Mayor Eric Adams’ determination to drop his bid for reelection opens a slim path for Andrew Cuomo to win Metropolis Corridor — and stave off an totally disastrous Zohran Mamdani mayoralty. However to do this, the ex-gov must get far out of his consolation zone.
He’s been getting simply 25% of voters’ assist within the RealClear Politics ballot common for good cause: He’s acquired a troubling document — and isn’t significantly likeable.
To win in November, he has to win over most of Adams’ backers and a few of Republican Curtis Sliwa’s, too.
A brand new-and-improved Cuomo, one really dedicated to standing as much as the wacky left, would possibly have an opportunity. What would he need to do?
He can begin by exhibiting some heretofore uncharacteristic heat: Shed the bully picture and the self-righteous, unapologetic tones.
Be good. Be respectful. Be humble. Be trustworthy.
Cease blaming the opposite man and “politics.”
Then, lay out some agency coverage positions, and element particularly what he’ll do to see them by way of.
He ought to admit the errors he made as governor.
When he met with The Publish’s editorial board in March, he claimed he was helpless to cease the Legislature’s uber-lefties, who (per Cuomo) rammed by way of disastrous laws, like bail reform, the local weather lunacy, congestion pricing, the battle on landlords, all in opposition to his will.
In actuality, he himself referred to as for bail reform in his 2018 State of the State Handle, and provided his personal invoice to boost the age to attempt perps as adults.
If he desires to assert his purpose was to see reform performed proper, he owes the voters some account of how that gambit went mistaken — which begins with an admission that it did.
Then give the voters some sense of how he’ll cope with the fallout when he’ll seemingly have much less leverage in opposition to state lawmakers as mayor than he did as gov, and face a Metropolis Council that’s no less than as far left because the Legislature.
He really can brag about some previous successes: He stood up heroically for town’s constitution faculties when then-new Mayor Invoice de Blasio tried to intestine them, for instance, acquired a stable statewide property-tax-limit regulation handed — and upended Albany business-as-usual to erase enormous funds gaps when he took over as gov.
He was at his greatest, that’s, when he rejected lefty shibboleths and the “extra authorities is at all times the reply” crowd — and at his worst when he tried to “cleverly” outmaneuver the opposition.
His marketing campaign web site has some detailed plans on his core concern of public security, however even that might stand some bolstering with, for instance, frank dialogue of how he’s going to fund the 5,000 new cops he means to rent.
On housing: Will he double down on Adams’ “Metropolis of Sure” successes? How precisely is he going to enhance high quality in NYCHA developments?
Inform us the place he desires to choose up Adams’ ball and run with it, the place town must face information and dump failed applications and approaches — heck, he might do worse than to clarify what’s mistaken with key Mamdani proposals and why doing the other makes extra sense.
Adams and Sliwa voters will reply to his vows to close down open-air drug and prostitution markets — which appear to be the solely “free markets” Mamdani desires to prosper: Get granular on these plans, and on the catastrophe the socialist will ship on these fronts.
At coronary heart, Andrew Cuomo actually is a common sense Italian child from Queens — however he must open that coronary heart, and triple down on the frequent sense, moderately than play the chilly technocrat who simply is aware of higher than the brand new child.
Cease making an attempt to play it protected and present bread-and-butter New Yorkers you’re nonetheless one in all them, and decided to offer them a Metropolis Corridor that runs for them the best way they realize it ought to.
