Former governor Andrew Cuomo launches a political return with a career for the mayor of New York City

New York (AP) – Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, announced on Saturday to postulate for mayor of New York City, relating his political career after an exile of years for a barrage of accusations of sexual harassment.

In a video that announced his career, Cuomo launched his return as a way of getting the city out of social and political agitation, highlighting moderate positions about crime and his long history of political achievements.

“I am not saying that this will be easy, it will not be easy, but I know that we can change the city and I think I can help and that is why I announce my candidacy today for the mayor of New York City today,” he said.

The Democrat is expected to mount a formidable campaign, despite entering the race deeply injured by the scandal that forced his resignation to the governor’s office in 2021.

It assumes a great field of main opponents with a low recognition of names plus a holder, Mayor Eric Adams, who, for now, remains under accusation for federal corruption charges, and under the scrutiny of critics who question his independence from Republican President Donald Trump.

Cuomo enters the race with fundraising skill, a record of achievements in his three terms as governor and potential support among many of the same moderate voters who helped to promote Adams to the mayor’s office.

However, it is not clear if the voters are willing to give Cuomo another opportunity after their remarkable fall 3 1/2 years ago, when it went from being acclaimed by their leadership during the Covid-19 attack to be punished for their behavior with women and questioned about their response to the pandemic.

Cuomo had been surrounding a return to politics for years while fighting simultaneously to rehabilitate his image and undermine the accusations against him.

At least 11 women accused him of sexual harassment, which included accusations of unwanted kisses and moving, as well as commenting on his appearance and sexual life, according to a report published by the New York Attorney General. An assistant then filed a criminal complaint accusing Cuomo to grab his chest when they were alone in the governor’s mansion in Albany at the end of 2020.

Cuomo denied the accusation of sexual assault, that a prosecutor finally fell on the reasons that were not sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction in the trial.

As for their behavior with some of the other women, Cuomo insisted that he did not mistreat them intentionally and the times of what was considered adequate behavior in the workplace had simply stayed.

Taxpayers have spent millions of dollars to defend him and his main assistants in court against several accusations related to several accusations. He is moving to demand at least one of the accusers of defamation.

The race already has several candidates competing to defeat Adams in the June Democratic primaries. Among them are the Comptroller of the city Brad Lander, the state senator Zellnor Myrie, the state senator Jessica Ramos, the state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and the former comptroller of the city Scott Stringer, who was a favorite in the career of the mayor four years ago until a woman accused him of reaching her and kissing her without her consent 20 years before.

Adams is also looking for re -election, but faces a storm about the criminal case against him, and the extraordinary effort of the United States Department of Justice to end the case on the objection of the prosecutors who presented the charges.

An accusation said that Adams accepted advantages of luxury trips along with illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign citizens. After Trump assumed the position, an official of the Department of Justice to the maximum ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss the positions so that Adams could focus on helping the president’s immigration agenda, while leaving open what the case could resurface after the elections of the Mayor’s Office.

That dynamic led critics to affirm that Adams had reached an agreement to help Trump’s immigration repression in exchange for legal salvation.

Adams has strongly denied that such an agreement was made, while facing intense pressure to resign and a possible elimination of the position of Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. Some of the mayor’s main deputies announced plans to give up the protest.

Cuomo began in politics working for his father, the former governor of New York Mario Cuomo, and then became Secretary of Housing of the United States under President Bill Clinton and the New York Attorney General before being elected governor in 2010.

His national stars power was higher during the Coronavirus pandemic, when his televised daily reports, full of clear eyes rhetoric in the virus, attracted fans throughout the country that saw him as a constant leadership hand at a chaotic moment. The informative sessions won an International Emmy award and led him to obtain a book agreement for more than $ 5 million to write “US crisis: leadership lessons of the Covid-19 Pandemia.”

However, women began to appear at the end of 2020 and early 2021, accusing Cuomo of misconduct. He faced a possible accusation before giving up. A state ethics panel tried unsuccessfully to give Cuomo renounce the income of his book agreement after he determined that he used taxpayers to prepare, edit and publish the book.

Cuomo was further damaged by accusations that a directive of his administration had involuntarily contributed to a wave of deaths of COVID-19 in elderly homes by initially preventing them from refusing patients with readmitted viruses discharged from hospitals. The governor insisted that the accusations had no basis, but it was discovered that his administration had substantially underestimated the number of deaths in the elderly home, since he sought to divert criticism.

Cuomo still has an important campaign war chest that could technically be used in his offer by the mayor. But the transfer process of its state donations to a city committee would be complicated and would require each donor to sign the change, a potentially burdly effort.

By Anthony Izaguirre of Associated Press.