Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024 shocked democrats across the country. After all of the votes were counted, an analysis by the New York Times found that most of the country shifted to the right. This shift was particularly strong in America’s largest city and the surrounding New York metro area. Many counties in the region saw shifts of more than 5 percentage points, despite Trump being found legally liable for sexual abuse and convicted on 34 felony counts of falsified business records. While the democratic party and their talking heads are busy trying to figure out what led to the collapse of the democratic coalition in 2024, two men who once loomed large over the New York metro are back. They are Jim McGreevey and Andrew Cuomo, the former governors of New Jersey and New York. Forced to resign in disgrace amidst allegations of corruption and sexual impropriety, they are running to be the next mayors of the sister cities at the mouth of the Hudson River, Jersey City and New York City. Despite a decade separating their falls from grace, both men faced similar political pressures as Trump, with allegations of sexual misconduct and corruption. Unlike Trump, they were unable to weather the storm and were ultimately forced to resign and pushed out of political life.
Jim McGreevey was elected Governor of New Jersey in 2001, with more than 50% of the vote, the first gubernatorial candidate to do so since 1990. Democrats were excited because even though Clinton carried New Jersey in both of his elections, New Jersey was still considered a swing state. However, by the summer of 2004 he was facing threats of a sexual harassment lawsuit from one of his former advisors, Golan Cipel. In an attempt to avoid the lawsuit, McGreevy held a press conference where, in addition to announcing his resignation effective November 15th of that year, he would go on to say “And so my truth is that I am a gay American" thus becoming the first openly gay governor in America. Then in 2005, one of his key fundraisers, David D’Amiato was convicted of extortion of a farmer in Middlesex County for $40,000. The indictment included references to coordination with “State Official 1” who was later revealed as McGreevey himself. In the years since his resignation, McGreevey pursued ordination as an Episcopal Priest, a 6 year stint running the Jersey City Employment & Training Program, and ten years and counting as the Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation.
Dina Matos McGreevey, left, stands next to her husband Gov. James E.
McGreevey as he announces he will resign in November during a news
conference at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey, U.S., August 12,
2004. ASSOCIATED PRESS/Brian Branch Price
Andrew Cuomo was elected as Governor of New York in 2010 with two consecutive, successful re-election campaigns building upon a political career spanning almost three decades. His continued upward ascent in the democratic party almost felt inevitable. As he reached the middle of his third term as governor in 2020, Trump abandoned any responsibility for leading the country through the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo stepped up and took the spotlight. He held daily televised briefings about the state of the pandemic not just to New Yorkers, but to Americans across the country. However, the good times were not to last. In late 2020 into early 2021, eight different women accused Cuomo of sexual harassment. The New York Attorney General’s independent investigation into the allegations concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women and illegally retaliated against one of them. Despite continuing to deny some findings of the investigation, Cuomo ultimately resigned in August 2021. Since his resignation, he successfully fought all five sexual misconduct cases brought against him by New York State and he remains quite vocal in his opposition to cancel culture and antisemitism.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo walks on the grounds of the Governor's
Mansion following allegations that he had sexually harassed young women,
in Albany, New York, U.S., March 12, 2021. REUTERS/Angus Mordant
With the collapse of the democratic coalition in the 2024 presidential election, the democratic party and its supporters are trying to chart a path to get the party back into power. Pundits have noted that there has been a marked decline of support for the party by young men and that voters didn’t feel they could trust the Biden administration especially after Joe Biden’s debate performance against Trump. Even diehard democratic voters have expressed that the party should possibly avoid nominating women or minority candidates for president in favor of whiter men, that the average American can relate to. This is the political landscape where Cuomo, and to a lesser extent, McGreevey can shine. McGreevey and Cuomo, in their campaign announcement videos, start with acknowledging that their past behavior was wrong, but that they, like everyone else deserve a second chance. They also point out that there is something going wrong with government. Despite the fact that they were at one point part of the “establishment”, they’re leveraging that they were pushed out of politics publicly, to lend a sense of credibility to their claims of being an outsider. However, unlike other outsider candidates, they can point to their previous records in political office to show that they know how the system works and can get things done for working people. Additionally, Cuomo has made clear in interviews that he disagreed with the Biden administration in key areas, like the handling of the border and how they talked about Biden’s mental state and ability to run for re-election. These are issues that many Biden to Trump voters claimed pushed them away from the democratic party. With mayoral primaries in both cities scheduled for June it might be too early to know if this strategy will work, but at the time of writing, both McGreevey and Cuomo are the leading candidates in their respective races and it’s not even close. However, as the election dates approach and more voters focus on these races, the polls might start to shift.
If McGreevey and Cuomo are elected as mayors this fall, it would mark a shift in the Democratic Party. America's largest metro, with deeply entrenched democratic party politics, will have elected democratic mayors, but rejected the “wokescold” and “cancel culture” views of the 2010’s. Their victories could be a beacon in the fog. Maybe they can help the democratic party find its way and mount a strong offensive against Trump and the MAGA republicans in 2026 without acquiescing to the far left fringe of the Democratic Party.