Andrew Cuomo Wins Second Term as NY Governor

Gov. Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a second term on Tuesday, following a contentious campaign in which he and Republican opponent Rob Astorino traded accusations of racism and corruption and blamed each other for imposing high taxes on residents of the state and Westchester County, where Astorino is the county executive.

As of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Cuomo had 54 percent of the vote to Astorino's 40 percent.

The 56-year-old governor, looking radiant and relaxed, rattled off his agenda in a victory speech at the Sheraton Hotel in Times Square Tuesday night, to the chants of “four more years, four more years.”

Surrounded by girlfriend Sandra Lee and his three daughters, Cuomo said New York under his leadership would push a progressive agenda that is also inclusive.

“We are just getting started,” Cuomo said emphatically. “We’re going to raise the minimum wage for working families. We’re going to pass the Women’s Equality Act, because discrimination and inequality against women stops in New York State.”

He also said bringing down high taxes would be a priority: “We’re going to attack property taxes that are strangling New York homeowners.”

A lively, diverse and young group crowded the Metropolitan Ballroom, sipping wine and munching on freshly popped corn and other snacks. Many waved signs that read “Choice,” one of the signature messages of the Women’s Equality Party, which Cuomo led.

Another sign, which read “New York is on the move,” captured the Cuomo campaign’s message of the evening.

And as he did during his campaign, Cuomo emphasized what he said were his major accomplishments during his first term.

“We made New York more progressive — with marriage equality, with gun safety — the most progressive tax code in the country. I am proud to be the governor who will go down in history for closing more prisons than any governor in the state.”

He also touted the enrollment of New Yorkers in the affordable health care exchange and the billion dollars that was invested in affordable housing.

His win was no surprise. Astorino, the Westchester County Executive, called to conceded shortly after the polls closed at 9 p.m.

Cuomo far outspent his rival, raising $45 million as of mid-October, or nearly 10 times as much as Astorino.  The governor flooded the airwaves with negative television ads painting Astorino as an extremist conservative while touting his own record as one of balanced budgets, economic revival and social progress. Astorino, who also had the Conservative Party line, ran on a platform of cutting taxes and attacked Cuomo as corrupt and anti-business.  

But another unexpected battle emerged in the last week as two of the political parties backing Cuomo found themselves competing with each other for votes. Cuomo led the top of four tickets in Tuesday’s races — Democratic, Working Families, Women’s Equality, and Independence.

And while the grassroots Working Families party has been rallying its membership of largely low-wage, minority, and women workers to get out the vote for Cuomo, the governor last week urged voters to vote for him on the Women’s Equality line.

Cuomo said he wanted to move forward on his 10-point Women’s Equality Act, which has failed in the legislature over opposition to its broad abortion plank. But his backing of the Women’s Equality Party had the effect of putting future of the Working Families Party at risk. Under New York election law, both parties need a minimum of 50,000 votes in order to remain on the ballot in the next gubernatorial race.

The progressive Working Families Party, a key factor in Mayor Bill de Blasio's victory in the New York City mayoral race last year, stepped up its push for votes in recent weeks, getting help from actress Whoopi Goldberg, feminist Gloria Steinem, and Public Advocate Letitia James, who all took to the airwaves and YouTube to urge voters to vote on the WFP line.

And on Saturday, the civic action site MoveOn.org set out an email telling voters that Working Families “will vanish unless 50,000 voters cast votes on the Working Families party ballot line” for Cuomo. MoveOn’s email also accused Cuomo, who has had a difficult relationship with his party's progressive wing, of creating the Women’s Equality Party to siphon off votes from the WFP.

The Working Families Party nominated Cuomo to lead its ticket back in May, after the governor promised to help push its progressive agenda, including support for a solid Democratic majority in the state Senate. Working Families is also aggressively pushing to increase the minimum wage and pass the DREAM Act, which would provide scholarships for the children of undocumented immigrants.

Also running for governor were Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, who had built a following among New Yorkers opposed to hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” – a process of releasing natural gas from the earth that opponents fear releases harmful chemicals into the environment. Astorino’s economic development plan for the state called for allowing fracking in New York State to raise revenue. Cuomo has withheld an opinion for years, saying he is waiting for the outcome of scientific studies. Libertarian Michael McDermott is also on the ballot.

New York State has roughly 11.8 million registered voters, according to the state Board of Elections. Close to a million are inactive.