Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic Governor of New York, has officially entered the 2025 New York City mayoral race, unveiling his inaugural television advertisement on Monday.
This ad, intriguingly, centers on the very crisis that played a significant role in his political downfall.
Titled "Crisis," the advertisement portrays Cuomo as a seasoned leader who took decisive action during the pandemic, providing emergency hospitals and first responders when the city was in dire need. "It was the greatest health crisis in our historyand when New Yorkers were desperate for leadershipAndrew Cuomo delivered.
He didnt just provide information in those daily COVID briefings he acted building emergency hospitals and deploying first responders. And he provided hope that wed pull through thistogether," the ad's narrator states, aligning with campaign rhetoric as visuals of Cuomo's daily COVID briefings are displayed. This campaign effort is set to be part of a substantial digital push across platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and various streaming services, as reported by the Daily Caller.
Cuomo's ad attempts to recast him as a leader who rose to the occasion during challenging times, despite the controversies that led to his resignation. Serving as New York's governor from 2011 to 2021, Cuomo stepped down following allegations of sexual harassment by multiple women.
Notably absent from the ad is any mention of the contentious state directive that mandated nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, a decision linked to the deaths of over 4,000 residents, as revealed by a January 2021 investigation conducted by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The state later admitted to ceasing the count of long-term care residents who succumbed to COVID-19 in hospitals, thereby excluding an indeterminate number of fatalities from official records, despite already leading the nation in reported facility deaths.
A scathing report from Attorney General Letitia James in 2021 accused Cuomo's administration of manipulating data to minimize the impact. Although federal and local prosecutors chose not to press charges, Republican lawmakers have since referred Cuomo to criminal investigators for alleged perjury related to his testimony on the matter.
Despite these controversies, Cuomo appears to be a frontrunner in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. A March poll by the progressive organization Data for Progress indicated Cuomo leading with 39%, significantly ahead of New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who polled at 15%.
Meanwhile, current Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams is pursuing re-election as an independent, thus not participating in the primary. Cuomo's office has yet to respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation's request for comment.
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