A gaggle of Democratic local politicians have flocked to gauge their standing if they chose to enter a potentially incumbent-free gubernatorial 2022 primary, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo fights for survival after the release of the attorney general’s damning sexual harassment investigation.
Allies of Attorney General Letitia James, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island have spoken with Rev. Al Sharpton to assess their standing in potential bids to serve as the state’s chief executive, the longtime political broker told The Post.
“Some of their associates reached out,” Sharpton said Monday. “None of them said they were running, they just asked me what I thought about it.”
“None of them said they were absolutely running, they were just feeling me out,” he added.
Other Democrats have considered a gubernatorial run, including Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, The Post previously reported.
Sharpton predicted that Cuomo will step down rather than face the prospect of being ousted by lawmakers.
“It’s going to be difficult for him to proceed at this point,” he said. “Rather than go down as the second governor in the story of the state to be impeached, he’ll probably resign at some point.”
James — coming off the release of her office’s widely praised probe of the multiple sexual misconduct allegations levied against Cuomo — would be an early, though not overwhelming, favorite in the 2022 contest provided Cuomo is out of office, according to insiders and a new poll.
“There’s no one with statewide name recognition who can win in New York City like she can,” one veteran political consultant told The Post.
“If there is a primary for governor, she gets in,” said the source. “If she doesn’t want it, she doesn’t want it, but this is the moment to do it.”
In a poll released Monday, James was atop the list of candidates likely Democratic voters said they would pick in a Cuomo-free gubernatorial primary election. But she’s only three percentage points ahead of both Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and 22 percent of likely Democratic voters are “not sure” about whom they’d back if Cuomo isn’t an option, according to the survey.
“It’s wide open. Tish at 13 percent is hardly insurmountable,” said Evan Roth Smith, a partner Slingshot Strategies, which conducted the poll on Friday and Saturday.
“What I see is a lot of voters who are not married to one of the top contenders. If (Lt. Gov. Kathy) Hochul were dominant, if Tish were the heir apparent, that would be reflected in that question.”
The poll of 600 likely Democratic primary voters comes as a 2022 election without Cuomo, who has served as governor since 2011, look more likely each day.
Nearly all relevant elected officials from his own party — from Mayor Bill de Blasio to President Joe Biden — have stated that the third-term Democrat should step side, and the state Assembly has more than enough votes to impeach the third-term Democrat.
In addition, a desperate Cuomo has recently launched a last-ditch attempt at a deal with lawmakers to bow out of the campaign for a fourth term if lawmakers agree to not boot him from the Executive Chamber via impeachment.
“It was something that was floated to me by the folks in the Cuomo camp as a possible option before the Attorney General’s report came out,” New York state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs previously told The Post. “I never saw it as a viable option.”
Meanwhile, a sexual assault accuser identified in the Attorney General’s report as “Executive Assistant #1,” tearfully recalled Cuomo groping her during creepy encounters with the 63-year-old.
“These were not hugs he would give his mother or his brother. These are hugs with the intention of getting some personal sexual satisfaction out of it,” Brittany Commisso, 32, said in an interview that aired Monday on “CBS This Morning.”
“He almost has this smirk that he thinks that he’s untouchable,” Commisso explained of her motivation for coming forward. “I almost feel like he has this sense of almost a celebrity status and it just — that was the tipping point. I broke down. I said, ‘He is lying.’”
