He had lost the Democratic mayoral primary in New York. Overnight, labor unions and party leaders abandoned him for his opponent. His campaign headquarters emptied as his own allies urged him to quit the race.
But he would not concede. He stayed on the ballot through November, convinced he could win.
The year was 1977, and the candidate was Mario M. Cuomo, a young, relatively unknown New York secretary of state, who had been defeated in the Democratic mayoral primary and in a runoff 10 days later by Edward I. Koch, a congressman from Greenwich Village. Mr. Cuomo then ran as a Liberal and on a smaller third-party line, and lost again to Mr. Koch in November.
Now, 48 years later, a startlingly similar political drama is unfolding in a New York mayoral race, but with a different Cuomo: Andrew, the oldest son of Mario.
Andrew, like his father, lost the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Andrew, like his father, was urged to quit the race. Andrew, like his father, is pushing ahead and, defying polls, running in the general election, this time against Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who, like Mr. Koch, was the choice of Democratic primary voters.
And Andrew Cuomo, who was a college student and a close adviser to his father during the 1977 campaign, is convinced that he can win this November. Mario Cuomo had also told associates he thought he could win, and it was relatively close in the end, as Mr. Cuomo narrowed a huge polling deficit to fall to Mr. Koch by 9 points.
“There is a lesson here: not to give up,” said Tonio Burgos, who was a senior adviser to Mario Cuomo in 1977 and remains a close friend of Andrew Cuomo’s. “We almost won in ’77. He’s not going to give up. That’s what is driving him. And, by the way, he’s not wrong.”
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The post Why Is Andrew Cuomo Still Running for Mayor? The Answer May Lie in 1977. appeared first on New York Times.
