Andrew Cuomo and a History of Governors Who Ran for the House

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said "there are no second acts in American lives," which is both a very quippy and cynical take from Fitzgerald (hardly is only one), and also completely false.  Look at pretty much any success story in America, and it almost always involves a second act, frequently a slightly less impressive one (unless you're Cher), constantly reinventing yourself so that your name stays in the papers.

So it should not be shocking to anyone that Andrew Cuomo, fresh off of a defeat for NYC Mayor that once looked like inevitable victory, is reportedly considering a run for Congress.  Cuomo's team, it should be noted, shot down the rumors pretty quickly (his spokesman said "I don't know where any of that came from, but everyone should put down the mojitos") but it wouldn't be the first time that a politician said no and changed their mind to mean yes, and indeed, one wonders if Cuomo would want to humiliate himself into running for another office.

After all, Andrew Cuomo's career is such a high peak and long slow decline that it's hard to imagine, even at 67, that it might be totally over without one last gasp.  A prominent member of the David Dinkins' administration when he was mayor, Cuomo rose to national prominence as HUD Secretary during the Clinton administration, but a verbal gaffe in 2002 (when he insulted Gov. George Pataki's handling of 9/11, which was basically the third rail of American politics during the Bush administration) led to him having to withdraw from the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary in disgrace.  In 2006 he ran successfully for Attorney General of New York (defeating both future congressman Sean Patrick Maloney as well as future US Attorney Jeanine Pirro), starting his first "second act" and became the savior of the 2010 gubernatorial race, holding the seat after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer put it in jeopardy.

Like all New York governors, he spent the next 12 years alternating between presidential ambitions and inevitable scandal, with the latter winning out when he had to resign due to sexual harassment allegations, which would also bring down his once likely victory in the New York mayoral contest earlier this year.  After two such scandals, one has to wonder what Cuomo might get out of being a member of Congress.  Going from the very public perch of being Governor of New York to being a back-bencher in the House of Representatives, particularly when you're at the age where most people are doting on their grandchildren and cashing in social security checks might be a question mark for some people.  But I have to feel like Cuomo is looking at this loss, and realizing that "loser" is going to be the opening line of his New York Times obituary...and his ego is not willing to give that up quite yet.

While it's far more common (and respectable) for governors to run for the US Senate than the US House (next year alone you have Janet Mills & Roy Cooper both attempting it), it's not entirely unprecedented for governors to run for the House, and in fact five of them have done so successfully in the past 50 years (before that, during the first half of the 20th Century, it was much more common to make that jump).  In a couple of those cases, the governor did so in a similar position to Cuomo-running for Congress after a loss or scandal.  Charlie Crist ran for (and lost) races for Senate and Governor before favorably running for the US House, while Mark Sanford had endured a very public extramarital affair scandal at the tail-end of his time as governor (which precluded him from considering a presidential run in 2012, which I suspect otherwise would've been in the cards).  The three other governors to do this (Bill Janklow, Mike Castle, & Joseph Brennan) all came from small states where their gubernatorial constituency wasn't that different from their House one, and so the transition made sense as they waited for higher office.

Because that's really what happens here-none of these men ended their House careers well.  Castle, Brennan, & Crist would eventually run for higher office, not being content with the oftentimes anonymous lifestyle of a member of the House (going from being the CEO of a state to being just one of 435 figures from the "other side" of the Capitol has to be rough), and in all three cases they lost their bids for a promotion.  Bill Janklow was forced to resign in disgrace after being charged with manslaughter, and Sanford eventually lost a House primary after being criticized by President Trump.  While Castle had a relatively distinguished career in the House (he served for 18 years) none of them ended up getting what they wanted from this-a career finale that felt worthy of being governor, and most of their time as members of the House reads as a curious asterisk (save Castle), rather than a true second act.

And Sanford is a good reminder to Cuomo-he could lose.  After all, that's what former Governor Sarah Palin did in 2022.  Palin, after a bizarre resignation as Governor of Alaska, was seen as a presidential frontrunner in 2012, a likely Senate candidate in 2016, and a probable Trump cabinet nominee during his first administration...but none of that ever materialized.  When she finally ran for the US House, she felt like the frontrunner (similar to Cuomo's mayoral bid) before losing to a young upstart Democrat.  If Cuomo runs, he won't have this race to himself (his ex-wife's cousin Jack Schlossberg is running, as are several members of the State Assembly, and possibly former Rep. Carolyn Maloney).  Best case scenario for Cuomo running is he ends up winning and spending his twilight years as a high-profile backbencher in the House...worst case scenario, like Palin, he gets yet another loss added to that obituary.