Former NY Gov. Cuomo names 3 mistakes made during his political career
Former NY Gov. Cuomo names mistakes made during his political career
The race for New York City mayor is getting more competitive as City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams officially joins the growing list of candidates. Meanwhile, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with reporters in Greenwich Village, marking his first public appearance since launching his campaign last weekend. Cuomo reflected on his past leadership, saying he would have added more police to the MTA, done more pandemic preparation, and taken things less seriously during his time in office. FOX 5's Morgan McKay has the story.
NEW YORK CITY - When launching his campaign bid for NYC mayor, Andrew Cuomo admitted that he'd made mistakes, but omitted details. On Thursday, FOX 5 NY's Morgan McKay got the former New York governor to list three of his political blunders.
For the first time in years, Cuomo took questions from the New York City Press Corps in Greenwich Village.
Andrew Cuomo speaks during a rally with members of District Council 9 and District Council of Carpenters unions as he launches his campaign for the mayor at DC of Carpenters headquarters. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
McKay asked him to specify the mistakes he referenced, and he tried to dodge the question, so she followed up by pushing him to name the top three.
What they're saying:
Here's how Cuomo responded:
- Adding more police to the MTA: "I would have added more police to the MTA if I knew New York City was going to be cutting police, right?"
- Preparing for a pandemic: "If you knew you were going to face a pandemic, I would have done much more preparatory work in the years preceding the pandemic,"
- Acting too seriously: "I think I would have taken it all with two grains of salt, you know, sometimes, I took everything too seriously."
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) speaks to reporters following a closed-door interview with the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Coronavirus Pandemic on Capitol Hill, on June 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Image
The other side:
Notably, Cuomo did not mention scandals that plagued his governship.
He did not mention how his administration purposely undercounted the number of COVID-related nursing-home deaths, nor the sexual harassment allegations – both which led to his resignation as governor. He also didn't mention how he was the one to sign the state's bail reform law in 2019 that had to be amended multiple times.
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In addition, Cuomo did not mention how New York taxpayers have spent more than $17 million on his legal bills and how the state is still doling out money to his existing legal battles.
The former governor said he also doesn't regret signing the congestion pricing bill, but he would have liked to have paused it, at least for a while, saying it wasn't the right time to implement it.
Cuomo's mayoral run
The backstory:
Cuomo officially announced his bid for New York City mayor this past weekend.
In a Honan Strategy Group poll released last month, Cuomo led with 33%. Meanwhile, public polling has him in a comfortable lead over the other Democrats in the race.
This time around, Cuomo seems to be focusing his 2025 mayoral campaign on what he describes as a city in crisis. In his 2025 mayoral campaign ad, Cuomo positioned himself as a leader ready to address what he calls "a city in crisis."
Cuomo argues that the city feels unsafe and out of control because of poor leadership, and he believes his experience makes him the right person to fix these problems and bring the city back on track.