Cuomo’s In, and the Real Race Begins
Does an abundant launch video mean an Abundance Agenda?
Andrew Cuomo is officially running for mayor, launching his campaign with a (too-abundant) seventeen-minute announcement video. The mayoral field is big but still unsettled, and who ultimately emerges victorious after ranked choice tabulations will matter enormously for all of us.
So what about the man behind the long launch video, ten-years-tenured in the Governor’s Mansion before his scandal-plagued exit? Personal feelings aside: if Cuomo maintains his lead and wins the race, would he promote our policies from City Hall?
As we do with all candidates, we hope the current front-runner runs an abundance-minded campaign. That would mean confronting the magnitude of New York’s crises, identifying scarcity and status-quo bias as key drivers behind them, and promising abundant housing; people-first streets and public transit; and investments in decarbonization, resiliency, and state capacity.
On these issues, Cuomo’s record is mixed.
He has a record of building big, but his new affordability plan is scarce on details for unleashing housing abundance.
He signed congestion pricing into law, but he now opposes it—and he wasn’t often a friend to city transportation during his tenure.
He also approved voting rights expansions for New Yorkers, but he hobbled an ethics commission—and, in his tacit support of the Independent Democratic Conference, he helped Republicans maintain control of the State Senate even though Democrats held a majority of seats.
He has a reputation for effective leadership; but many of his ex-staffers aren’t keen on his return, and his legal bills have cost the taxpayers millions. More profoundly, the allegations of sexual harassment that led him to leave office in the first place—and reports of continued retributive tactics—remain extremely concerning.
The con column might not matter if Cuomo steamrolls the field. However, the latest polling shows Brad Lander just behind him after ranked choice voting tabulations.
Per the pollster: Cuomo begins with a strong lead in the first round, but his advantage narrows as ranked-choice preferences are reassigned. By the sixth round, Lander is two points shy of blocking Cuomo's majority and creating a tight contest for the Democratic nomination.
This race is far from over: we’re not at the end, just the end of the beginning.
We’ll keep you posted on our analysis of Cuomo’s—and all the candidates’—abundance alignment and viability as the race unfolds, before making our own ranking recommendations. Stay tuned!