Will Bill de Blasio challenge Andrew Cuomo in 2022 election? NYC mayor predicts 'harder' times for NY governor
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo continues to face criticism from party colleagues over allegations of sexual harassment that a number of women have brought against him in recent weeks. On Monday, March 8, Big Apple Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, said he believes “more information” about sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo will surface, making it “harder” for him to rule.
De Blasio, who slammed Cuomo over the accusations earlier this month saying “sexual harassment is not funny”, made his remarks at a daily press briefing but stopped short of revealing whether he believed that the embattled governor should resign. Recently, a number of top Democrats from New York have urged Cuomo to step down in the face of the criticism though the latter remained defiant. “I’ll say it my own way,” De Blasio said when asked whether Cuomo should quit. “I just don’t see how he can govern effectively when fewer and fewer people believe him. I think there’s more information that’s going to come out that makes it harder and harder,” he added. Cuomo was praised last year for his role in leading the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic which has hit New York badly. But 2021 started on a bad note for the veteran politician, thanks to the allegations that his administration hid Covid-19-related deaths in nursing homes followed by the sexual harassment allegations, mostly by a number of his former aides.
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Other reports have suggested that while de Blasio has not openly spoken about his thought on whether Cuomo should resign, he has been telling in his inner circle and union allies about running for the post of the governor and is also growing more confident about a win, New York Post reported on Saturday, March 6.
“I fell out of my chair laughing — he is honestly thinking about it,” the report quoted a former senior adviser as saying. “Because of all this Cuomo s**t, he is feeling bold.” De Blasio has a history of feuds with Cuomo and if he wants to take advantage of Cuomo’s growing unpopularity, it is not surprising. Hizzoner though didn’t talk about it before the media and told a reporter last week: “The future will take care of itself,” when asked whether he was eyeing for the NY governor’s job. If de Blasio eventually challenges Cuomo in the Democratic primary, it will mark a bitter rivalry the Democratic primary contest has not seen since the battle between former NYC mayor Ed Koch and Governor Mario Cuomo, father of Andrew, decades ago.
Cuomo, who completed a decade in the governor’s office in January, will be looking for his fourth term in November 2022 and de Blasio has reportedly told his aides about running against the incumbent then, the NY Post report added. De Blasio, on the other hand, is serving his second and final term as the mayor of NYC and it will conclude this year.
De Blasio also said on Monday about the charges against Cuomo: “It’s gotten to be worse by the day and fewer and fewer people believe in the governor and that’s a very sad state of affairs for our state. But we’re going to overcome it and we’re going to move forward.”