday, Cuomo’s tendency to shun public scrutiny was mocked by one of the other candidates, State Sen. Zohran Mamdani, who took questions outside Cuomo’s East 54th Street apartment building in Manhattan. Mamdani ridiculed Cuomo for having "moved back to New York City in October after decades living in Westchester, the Hamptons or Albany."

Going public for the primary

Laura Tamman, a Pace University clinical assistant professor of political science who studies political persuasion, is skeptical that Cuomo can continue to avoid open public appearances between now and the primary in June.

"I don’t think that’s gonna work for long," Tamman said in an interview. "I think it’s likely that he has as much support as he’s gonna get, and that his campaign knows that more exposure just heightens the risk of people attacking him, and him getting defensive or saying the wrong thing. So they’re trying to kinda fly above it all."

Keeping events unannounced and closed to the public also minimizes opportunities for rival candidates to deploy trackers — staffers who attend, surveil and record opponents — to catch the targeted candidate in a gaffe.

Still, it's almost unheard-of for a hopeful in a local election to avoid, or even to cherry-pick, participation in gatherings such as public candidate forums run by advocacy organizations and civic groups, Tamman said, particularly during an open primary. 

"People who turn out to vote in an off-year municipal party primary election are engaged voters, and they want to see the candidates show up, they want to see them answer questions," she said.

Brian Arbour, an associate professor at John Jay College who specializes in campaigns, elections and strategy, believes that avoiding the traditional campaign trail might not matter to the public in an era in which voters tend to get information via TV ads and social media.

Perhaps those who are deeply attuned to politics care that Cuomo isn’t appearing in public much, but most voters don’t care, he said.

"Part of the reason you might see this in 2025 where you never would have seen it in 1995 is the Cuomo campaign and their allies can generate media and stories through social media. It doesn’t have to get filtered through, well, you," he told a Newsday reporter in an interview. 

And Cuomo's approach doesn't seem to be dissuading donors, at least according to the most recent report of his campaign haul. Cuomo raised $1.5 million in 13 days since declaring his candidacy, and a pro-Cuomo super PAC, which can circumvent the city’s campaign finance laws regulating traditional donations, has raised almost an equal number.

Turning inward after scandal

About a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, after holding in-person briefings for months, the format was mostly switched to a virtual setting, where his staff picked certain reporters, ignored others and controlled the microphones.

It was December 2020 when a former economic development aide, Lindsey Boylan, accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her, an allegation that precipitated further allegations by other women. Cuomo denies all wrongdoing. Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after a report released by the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed 11 women.

Soon after those sexual-harassment allegations were first made public, he made sure he wasn't in the same room as reporters allowed to ask questions, between mid-December 2020 and late April 2021, according to The New York Times.

In 2014, when an investigation was published about how he shut down an anti-corruption panel once it turned its attention to his office, Cuomo likewise went into seclusion. Then, his office abruptly announced he would answer questions, with almost no notice, far upstate.

Years later, in the aftermath of his resignation in scandal over the #MeToo allegations, Cuomo largely disappeared from the public eye once again. He lived much of the time at his brother's bayfront compound outside Sag Harbor, and was occasionally spotted, including socializing with his longtime friend Billy Joel at his Hamptons estate or when he reportedly came to the aid of a stalled driver in East Hampton, according to the New York Post. Cuomo also dined with Eric Adams early in Adams' tenure.

Cuomo's first public speaking appearance since quitting the governorship was at a Crown Heights, Brooklyn, church run by an ally, according to a 2022 account in Politico.

Cuomo told attendees that he’s been leaning on Scripture in difficult times.

"God isn’t finished with me yet," he said.

A media announcement had come about 30 minutes before the service. Churchgoers were not given any advance notice.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.