16 August 2021: Opinion - Evaluating the Cuomo Aftermath

Evaluating the Cuomo Aftermath

This opinion piece by Mark Davis appeared in Newsweek on 16 August 2021. The following excerpt is notable for its succinct summary of the scale of Andrew M. Cuomo's plunge in public esteem:

What lessons can we draw from one of the farthest, fastest reputational plunges in political history? What does it mean that allegations of personal misconduct, rather than the cover-up of nursing home deaths in the worst early days of COVID, proved Andrew Cuomo's undoing? Does his exit solidify the prospects of a woman elected to a full gubernatorial term next year—and if so, which one?

The Emmy award Andrew Cuomo received for his supposedly brilliant COVID-19 press briefings will sit on a shelf collecting dust alongside extra copies of American Crisis, his book filled with "leadership lessons" from the pandemic. Months after pocketing $5 million in the book deal, the crisis was all Cuomo's, as the state reeled from surging COVID cases and the stench of pandemic-related controversy. State attorney general Letitia James, in the first of two punches that would deck the governor, found that Cuomo's administration fudged nursing home death numbers. Stories of intentional delays in death data to avoid Department of Justice scrutiny soon followed. By March, the FBI and U.S. attorney's offices were investigating.

Less than a year earlier, Cuomo's star was shining so brightly that large percentages of Democrats told pollsters they wanted the governor to pursue the presidency. Presuming Biden will not seek a second term at age 82, the 2024 Democratic field might have pitted Cuomo against a decidedly underwhelming Kamala Harris.

Davis continues on to consider the potential impact of Cuomo's fall on the future outcome of the 2022 election for governor in New York, which he speculates may present Republicans in the state with a rare window of opportunity to win a statewide race.