Three Reasons Not to Vote for Andrew Cuomo
Don't Do It
This is a message to the Democratic primary voters of New York City, for all others, it is a warning of the dangers of readmitting disgraced failures with tough-guy acts back into public life. There are far more than three reasons not to vote for him, but this list is reduced for the sake of brevity.
Andrew Cuomo is running for Mayor of New York City. Here are three reasons why should not rank him anywhere on your Democratic primary ballot.
1) He is incompetent
Many people feel that Andrew Cuomo has a the necessary competence and political cunning to sort out the city’s many challenges. The opposite is true, Andrew Cuomo has no record of administrative competence. Most famously, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, then Governor Cuomo sent recovered elderly COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes prematurely, leading to thousands of excess deaths. To add insult to injury, the administration then deliberately undercounted the number of nursing home deaths to avoid bad publicity.1 Cuomo’s incompetence extends far beyond the nursing home scandal however. Cuomo promises to confront the public safety and homelessness crisis with vigor, but it was his policies as Governor that exacerbated the crisis. As Governor, Cuomo slashed state spending on psychiatric services, leading to a 28% decline in capacity and the return of patients to the streets before treatment was completed.2 These cuts made the crisis on our streets worse and put more pressure on New York City’s local government. Cuomo also promises to fix the subway, but as Governor he slashed over 250 million dollars from the MTA budget. He even demanded that the MTA pay for bailouts for upstate ski resorts.3 Cuomo now, ironically, says he is the best man to solve problems he created. Don’t get fooled.
2) He is incapable of dealing with Trump
In this terrifying time where President Trump is sending federal soldiers into American cities and ordering that thousand of American communities and families be torn apart, and is forcing punishing cuts to social services onto us, many people are rightfully looking for a Mayor who can shield New York City. Cuomo promises to do so, and many people are looking towards Cuomo for leadership. But the truth is he hasn’t actually shown any indication he’d fight Trump or provide the protection New York needs. In fact every indication suggests he’d be more like Mayor Adams, compliant at best and collaborative at worst. The truth is, he’s rarely criticized Trump over the course of this campaign. In fact, he’s claimed that he sees more benefit in working with Trump as a fellow “Queens boy.”4 In a survey conducted by THE CITY, Cuomo answered every question but the question asking if he’d stand up to Trump.5 It’s as if he is doing everything possible to indicate he would not be the defender the city needs. If you look under the hood however, it only gets worse, revealing that Cuomo and Trump share a laundry lost of campaign donors, including but not limited to hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, Home Depot founder Ken Langone, and a host of other special interest groups.6 Cuomo would be far from a safe pair of hands to deal with Trump, in fact he’d be the ultimate risk. New York City cannot afford to be led by someone who eats at the same trough as Donald Trump. If you want a Mayor who will stand up to Trump, do not fall for Cuomo’s macho man act, there are better options.
3) He is immoral
Andrew Cuomo has a shown a shocking lack of even basic morality. Firstly, he has been accused of fostering an unsafe work environment where harassment and intimidation of women was common. But this was not just flirting gone wrong. This was not him “just being Italian.” Since resigning, Cuomo has used his taxpayer-funded legal team to harass and intimidate his accusers into silence, including going so far as to subpoena gynecological records of one of the women who came forward to share stories of the former New York governor’s sexual harassment.7 Again, he has used your tax dollars (to the tune of 61 million) to fund a campaign of personal revenge.8 This is not someone who deserves public trust of any kind. It goes further, during the height of COVID, Cuomo’s internal emails indicated he knew how bad the situation had become due to his own nursing home policy, but to this day has refused to accept any responsibility for his own policies.9 As we criticize Trump for his disrespect for women, the truth, and basic decency, we must extend this to Cuomo or else we indulge hypocrisy.
Andrew Cuomo has cultivated an image as a tough-guy who will do whatever it takes to get things done. Some folks will think that is what is needed in this moment of crisis for our city. But if his record of incompetence and cruelty is any indication, it will just mean superficial feel-good gestures while our problems get worse and the stench of scandal and misconduct rises. On Tuesday, June 24th, do not rank Andrew Cuomo. Don’t get fooled, New York City can do better.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/03/03/four-reminders-of-andrew-cuomos-disastrous-record-on-city-transportation
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook-pm/2025/06/10/republican-donors-andrew-cuomo-mayor-trump-zohran-mamdani-00397030
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook-pm/2025/06/10/republican-donors-andrew-cuomo-mayor-trump-zohran-mamdani-00397030
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/andrew-cuomo-taxpayer-funded-revenge-campaign-1235301494/
https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/opinion/despite-his-attempt-to-shift-blame-nursing-home-deaths-are-on-cuomo/
All images are property of the New York Post.
Mamdanimentum