(NewsNation) — After an unexpected upset in the primary to Zohran Mamdani, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent in the Nov. 4 election for mayor of New York City.
Mamdani is leading the race, and Cuomo is just ahead of Republican Curtis Sliwa. The winner will replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who ended his reelection bid in September.
Who is Andrew Cuomo?
Cuomo, 67, is the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. He served as governor of New York from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned after multiple reports of sexual harassment were made against him. He is the brother of NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
He served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001.
After his time in the Clinton administration, Cuomo worked at the law firm Fried Frank from 2001 to 2004, before joining real estate firm Island Capital.
He was the New York attorney general from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2010, and served a four-year term before being elected governor.
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What are Andrew Cuomo’s views on the war in Gaza?
Following the International Criminal Court’s war crimes indictment against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cuomo joined a group of high-powered lawyers to defend him.
“I am proud to be on the legal defense for the prime minister against the arrest warrant at the ICC, and I am proud to stand against antisemitism,” he told a crowd while speaking at the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education in New York City in 2024.
In October, Cuomo declined to say whether Israel was committing a genocide in the Gaza Strip, as a growing number of Democrats and some Republicans condemned Israel’s actions.
“I believe it is obviously a horrific situation. We want peace. It’s long overdue. To watch on a daily basis the carnage that is going on in Gaza is difficult,” Cuomo told NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview last week.
Pressed on whether he would call the situation a genocide, Cuomo replied, “I don’t, I don’t — it’s not my place to provide terminology in this political context.”
“But return the hostages,” he continued. “Eliminate Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, and let’s have peace finally, and that — that is long, long overdue. Now my opponent talks about it all the time. It’s not really a mayoral issue, but it is his main political issue because it is a very emotional issue.”
What are Andrew Cuomo’s views on immigration?
Cuomo has been a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump’s militarized immigration policies.
His campaign website features a “six-point plan” in response to Trump’s deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles and Chicago.
He has also demanded that immigration officers remove their masks while conducting operations.
“ICE Agents should not be allowed to hide behind anonymity,” a statement on his campaign website reads. “They must be required to identify themselves. Let’s be clear: ICE does not run this city. They cannot violate fundamental rights, and they cannot operate with impunity free from accountability.”
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As governor, Cuomo worked to make New York a “sanctuary state” and signed an executive order to that effect during Trump’s first administration in 2017.
“New York became the Empire State due to the contributions of immigrants from every corner of the globe and we will not let the politics of fear and intimidation divide us,” Cuomo said in a statement at the time. Executive Order 170, which is still in place, prohibits state law enforcement from providing immigration information to federal authorities unless required by a court order.”
What are Andrew Cuomo’s views on crime?
Cuomo has criticised the previous administration’s crime-fighting tactics, such as “stop and frisk,” and has lamented the shrinking New York Police Department.
“The NYPD has experienced an unprecedented level of attrition in the police force, with roughly 10% of the NYPD retiring or quitting the force in 2024,” he stated. “Despite this level of attrition, Police Academy classes in 2024 were initially canceled before being partially restored. The net result is that the size of the police force today is smaller than it was three decades ago, even though the city is larger and the NYPD is responsible for more functions than it was then.”
Cuomo’s “public safety plan” on his campaign website offers specifics:
“Andrew Cuomo’s public safety strategy involves getting back to the basics of policing and crime prevention, including the NYPD and NYPD Transit police fully staffed (at roughly the levels of the Dinkins administration after itsSafe Streets/Safe Cities initiative), deployment of officers in a strategy of community policing that makes their presence felt in neighborhoods coupled with precision policing that focuses on the relatively small number of individuals and locations that are responsible for a high percentage of serious crime, and low tolerance for smaller offenses that invite more serious violations.”
Who has endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor?
Cuomo has been endorsed by Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres, Gregory Meeks, Adriano Espaillat and Tom Suozzi, as well as former New York Gov. David Paterson and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Cuomo has also been endorsed by several labor organizations, including IBEW Local 3, Teamsters Local 237, Teamsters Joint Council 16, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726 and ATU NY State Legislative Conference Board, New York City Deputy Sheriffs’ Benevolent Association and the New York City Coalition of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
The general election for New York City’s mayoral race is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
