Why Is Hochul Not Pushing Out Adams? She Wants To Prevent a ‘Mayor Cuomo’

As the resignations and indictments in Mayor Adams’ inner circle keep coming and calls for him to resign grow louder, Governor Hochul — the one person with the power to force Mr. Adams out of office — is refusing to do so, according to several political insiders who spoke with the Sun, because she doesn’t want Andrew Cuomo to be the next mayor of New York City.Mr. Cuomo has made no secret that he is mulling a run for New York City mayor if Mr. Adams resigns, though his spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, calls all speculation “premature.” Mr. Adams has been indicted on five federal corruption charges, but he is vowing to stay in office and run for a second term.Were Ms. Hochul to remove the mayor from office, per the New York City Charter, the city’s Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams, a far left activist from Brooklyn, would step in as a temporary mayor and need to call a nonpartisan special election to be held within 80 and 90 days. The key word here is nonpartisan.Mr. Cuomo is rebranding himself as a moderate centrist with the managerial and governing expertise to shepherd the city out of crisis.NY Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams laugh as they await the start of a press conference on gun violence prevention. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images“Crime is seemingly everywhere. People are afraid to take the subway,” Mr. Cuomo told a Black congregation at Bedford Central Presbyterian Church at Brooklyn last month. “Defund the police are the three dumbest words ever uttered in politics.”This strategy could work in a general election, but most citywide elections at New York are decided at the Democratic primary. Mr. Cuomo would have a harder time winning with this engaged, liberal electorate. The handful of candidates who’ve already announced or said they are weighing a run for mayor are decidedly to Mr. Cuomo’s left.A nonpartisan special election would allow registered Republicans, independents, and Democrats to vote at once. This is Mr. Cuomo’s easiest path to Gracie Mansion.“Getting rid of a special election, gets rid of Cuomo — probably,” a Democratic strategist, Hank Sheinkopf, tells the Sun. “A special election in New York City, if Adams is removed, makes it easy for Republicans and conservatives, Democrats, all kinds of people to vote for him and would allow him access to government again, which is something that Hochul and others would like to avoid.”NY Attorney General Letitia James and NY Gov. Kathy Hochul listen as New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference on gun violence prevention and public safety. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesThe bad blood between Ms. Hochul and Mr. Cuomo stems from his time in the governor’s mansion when she was lieutenant governor. Ms. Hochul was more than happy to slam the door on her former boss when he was pressured to resign in 2021 amid sexual misconduct allegations. “Nobody will ever describe my term as a toxic workplace environment,” Ms. Hochul said at the time, emphasizing that she and Mr. Cuomo were never “close”New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, prepared the report that laid out those sexual misconduct allegations, which a judge later dismissed and Mr. Cuomo continues to deny. Democrats are reportedly trying to convince Ms. James to run for mayor. Like Mr. Cuomo, she has wide name recognition and, as a Black woman, she could take a significant percentage of the Black vote, which is Mr. Cuomo’s strongest base of support, according to the latest Marist Poll.“Hochul is clearly trying to manipulate the situation to avoid Tish James running against her for governor, and based on her poll numbers I get it — at this rate Trump could run against her and win,” Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, Mr. Azzopardi, tells the Sun.“To push Tish James to run solves a lot of problems for Hochul,” Mr. Sheinkopf says. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) following a closed-door interview with the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Coronavirus Pandemic on Capitol Hill. Al Drago/Getty ImagesMr. Sheinkopf says this scenario gets rid of a challenge from Ms. James and would allow Ms. Hochul to appoint the next attorney general. He says she could use this appointment to shore up support with Latinos, for example. Her current approval numbers suggest she will face a tough 2026 re-election fight. “Politics is a business of controlling power and assuring that you have it while others don’t,” Mr. Sheinkopf says. “It goes back to Rome. We don’t use knives and send devices to kill people in showers anymore in bath houses.”Ms. Hochul’s office did not return the Sun’s request for comment.Mr. Cuomo has a lot of work to do to convince New Yorkers to vote for him. About 55 percent don’t want him to run for mayor, according to the Marist Poll. One person close to Mr. Cuomo who spoke to the Sun said the poll is actually encouraging, since it shows that nearly 50 percent of voters are open to the idea, which they say is high for this type of questioning.Governor Hochul’s lack of popularity is dragging other democrats down with her. AP/Seth WenigMr. Cuomo is also trying to distance himself from the sexual misconduct allegations and his administration’s response to Covid and decision to put Covid-positive patients back into nursing homes. There is a vocal group of families of those who died in these nursing homes who are vowing to oppose any Cuomo comeback.A potential rival in the mayor’s race, the former comptroller, Scott Stringer, has called on Mr. Adams to resign and is attacking Mr. Cuomo. “New Yorkers deserve better than a selfish suburbanite only looking to rehabilitate his image and resurrect his political career,” Stringer’s strategist, Alyssa Cass, wrote in a memo this week. Mr. Stringer’s own campaign for mayor in 2021 was derailed by sexual harassment allegations from a former intern, which he denied.If another moderate or a Republican jumps in a potential special election race, this could complicate Mr. Cuomo’s path. A former Republican mayoral candidate, the billionaire grocery executive John Catsimatidis, tells the Sun he is seriously considering running and financing the race himself. A more formidable Republican challenger, though, has yet to step forward.When asked if he would consider a run for mayor, moderate Democratic congressman, Ritchie Torres, tells the Sun in a statement, “I’m monitoring the situation carefully. Like every American citizen, the Mayor is entitled to due process and the presumption of innocence.” “We’re at a point of whether the city lives or dies,” Mr. Sheinkopf says. “The real issue is can you run a city or not? That’ll be the only issue, and Cuomo starts out in a good position. James has never run anything. She’s been an attorney general.”

Why Is Hochul Not Pushing Out Adams? She Wants To Prevent a ‘Mayor Cuomo’

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