Is he back?
Ousted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held a commanding lead in a recent poll gauging support for the New York City’s mayor’s race among Democrat voters.
The survey was conducted Dec. 16-22 and was commissioned by advocacy group Progressives for Democracy in America.
Despite Cuomo’s strong showing, he has not announced a bid, although is reportedly eyeing up a move for mayor with the primary still months away. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.
“We commissioned the poll to see which candidates might be competitive with Cuomo, given his huge name recognition advantage,” said Alan Minsky, the polling organization’s executive director.
Current NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted in September for an alleged bribery scheme, apparently appreciates the difficult campaign he’s waging but, in a recent interview with Politico, remained defiant about his prospects.
“When people unbiasedly look at this administration they’re going to say pound for pound, this is one of the greatest administrations in the history of the city,” he said. “Turned around our economy out of Covid, cycled us out Covid, cycled us out of the greatest humanitarian crisis this city has ever seen, cycled us out of the public safety issues, cycled us out of the economic issue.”
President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he may issue a pardon to Adams, saying he was “treated unfairly.”
“I don’t know the facts,” Trump added. “I would certainly look at it.”
During his remarks, Trump downplayed allegations that Adams took free luxury travel and airline upgrades from Turkish officials.
“Being upgraded in an airplane many years ago ?” Trump said. “I doubt if there’s anyone here who hasn’t been upgraded.”
“It seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago — I know probably everybody here has been upgraded,” he added. “They see you’re all stars, they say, ‘I want to upgrade that person from NBC,’ and that would mean you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison,” he said.
A federal indictment accuses Adams of soliciting illegal campaign donations from foreign entities and falsifying paper trails to cover them up. He allegedly defrauded taxpayers for $10 million over the past decade and frequently took free or steeply discounted vacations bankrolled by his foreign benefactors.
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