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The Atlantic released a lengthy report over the weekend detailing the governor’s potential presidential run as he considers a 2020 bid in an already crowded field of Democratic contenders.
“As Democrats are desperate to show they can bring more results than promises, he is a three-term governor of one of the biggest, most complicated states, with a long list of accomplishments,” the Atlantic report said. “As Democrats worry that the party’s 2020 nominee won’t be able to take on Donald Trump, he is another brash Queens guy, and just as eager to throw around his machismo and bravado.”
The report says that Cuomo is waiting for former Vice President Joe Biden to announce his intentions in the 2020 race before making it official.
“He’s waiting on Biden. Other than that, Cuomo clearly thinks he has a stronger case to make than any of the people running right now. But not so strong that he’s ready to actually make it,” it says.
“Cuomo insists he’s deferred to Biden for 2020, though it’s obvious to some who’ve talked to him that White House dreams still lurk in his head, and that a part of him would like to be running the country and putting his stamp, his way, on the Democratic Party and beyond.”
The report discusses Cuomo’s meteoric rise to power and his relationship with his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who once nearly ran for president in 1991.
In November, Trump proclaimed that Cuomo had called him and pledged not to challenge him in 2020, a statement the governor refuted.
“It’s not going to be enough to be anti-Trump,” Cuomo said late last year. “We need a candidate who brings credibility and experience. . . to the job and can connect with the people we lost as Democrats — the working men and women of this country who went with Trump because of the void let by the Democratic party.”
Though he has not definitely made a decision on whether to run or not, the report notes that Cuomo has kept the door open as he waits on decisions by his fellow Democrats.
“Again, I told him, that sounds like he could be making an argument for himself as a presidential candidate,” the author wrote. “Long before he could try to end the interview without answering, I asked him what he’ll do if Biden doesn’t end up running. He made it sound like I was stringing together all sorts of hypotheticals, when in fact it was just one, and a simple one at that. But once again, he made sure to leave the door open. ‘If, if, if, if, he said. ‘Call me when we get the fifth if.”’
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