Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo could be eyeing a return to politics, as he contemplates a run for New York City Mayor. Some local political analysts are not surprised by this possibility.
"I don't think it's shocking at all," said Daemen University's Lisa Parshall, who thinks Cuomo's been gearing up for this. "He's been testing the political waters with some of his polling for a long time, looking at different potential comeback routes, and the route where he seems to find the most political feasibility is in the mayor's race. And the recent polling does show him what double digit leads."
UB's Shawn Donahue is also not surprised.
"He has been making a lot of noises for the last few months, going into last year, about potentially running for Mayor of New York City. And the problems that Mayor Eric Adams has had probably has helped that decision as well," said Donahue in an interview with WBEN.
He adds Cuomo has been trying to rehabilitate his image since resigning as governor in August 2021. One of the things he has is a lot of campaign money that could be transferred over to a Super PAC to help his campaign, if he does, in fact, get in the race.
Parshall says Cuomo has a number of endorsement already.
"He's always had a strong base of support with the Black community in New York City, city labor support, unions. Though, he does have some made some powerful political enemies," Parshall said with WBEN. "But one of the things that I think the voters are responding to is in facing New York's immediate future under the Trump administration, a lot of New Yorkers seem to be looking for somebody who is a fierce advocate and champion and can be politically play a political hardball. And so a lot of people see that in Andrew Cuomo, and of course, are informed by some of the wranglings between Cuomo and Trump during the first Trump administration."
She adds with some of the remorse over the Trump re-election, she would also not dismiss the potential that voters reminded of some of Cuomo's baggage might think twice before supporting his return to the political field.
Both Donahue and Parshall say Cuomo will have skeletons in his closet to deal with, but which one is bigger?
Donahue says it's his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"You may be looking at the nursing home issue, because the House of Representatives had some hearings on that last year, and I'm sure that they will try to bring those up," says Donahue. But Parshall thinks there's a bigger one. "I think that will probably be the most serious would be the allegations of sexual harassment and the feeling some have that Andrew Cuomo has a reputation for being somewhat vindictive and ruthless in politics," notes Parshall.
But Parshall thinks there's an even bigger one.
"I think the most serious would be the allegations of sexual harassment, and the feeling some have that Andrew Cuomo has a reputation for being somewhat vindictive and ruthless in politics," Parshall noted.
If Cuomo wins, could it be the biggest political comeback ever? Even bigger than President Trump's win this past November?
"It would probably be pretty close, if not right in that realm," Donahue said. "Think about when Trump left office in 2021, he was pretty much persona non grata."
He notes Cuomo was in the same position, and Parshall agrees.
"It's a highly crowded field, so I think he's to be taken seriously. He's formidable, but there's still a long way to go before Him and celebrating a comeback victory," she added.
Cuomo has not officially declared his candidacy for New York City Mayor yet.