Andrew Cuomo preparing to run for NYC mayor, sources say

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is preparing to run for New York City mayor, according to multiple sources, giving him a chance at a political comeback while stepping into a race featuring an incumbent embroiled in controversy.

Tuesday marks the opening of the petitioning period for candidates to gather signatures to qualify for a June primary in the mayoral race. Cuomo is expected to announce his bid in a matter of days, the sources said.

Two fundraising meet and greets have been scheduled for the next few weeks, one source said.

"Over the course of several months, he’s gotten enormous encouragement from people across the gamut, whether they are businesspeople or people from the labor movement," said a second source close to Cuomo who requested anonymity because nothing is official yet.

The source also cited polls showing Cuomo would lead New York City Mayor Eric Adams and seven other candidates if he jumps in, and said none of the other hopefuls have the name recognition or electoral base that can match the former governor's.

"Those are all encouraging signs," the source said. 

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, said Tuesday: "It all remains premature, but New Yorkers know he spent a lifetime fighting for and delivering for them." He then listed a host of projects completed and laws signed during Cuomo’s nearly 11-year tenure as governor.

But Cuomo would face scrutiny about the circumstances of his resignation as governor in 2021, amid allegations of harassing younger female aides, covering up the number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 lockdown and using state resources to write a book about his management of the pandemic — all of which he has vigorously denied.

Adams has been indicted on federal corruption charges, alleging bribery, wire fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. President Donald Trump's Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the charges, but a federal judge has deferred a ruling on the dismissal motion.

Meanwhile, Adams said Monday he intends to run for reelection.

"Yes, I’m running," the mayor said at a news conference. "Petitions will be in the streets. If you see one with my name on it, please sign it."

Adams faces a daunting path to reelection even if the charges are dropped — but don’t count him out yet, veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf said.

"Polling data shows he died [politically] a long time ago," Sheinkopf said. "Do you discount an incumbent mayor just because the polls say so? No. But you have to admit, we’ve never had an incumbent mayor under indictment."

Sheinkopf noted that "in the last 80 years, only two mayors of New York City have been defeated after one term" and under extraordinary circumstances.

Abe Beame was defeated in 1977 after presiding over a massive fiscal crisis in which the city almost declared bankruptcy. David Dinkins lost in 1993 at a time crime was seen as out of control. Adams still has a chance to avoid the same outcome.

"He has 90 days," Sheinkopf said, referring to the primary. "If he can prove the city is in fact better managed than people are saying, that he’s keeping people safe, that the economy is moving forward and that the charges against him are an outrage, he has a chance."

Cuomo would become the front-runner the moment he jumps in, Sheinkopf said, and will have the advantage of being seen as "the insurgent" even though he has been in New York politics for decades.

Cuomo’s "baggage" from his own scandal could be "offset by his accomplishments" as governor, including a slew of infrastructure improvement projects and a property tax cap, Sheinkopf said.

But at least one group, United for a Better Tomorrow, already is running anti-Cuomo ads to remind voters of the former governor’s history, contending his lead will "dwindle" once voters remember.

"Andrew Cuomo didn’t care much about Black New Yorkers until he got into trouble, and then that’s when he needed us to bail him out," one ad says.

Also, other candidates have taken aim.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) started a website called "quietcuomo.com" which attacks Cuomo for his "total silence" about "any of Trump’s actions and orders that hurt New York City."

Myrie is just one of a field of Democratic contenders. Others include City Comptroller Brad Lander, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Jackson Heights) and Assemb. Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), who, as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has support from the left end of the party.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy