So far, Cuomo has survived because the cautious labor unions are still in his corner, as well as the state’s wealthiest donors. If the titans of finance and Wall Street decide they are sick of Cuomo, he is in deep trouble. James must merely improve on Nixon’s New York City vote share, since there are many anti-Cuomo Democrats to be found north of the five boroughs, particularly in the Albany area.
The path to beating Cuomo is joining black and Latino voters, many of them more moderate and church-going, with white progressives who also vote reliably. Teachout and Nixon could not create this coalition. James, with her pedigree, can. No longer perceived as Cuomo’s lackey, she has won headlines for suing Donald Trump and investigating Cuomo himself.
This won’t be easy, of course. Cuomo is a prodigious fundraiser and there are enough blinkered MSNBC-watching liberals who will stick by him. But James has a chance to do what was once unthinkable — end the reign of another Cuomo.
Ross Barkan is the author of “The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York” (OR Books).
