Adams and Cuomo have started sniping
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, left, and NYC Mayor Eric Adams. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez, Corey Sipkin
For this upcoming election cycle in New York City, the hype is building for a potential intraparty rivalry between Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and ex-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Oblique verbal shots have been fired over who’s to blame for a recent spate of horrendous, irrational crimes in the subway and elsewhere.
The indicted Adams, who in 2021 defeated primary candidates to his left by touting "law and order," is quoted by Politico as saying: "People who are running — they’re going to have to take claim for the stuff that they did when they were holding office ... Who was there for the original bail reform? Who signed some of these procedures? You’re going to have to answer these questions."
Cuomo signed the original bill in 2019.
Republicans have effectively used this elimination of bail for many crimes as a cudgel in elections on Long Island and elsewhere. After her difficult 2022 election, Gov. Kathy Hochul responded by getting the State Legislature to restore bail as an option in some cases.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi replied to Politico: "This is all premature, but it’s worth noting that in 2023, Mayor Adams dismissed the bail reform debate as a ‘bumper sticker’ slogan."
And bail is not the only issue. NYC mayoral races — regardless of who’s running — hinge on party clout and to some degree on identity politics.
Because Democrats have such a firm lock on citywide offices, that party’s primary has often been tantamount to the general election. Which is why, for example, one organization’s effort to get Jewish voters to sign up as Democrats could help Cuomo, the ex-governor’s team would hope.
Prodded by an upsurge of antisemitic incidents, the Jewish Voters Action Network looks to maximize the vote in a dozen City Council districts with a significant percentage of Jewish residents, its leader Maury Litwack has announced.
Last year, another nonprofit headed by Litwack set up shop in Cedarhurst to encourage Five Towns participation in the congressional race between then-Rep. Anthony D’Esposito and the eventual winner, new Rep. Laura Gillen, a Democrat. Republicans had hoped Litwack's effort would help D'Esposito win. Litwack also played a role in last year's Democratic primary in the 16th Congressional District where Westchester County Executive George Latimer beat incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a critic of Israel.
Because New York holds closed primaries — only party members can vote — non-Democratic voters have long been effectively excluded from influencing choices for mayor, comptroller and public advocate.
According to election officials, as of two months ago there were 3,489,414 Democrats registered in the city, as well as 573,644 Republicans. And there are a remarkable 1,155,323 "blanks," or voters not affiliated with any party. Thus there are many residents whose influence could grow if they joined the Democrats and voted in primaries — regardless of political philosophy. But a mass re-enrollment doesn’t seem imminent. As on Long Island, "blanks" as a group have grown over the years.
For the city as elsewhere, low turnout generally means that a targeted effort to get a particular constituency to vote can have an outsize impact. In 2021, when Adams won, the primary turnout for both major parties was 27% and the general election turnout was worse, 23.3%. In the general election, Adams beat Republican Curtis Sliwa, who’s preparing to run again this year, by 67% to 28%.
That's the backdrop for a brewing battle between Adams and Cuomo — centrist Democrats in the same big city — if both make it onto the ballot.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
