8 April 2022: What Cuomo Missed Deadline to Run as Dem for State Office Says About His Political Future

Five Democrats — but not Cuomo — have filed to run for New York governor

The resigned-in-disgrace former NY governor Andrew M. Cuomo has drawn a lot of speculation as to whether he would spend the $16+ million in his political campaign's bank account on running for statewide office. If he was going to do so as a member of the Democratic party, he had to file to run for state office by the close of business on 7 April 2022. He didn't. The following excerpt from this report covers that development:

At least five Democrats on Thursday submitted the paperwork needed to appear on New York’s gubernatorial primary ballot this June.

One name who didn’t have a filing with the state Board of Elections? Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose potential interest in a comeback campaign a year after he resigned in disgrace has provided grist for the rumor mill for months.

The filings on Thursday were not an absolute guarantee that Cuomo does not run.

If his supporters covertly knocked on tens of thousands of doors in recent weeks and every one of the people they interacted with kept it a secret, then he could still appear on the primary ballot if he put the signatures in a mailbox on Thursday and they arrived at the board by Monday — which is the final deadline. But most observers have thought that the scenario is unlikely.

A spokesperson for Cuomo did not return requests for comment on the former Democratic governor’s plans.

Cuomo could still run as an independent or write-in candidate for the November election, but the rules for ballot access and fundraising are much more stringent than if he ran in the primary. He would have until the end of May to file as an independent candidate.

While the political reporters are still speculating he may run as an independent party or write-in candidate, we think he has no hope of winning a statewide office and he knows it. If he thought he did, he would have filed the necessary paperwork to do so as a Democrat, because that would give him the maximum leverage he needs to call in the political favors he bestowed over the past decade.

But that would only have happened if he thought he could win. He doesn't think he can.

Andrew M. Cuomo's choice to not seek statewide office as the long-standing member of the state's Democratic political party that he is lends support to our main hypothesis about his true ambitions as a man who has access to $16+ million in his political campaign's bank account. We think his true aim is to use that resource to influence the potential pool of jurors who will decide the multiple court cases he faces. Whether related to his alleged sexual harassment episodes or his pandemic book deal, Cuomo's main goal now is to keep what he pocketed.

His real campaign is to present himself as sympathetic victim to benefit his legal defenses. That means means he will periodically meet with pols and will engage in campaign-like activities in ways that spawn speculation about his political future. It's the minimum price he has to pay to use the money that was donated to his political campaign so he could run for elective office in New York before he quit rather than face impeachment.

We think he has no real plan to win any elective office. Insteaad, the evidence indicates he has real plans to spend as much of the money he has stashed in his political campaign organization's bank account as he can with ultimate goal of not having to pay for his legal defenses using any money from his personal bank accounts.