As Adams’s Fate Hangs in the Balance, Cuomo Waits in the Shadows

As Adams’s Fate Hangs in the Balance, Cuomo Waits in the Shadows

The uncertainty surrounding Mayor Eric Adams has fueled rampant speculation that former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo may enter the mayor’s race.

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By Nicholas Fandos and Benjamin Oreskes

For nearly three years since he resigned as governor of New York in the face of a ballooning sexual harassment scandal, Andrew M. Cuomo has been trying to forge a path back to public office.

The indictment of Mayor Eric Adams this week on foreign bribery and corruption charges may have offered Mr. Cuomo his clearest opening yet. The question now is whether he will seize it.

Mr. Cuomo, an exceedingly careful political tactician, gave no immediate hints. As other prominent New York leaders pushed out statements and calls for Mr. Adams to resign, the former Democratic governor remained conspicuously mum.

In a statement released on Friday after Mr. Adams pleaded not guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo’s longtime spokesman, said that he “will do whatever he can to help.”

“That said,” Mr. Azzopardi added, “the speculation is premature as Governor Cuomo believes Mayor Adams is entitled to due process.”

But behind the scenes, allies and fellow Democrats who have spoken to him say Mr. Cuomo has spent months closely monitoring the investigations, gaming out a potential comeback after a yearslong public campaign to aggressively fight the harassment accusations against him.

His team has tested his strength in polls. He hosted donors at a members-only Manhattan club last December. And he has given a series of speeches to Jewish groups and Black churches — one as recently as Sunday — lamenting the state of the city.

“It very much feels like Andrew Cuomo is gearing up to run for mayor,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic political strategist who has spoken to him recently. “But it’s not going to be a walk for anybody.”

If he follows through, Mr. Cuomo’s boosters believe he could offer a compelling pitch to a city straining under the weight of political scandal and a continuing migrant crisis. Despite being run out of office in 2021 by a scathing report accusing him of sexual harassment, Mr. Cuomo, 66, remains one of the best-known figures in New York. He could deploy millions of dollars left over in his old campaign account to help present himself as a tested leader ready to stabilize the city.

In a speech Sunday at a Black congregation in Brooklyn, Mr. Cuomo sounded a lot like Mr. Adams, as he bemoaned crime “seemingly everywhere” hurting Black and brown New Yorkers, and an influx of migrants that had gotten “out of control.”

He called himself a “get-it-done, make-a-difference progressive” and blamed policies pushed by the left for New York’s woes.

Political strategists say Mr. Cuomo would probably prefer that Mr. Adams resign or be removed from office. A special election to replace him would be nonpartisan and would take place on an accelerated timeline.

A poll taken last December showed Mr. Cuomo leading a hypothetical special election against the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, and Kathryn Garcia, Mr. Adams’s runner-up in the 2021 Democratic primary. Mr. Williams would step in as acting mayor if Mr. Adams leaves office.

“He’d have a big advantage over some of his opponents if he were to jump in,” said former Gov. David A. Paterson. “He has the name recognition, the war chest and 11 years of pretty solid public service.”

It is murkier how Mr. Cuomo would proceed if Mr. Adams holds out and follows through with a re-election campaign next year. In a Democratic primary, Mr. Cuomo would face not only Mr. Adams but also Brad Lander, the city comptroller; Mr. Lander’s predecessor, Scott M. Stringer; and State Senators Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie. Other candidates may yet join the race.

When the investigation into Mr. Adams first became public late last year, Charlie King, one of Mr. Cuomo’s confidants, said he was “not going to run against the mayor.” Asked on Thursday if the statement was still true, Mr. King did not respond.

A spokesman for Mr. Adams declined to comment.

It is not the first time Mr. Cuomo has toyed with a comeback. He thought about running for governor as a Democrat or independent in 2022, at a time when few supporters were willing to be seen with him. He was briefly mentioned as a possible challenger to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in this year’s Democratic primary.

Longtime allies, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the mercurial former governor, said Mr. Cuomo has historically been wary of entering races unless he is convinced he can win, and that he would most likely take his time deciding how to proceed. Several questioned whether he really wanted to be mayor, a position he spent his career denigrating, and said he would prefer to win back his old job in 2026 and avenge the abrupt end of his decade-long governorship.

But there would also be more serious challenges to his candidacy.

His party’s left flank still loathes him. Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, said that the only thing worse than Mr. Adams staying in power would be Mr. Cuomo returning to elected office.

A campaign would almost certainly open Mr. Cuomo to renewed scrutiny of his personal conduct. He has already spent three years and millions of taxpayer dollars defending himself and his aides in court in civil complaints, criminal investigations and inquiries related to accusations of sexual harassment. His opponents would be likely to resurface the most serious of them.

“Andrew Cuomo is an unrepentant serial sexual harasser and has no business ever serving in public office again,” said Mariann Meier Wang, the lawyer for Brittany Commisso, a former aide who accused Mr. Cuomo of groping her in late 2020.

Ms. Commisso’s suit came after a criminal complaint was filed against Mr. Cuomo, which Albany County prosecutors investigated but later dropped. Mr. Cuomo denied the allegations.

Republicans in Congress are still investigating the Cuomo administration’s pandemic response. In a hearing this month, they tried to pin the blame for large numbers of deaths in nursing homes on him and his administration, and they have recently subpoenaed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office for hundreds of emails from Mr. Cuomo’s time in office.

Mr. Cuomo is facing another significant electoral dilemma. His political success has long rested on the same working- and middle-class Black communities that launched Mr. Adams to the mayoralty.

Advisers to both men know that Mr. Cuomo would struggle to win without their support. And so any suggestion that he is shoving Mr. Adams off the stage prematurely could backfire, particularly after the former governor asked Black voters and pastoral leaders to withhold judgment of him during his own scandal.

It was no coincidence that in the moments before the indictment was unsealed, Mr. Adams physically surrounded himself Thursday morning with Black clergy and other leaders at a news conference. In interviews afterward, several of them sent Mr. Cuomo a clear message.

“Of course he could look at it. But if he does, I’m going to look again at the charges,” said Charles B. Rangel, the longtime dean of Harlem politics, who then added a veiled warning to Mr. Cuomo. “I may have missed something that would cause an intelligent guy to think the charges are an impediment to a successful campaign.”

Hazel N. Dukes, the president of the N.A.A.C.P. New York State Conference, said “people would not look kindly” on Mr. Cuomo entering the race before Mr. Adams has a chance to properly defend himself.

She was once one of Mr. Cuomo’s closest allies during his time in Albany and embodied his deep bond to the city’s Black residents. When he was battling to stay in office in 2021, she even referred to him as her son, saying of the Italian American politician, “he ain’t white.”

“I stayed with Andrew until they made a decision. I said let him have his day in court. He knows that,” she said. “I hope he does the same thing. Show respect.”