Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is talking to close friends and family this week as he makes final preparations for the inevitable tumult that would come if he runs for New York City mayor as his team eyes Sunday for an official campaign launch, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, cautioned that Sunday isn’t set in stone yet for a Cuomo campaign announcement. They did say it has been looked at as a serious option, though, as the 2025 mayoral race is already in full swing.
Cuomo has spent months laying the groundwork for a mayoral run.
One of the final steps he is taking this week before pulling the trigger on a long-awaited challenge against Mayor Adams is calling and meeting with his closest relatives and friends, including his three adult daughters, the sources told the Daily News.
He’s checking their temperature to make sure they stand by a potential decision for him to mount a run as the race is widely expected to become deeply contentious. It’s common for candidates for higher office to make talking with their relatives the final step in a decision process.
In Cuomo’s case, that calculation is even more important, the sources said, as he sits on political baggage, including resigning as governor in 2021 after being accused of sexually harassing more than a dozen women and undercounting COVID-19 deaths in New York. Cuomo has denied ever engaging in any wrongdoing, but said upon his resignation that he wanted to “deeply apologize” for anyone he made feel uncomfortable.
Rich Azzopardi declined to comment Wednesday on Cuomo’s private conversations or the timing of his potential campaign announcement.
Petitioning for June’s Democratic mayoral primary started Tuesday. Like all other candidates in the race, Cuomo will need to collect thousands of signatures from registered city voters by April 3 in order to qualify for the June 24 mayoral primary ballot.
Since last year, Cuomo has prepared for a potential run, lining up campaign staff and fundraising connections while his team has floated his name publicly as a viable candidate. More recently, the preparations have become more tangible as Politico reported this week he has secured an endorsement from a major New York labor union even before announcing a run.
Cuomo’s entry would dramatically change the dynamic of the already crowded primary field. Even though he has yet to launch a campaign, polls have consistently projected that Cuomo is the front-runner in the race as Adams faces all-time low approval ratings amid fallout from his federal corruption indictment and criticism over his relationship with President Trump.
But should he join the race, Cuomo wouldn’t just face off against Adams.
More than a half dozen candidates have already declared challenges against Adams, including Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake and businessman Whitney Tilson. There are also conversations underway about Council Speaker Adrienne Adams joining the race.
Several of the already declared candidates have spent months criticizing Adams as unfit to lead the city. But amid the increasing Cuomo buzz, they’ve also made clear they’re prepared to turn their attention to the ex-gov.
“I don’t believe that New Yorkers want to trade one corrupt chaos agent for another,” Lander told reporters Tuesday when asked about Cuomo’s expected entry into the race.