Andrew M. Cuomo launches mayoral campaign with Manhattan event, says NYC is 'in crisis'

Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday kicked off his mayoral campaign with its first rally, saying "New York is in crisis" as he seeks a political comeback 3½ years after resigning the governorship in scandal.

Cuomo, who after months of rumors announced his run a day earlier via social media video, rattled off a list of purported problems he said are bedeviling the city — fears of crime, menacing mentally ill homeless people in public, a sense of unease and overall decline.

"We know we can turn this city around, and we know we will," he said at the Manhattan headquarters of the District Council of Carpenters.

According to NYPD statistics, crime was down for all of 2024, compared with 2023, with the exception of felony assaults, which are at an at-least quarter-century high. Cuomo said statistics don’t tell the whole story.

"New York City is in trouble," he said. "You can feel it. You don't need to read statistics and you can feel it."

Scandal sank governorship

Cuomo quit the governorship in 2021 after allegations that he sexually harassed state workers. He was also accused of covering up the nursing home deaths of elderly COVID-19 patients. He has denied all wrongdoing.

Cuomo enters the race as the front-runner, according to public polls released since the beginning of the year. The incumbent, Eric Adams, has been indicted on charges of defrauding the city’s campaign finance system and trading political donations and luxury travel for municipal favors. A judge is considering a motion by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice to dismiss the Adams case.

Speaking at a St. Patrick’s Day parade on Staten Island, Adams said candidates like Cuomo would finally need to articulate their positions.

“There’s a famous quote," he said, “ ‘Come one, come all.’ ”

At the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York in Queens, hours before Cuomo's event, Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a service and was asked by reporters what she thought of Cuomo’s bid.

"Anyone who wants to run for office is entitled to," Hochul said. "This is America."

Hochul, Cuomo's former lieutenant governor, added: "Given the unique power I have with respect to the mayor’s position, it would be inappropriate for me to endorse in this particular race."

Separately on Sunday, mayoral candidate Brad Lander criticized Cuomo’s kickoff — taking jabs at his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and spotlighting the string of sexual harassment allegations against him.

“Andrew Cuomo sounds to me like someone who hates New York City and wants to run on its problems for his own revenge fantasy,” Lander said. “I don’t believe New Yorkers want to replace one corrupt chaos agent with another.”

Lander zeroed in on criticisms of Cuomo's order early in the pandemic that nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals, and a finding that the former governor undercounted the deaths of nursing home residents by attributing those deaths to the hospitals they were rushed to before they died.

COVID-19 response assailed

“We need a mayor who is serious about public health and not about lying to protect his $5 million book deal,” Lander said, referring to Cuomo's book on how he handled the health crisis: “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

A state ethics board ruled that Cuomo had to forfeit millions in royalties from the 2020 pandemic memoir after they said he used government resources and personnel to write it. Though Cuomo challenged the ruling, the state’s highest court ruled against him last month.

The campaign of State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) who is running for mayor, sent out an email: “Cuomo Is No Friend to Black New Yorkers.”

The District Council of Carpenters, which has endorsed Cuomo, hosted Sunday’s kickoff, at which Cuomo's daughters introduced him. Outside the union building, a group of women, citing the sexual harassment allegations, protested Cuomo's comeback.

"We are here to say, hell no to Cuomo!" demonstrators chanted.

Cuomo's event screened attendees through multiple layers of security, with wristbands for different levels of access, so only invited supporters could be present — precautions unseen at any of the other mayoral candidates’ events.

Union president Paul Capurso said that Cuomo as governor oversaw projects that created work for his union.

"Do you know who never forgets the middle class? Andrew Cuomo," Capurso said.

Curtis Townsend, 61, of the South Bronx, a union painter with District Council 9, said he backs Cuomo, not just because of the union's support, but also because he likes the man and thinks he would be a good mayor. Crime, Townsend said, is a top concern.

"I ride the train every day to go to work and it’s kinda dangerous out there," Townsend said. "You really gotta watch your back."

Third-year apprentice carpenter Daria Tsvetkova, 37, of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, doesn't support Cuomo but joined the pro-Cuomo rally because she said her union, Local 926, told her to attend. Tsvetkova said she can't back Cuomo because of the allegations he sexually harassed subordinates.

"It’s disqualifying, any sort of harassment against a female," she said. "I just think it’s wrong. It’s unprofessional."

Tsvetkova is backing Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens also running for mayor.