Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) offered guidance to his party, advising Democrats to lean into social issues ahead of the midterm elections.
Cuomo, himself ousted from office due to in-party political pressure, told Democratic candidates they should “show, don’t tell” their commitment to liberal policies by forcing the GOP into awkward political stances in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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“The Senate should put [same-sex marriage] up for a vote now, and every Democratic senator should sponsor it,” he said during the first episode of his new podcast, As a Matter of Fact…, which aired Thursday. “Make the Republicans vote before Election Day. This is a basic critical issue. Americans have a right to know where their senator stands on this issue if they’re asking to sit in the U.S. Senate.”
The former governor called for similar tactics to be used for contraception and in vitro fertilization, imploring Democratic lawmakers to “protect them now before they are lost to the Supreme Court.”
“Democrats should run an affirmative campaign on why they should win. … Democrats should make this election about optimism and hope. Let Democrats show this country what Democrats can actually do,” Cuomo said, urging his party to “be positive in the vision.”
His guest, former Trump White House official Anthony Scaramucci, supported Cuomo’s contention that “we need a radical reasonable to move forward” and elements of his vision as a self-described “pragmatic progressive,” but he told Cuomo that liberals “feared you because you were gonna move the bell curve in their party.”
“What you represented in the Democratic Party was so overwhelming to the radical side of your party that they did everything in their power to take you out and shoot you, OK?” Scaramucci told Cuomo. “They looked at you and said, ‘If this guy ever runs for president, he’ll set the table differently at the Democratic Party. We will no longer have the say in terms of what’s gonna be served at the banquet.'”
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Cuomo, who conceded, “I’ve had my battles with the far Left,” resigned on Aug. 24, 2021, after New York Attorney General Letitia James released her report indicating he sexually harassed 11 women. He has teased his intent to make a political comeback, insisting he never engaged in inappropriate touching.
While Democrats have increasingly tried to keep the national discourse trained on social issues, Republicans have attempted to steer the conversation toward topics such as crime and inflation. The GOP is favored to gain control of the House, but the Senate is viewed as more competitive.
