The political comeback of disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is playing out in front of our very eyes. Will New York Democrats make it clear which side of the fence they stand on? Or will they simply roll over and let it play out, as Virginia Democrats did for the blackface-wearing Gov. Ralph Northam?
Just months after his sexual harassment scandals cost him his office, Cuomo’s shameless comeback got underway with an ad campaign. New polls show just how real it may be. In a poll from the Hill and Emerson College, Cuomo trails Gov. Kathy Hochul among Democratic primary voters by only 4 points. Cuomo has the support of 59% of black Democratic voters. Among all Democratic voters, 43% agree with Cuomo that the investigation into his behavior was politically motivated.
Most notably, voter trust in the findings of the investigation into Cuomo has already fallen 5 points since August, while distrust has risen by 8 points. Cuomo is targeting the report in his ad campaign, hoping to eliminate the only blot on his public image. (Democratic voters apparently didn’t care much about the whole putting-COVID-positive-patients-into-nursing-homes thing.)
The question now falls to prominent New York Democrats. Are they willing to come out now and bury any hypothetical Cuomo campaign before it begins? Or will they just sit and watch, jumping on the bandwagon of the winner once it has been decided, even if that winner is the despicable former governor?
There’s evidence to suggest that they will keep quiet and hope Cuomo simply loses interest. Democrats did not even call on Cuomo to step down until months after the first sexual harassment allegations against him. The nursing home deaths were an afterthought. And with Northam’s rehabilitation, we saw that time heals all wounds. Democrats across the country called on him to resign, yet his endorsement was cherished in Virginia’s elections just two years later.
Democrats, both nationally and in New York, should spike Cuomo’s comeback now instead of hoping nothing comes of it. He was clearly unfit when the Democratic Party was propping him up as the master of COVID-19 policies, yet they rallied around him anyway. The least they could do to make up for that would be to make it clear that he should never be allowed back into public office.
