WIVB to hold Buffalo mayoral debate ahead of Democratic primary
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – All five candidates on the ballot for the Democratic nomination in the race for Buffalo mayor have agreed to take the stage for a debate held by WIVB News 4 on June 3, exactly three weeks before the primary election.
The 90-minute event, hosted at D'Youville University's Kavinoky Theatre, includes a debate from 7-8 p.m. and a town hall-style question-and-answer period from 8-8:30 p.m.
The debate will air live on WIVB, WIVB.com, and our free connected TV app, WIVB+. The 8-8:30 portion will be available exclusively on WIVB+ and WIVB.com.
The candidates taking part in the event are:
Acting Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon
State Senator Sean M. Ryan
University District Common Councilman Rasheed N.C. Wyatt
Former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr.
Buffalo native Anthony J.P. Tyson-Thompson
Who is running for Buffalo mayor in 2025?
WIVB's Dave Greber and Marlee Tuskes will moderate the event.
The Erie County Democratic Committee gave its endorsement to Ryan in February. The Erie County Republican Committee endorsed former law clerk James Gardner and will not hold a primary.
The primary election will be held on Tuesday, June 24. Early voting begins June 14. The general election is Nov. 4.
WIVB is Your Local Election Headquarters. Stay tuned for the latest news and information on this race and others others across Western New York.
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Time Magazine
27 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Why Trump Has Had Enough of This Republican Congressman
'MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him,' President Donald Trump wrote in a lengthy tirade against Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky who has criticized the President over a number of issues from war with Iran to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. 'He is a negative force who almost always Votes 'NO,' no matter how good something may be. He's a simple minded 'grandstander' who thinks it's good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling 'DEATH TO AMERICA' at every chance they get,' Trump posted on Sunday. He added: 'MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!' Massie responded with a tongue-in-cheek post on X that the President 'declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress.' Massie joined last week with a number of Democratic lawmakers to raise the alarm over potential U.S. military intervention in the Middle East without constitutionally-mandated congressional authorization. While Massie won't face a reelection contest until 2026, Trump has already unveiled a plan to challenge him and further enforce loyalty within the GOP ranks. 'The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I'll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard,' Trump added, without naming a prospective primary opponent. 'MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is definitely one.' Massie, who is known for his outspoken libertarian views, has survived primary challenges before and told Axios, which reported on the effort to oust him, that 'any serious person considering running should spend money on an independent poll before letting swampy consultants take them for an embarrassing ride.' Who is Thomas Massie? Massie, 54, was born in West Virginia and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from MIT in the 1990s before turning to local politics in 2010, when he ran and won the race for Judge Executive of Lewis County, Ky., amid the Tea Party wave. In 2012, after then-Rep. Geoff Davis announced his retirement in Kentucky's deep-red 4th congressional district, Massie, who described himself as a 'constitutional conservative,' won the Republican primary in a landslide. When Davis resigned early, Massie won the same-day special election and general election to succeed him, taking office two months earlier than his fellow freshmen representatives elected in 2012. One of Massie's first moves was to vote in January 2013 against party leader John Boehner for Speaker, opting instead to vote for fellow libertarian Justin Amash. (Boehner narrowly won the speakership but would go on to resign in 2015. Amash would go on to not run for reelection in 2020 and temporarily leave the Republican Party after earning Trump's wrath for consistent criticism of the President and supporting his impeachment.) Since then, Massie has made a name for himself by regularly voting against bills, often breaking with his caucus and sometimes siding with Democrats. In 2013, Politico dubbed him 'Mr. No.' In 2016, Massie said he would vote for Trump but do everything he could to 'rein him in' if he acts unconstitutionally. In 2017, Massie tried to explain how the same movement that propelled him into office could also propel someone like Trump, telling the Washington Examiner: 'All this time, I thought they were voting for libertarian Republicans. But after some soul searching I realized when they voted for Rand and Ron [Paul] and me in these primaries, they weren't voting for libertarian ideas—they were voting