Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to cruise into a fourth four-year term as governor of New York, a feat no Democrat has ever accomplished in the state.
Cuomo has become a national star of sorts with his daily coronavirus briefings and updates, and sometimes playful television banter with his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
Only Republican Nelson Rockefeller has won four four-year terms as governor of New York. Cuomo’s father, Mario Cuomo, was defeated in his attempt for a fourth. Mario Cuomo was defeated in 1994 by Republican George Pataki as part of the general “Republican Revolution” that swept the country that election cycle.
When Andrew Cuomo announced in 2017 that he was running for a third term as governor, he said that he would not be seeking the presidency in 2020. During an interview in 2019, he told WAMC radio that he plans to run again in 2022.
“I have been in the federal government. I was a cabinet secretary … I was in Washington for eight years,” said Cuomo, who was the Housing and Urban Development secretary in former President Bill Clinton’s second term. “I believe I’m making a difference in the state of New York. I believe that in my heart,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo has also repeatedly denied speculation that he could replace former Vice President Joe Biden on the Democratic presidential ticket in the fall. New York does not place a term limit on governors.
Polling shows Cuomo as one of the most popular New York governors in modern times, with a Siena College survey showing a 74% approval rating. One of the more striking findings was that the governor has higher approval among Republicans than President Trump, at 72% approval.
The jump in approval is remarkable considering polls in June 2019 showed that a majority of New Yorkers, 58%, said Cuomo shouldn’t run for a fourth term. At the time, his approval rating hovered around 52%.
In 2018, Cuomo successfully fought off a primary challenge from former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, winning over 65% of the vote to her 34.47%. Cuomo then carried the state with nearly 60% of the vote in the general election.
Until the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo had little of the national star power that his father once carried. Mario Cuomo’s 1984 National Convention speech was considered one of the greatest in the history of modern liberalism and positioned him as the spokesman for the Democratic Party’s contrasting image of the country to the one espoused by President Ronald Reagan.
Four years later, Mario Cuomo was considered the frontrunner for the 1988 nomination. When Democrats lost that race, many within the party once again pleaded with him to run in 1992. Mario Cuomo repeatedly turning down the chance of winning the White House was a constant source of drama for Democrats that was labeled “Hamlet on the Hudson.”
Even after it was clear Mario Cuomo held no presidential aspirations, the GOP still used him as a boogeyman in national politics. During his 1992 Republican Convention speech, Pat Buchanan warned voters against Bill Clinton appointing Mario Cuomo to the Supreme Court.
After losing in 1994, Mario Cuomo never served on any court and instead worked for a law firm based in Manhattan. He died in 2015 at 82.
