Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) positioned himself as the best person to oppose President Donald Trump should he be elected mayor of New York City later this year.
Cuomo’s comments came as he received an endorsement from Queens County Democratic Party Rep. Gregory Meeks. At an event at the party’s headquarters in Forest Hills, Meeks said Cuomo was a proud “Queens boy,” as Cuomo positioned himself as the official to lead New York City because of his previous experience as governor during Trump’s first term.
“We all know this man. He came from Queens. I dealt with him for four years. I fought with him for four years. I know him,” Cuomo said. “He, in many ways, has learned from his first administration to his second, and he’s more diabolical in this administration.”
Meeks additionally said Cuomo is “the best person to stand up to that guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” in reference to the address of the White House.
“We need a person who can communicate the Democratic Party’s issues and stand and tell the truth,” Meeks said. “We have seen him do this before. The last person that Washington, DC, wants to see become mayor of the City of New York is Andrew Cuomo.”
Cuomo also touted his past record in advancing the movement to raise the minimum wage and paid family leave in the state, according to amNewYork.
According to a March poll from Quinnipiac University, Cuomo holds a significant advantage over incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who is facing federal bribery and fraud charges. The poll released earlier this month showed that if the Democratic primary for mayor were held then, Cuomo would receive 31% support, and Adams would get 11% of the support.
The former governor’s comments come as a new Politico report details how the governor withheld vaccines from the Citi Field mass distribution site for several weeks amid disagreements with then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mets owner Steve Cohen.
“We got Citi Field ready to open, and for two weeks, the state denied our request to allocate our own vaccine to the location,” a person assigned to COVID-19 relief efforts in the de Blasio administration told Politico. “After several days of fighting, the governor’s staff finally told us it was Cuomo personally blocking it because he didn’t like that the mayor would be the one to open Citi Field.”
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Cuomo and his administration had been under investigation for several years by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic over his denial of involvement in the production of a March 2020 order mandating that nursing homes admit COVID-19-positive residents.
He resigned as governor of New York in 2021 after facing sexual harassment allegations from multiple women, which he denied.