Cuomo’s fall: Will it divide Democrats in a rush for power?

Even by New York standards, the impact of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation and the shattering events leading up to it is truly tectonic. No governor since Republican Nelson Rockefeller has so thoroughly dominated New York politics and government — for good and ill — than Andrew Cuomo. Not even his own fabled father, Mario, who served three terms as governor between 1983 and 1994.

As governor since 2011, Andrew Cuomo thoroughly mastered the labyrinth and intrigue of Albany’s politicians and its incestuous power brokers, and he enforced his will through brutal political power and fear. He used these same skills to dominate the Democratic Party in all of the state’s 62 counties.  

For his first term in office, these “skills” achieved considerable progress. He got things done: Budget reforms. Business-friendly policies. Infrastructure projects. His agenda was basically centrist for a New York Democrat, and his method was political “triangulation” — using breakaway moderate Democrats and Republicans to hold off the left. His heavy-handed methods, though, and his almost congenital inability to be magnanimous in victory alienated allies and infuriated enemies, particularly in his own party. 

Then, as the progressives grew in power in the Democratic Party, Cuomo attempted to appease them by abandoning his moderate allies, only to learn too late that the progressives would lead the move to depose him. In the end, Cuomo had not one political friend or ally. He was a man alone in his Albany mansion. 

I’ve known Andrew Cuomo since his days as U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary almost 25 years ago, during the Clinton administration. I worked on his first gubernatorial transition team in 2010. Worked with him on his Penn Station reconstruction project, on Hurricane Sandy relief — and I also strongly opposed his failure to support the police during last summer’s riots. The latter prompted irate gubernatorial phone calls to my home, resulting in two former Queens guys exchanging shouted obscenities like two kids in a schoolyard. For the most part, though, we got along well, such as when I had a chance encounter with him in a Manhattan restaurant about six weeks ago and we had a very friendly conversation.

With Andrew Cuomo gone, the power struggle begins for the future of the Democratic Party in New York (and perhaps on the national stage as well, given the reputation and influence he held before his fall began late last year). I have great respect for Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will be sworn in as New York’s new governor. I worked with Hochul during her term in Congress, when I was House Homeland Security Committee chairman and she was an active, very bipartisan committee member, and I have been with her at various events in recent years. She is intelligent, able and, most importantly, “normal.”  

However, Democratic progressives of the type personified by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will attempt to use this opportunity created by Cuomo’s scandalous departure to seize control of the party. They will exert full pressure to advance an across-the-board left-wing, progressive agenda. Hochul’s record in Erie County and in Congress was centrist. The extent to which she intends to resist the progressives, and whether she succeeds in resisting them, will play out over the next several months. 

Theoretically, having Cuomo gone should make the Democratic position stronger. A divided party, however, would be a boost to Republicans, both in this year’s local elections and in the 2022 statewide races.

As for Andrew Cuomo, the debate over his legacy will continue for years: The achievements. The failings. The self-inflicted wounds. And the ultimate question of what might have been.

Peter King retired in January as the U.S. representative of New York’s 2nd Congressional District. He served 28 years in Congress, including as chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Follow him on Twitter @RepPeteKing.