for the craziest son of a b----- in the race. And Donald Trump won best in class.' During Trump's first term, Massie was among a small group of Republicans who joined Democrats in trying to override Trump's veto of legislation that would block his national emergency declaration at the border in 2019. That same year, he was the sole Republican to vote against a resolution opposing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement targeting Israel, and he was the sole no-vote across both parties on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. In March 2020, Trump called Massie a 'third rate Grandstander' and urged Republicans to throw him out of the party after the congressman tried to force a roll-call vote on a $2 trillion pandemic relief package. The stunt earned rebuke from both sides of the aisle, with former Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State John Kerry posting on social media: 'Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an a--hole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity.' But in a U-turn, Trump endorsed Massie in 2022, calling him 'a first-rate Defender of the Constitution.' In 2022, Massie was the lone 'No' vote on a symbolic measure condemning antisemitism, a move he defended as a stance against 'censorship' but critics described as 'performative contrarianism.' Why Trump wants Massie out Massie was once again on Trump's bad side in 2023 when Trump shared posts on his Truth Social platform that called the congressman a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' and said he 'helped destroy the Tea Party and now he's trying to destroy MAGA.' That didn't stop Massie from endorsing Trump in the 2024 general election after previously backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary. But Trump finally had enough of Massie in March, when Massie voted against a continuing resolution to fund the federal government until September as Republicans worked to pass Trump's massive tax-and-spending legislative package, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' (OBBB). The President took to Truth Social to appeal for a primary candidate to challenge Massie in 2026: 'HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him. He's just another GRANDSTANDER, who's too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney [sic] before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won't stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS???' Massie brushed off the criticism, telling Politico: 'I had the Trump antibodies for a while — I needed a booster.' He said at the time that he had no intention to cave to Trump's pressure and believed the President's grudge would 'blow over.' When Massie continued to voice loud opposition to the OBBB, which is estimated to add trillions to the national debt, Trump said of Massie in May: 'He doesn't understand government' and 'should be voted out of office.' The OBBB ultimately passed in the House in May, when Massie was one of two Republicans in the lower chamber to vote against it. It has yet to pass in the Senate, especially after Massie found a sympathizer to his concerns about the bill's impact on the deficit in tech billionaire Elon Musk. Trump's latest missive against Massie came as Massie has become a leading voice against military intervention in Iran. Days after Israel launched an attack on Iran, Massie cosponsored a war powers resolution with Rep. Ro Khanna (D, Calif.) aimed at blocking the U.S. government from engaging in 'unauthorized hostilities.' After Trump revealed U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Massie posted on X: 'This is not Constitutional.' While some have categorized Massie's wing of the MAGA base when it comes to the war as 'isolationists,' Massie told CBS on Sunday that he rejects the label, preferring 'non-interventionists.' 'We are exhausted,' he said. 'We are tired from all of these wars.' How is Trump planning to beat Massie? Trump is dedicating campaign firepower to oust Massie. Axios reported that Trump's senior political advisers, Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita, will launch a political action committee devoted to defeating Massie in the May 2026 primary. LaCivita said the PAC will spend 'whatever it takes' to defeat Massie, who according to the team's internal polling was lagging behind the President in terms of support. As of now, only one candidate, Niki Lee Ethington, has announced that she will vie for Massie's congressional seat. Other names being floated, per Axios, are state senator Aaron Reed and state representative Kimberly Moser. 'Massie's long-time opposition to President Trump's working family tax cuts—and really anything to do with President Trump—is coming to an end,' LaCivita said in a statement. 'Thomas 'Little Boy' Massie will be fired.'
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
NYC mayoral primary: 1 day to go
Presented by With help from Cris Seda Chabrier NEW YORK MINUTE: An Emerson College poll out today shows Zohran Mamdani defeating Andrew Cuomo by nearly 4 points in the eighth round of voting — a rare public survey that doesn't demonstrate the former governor in the lead of a race he's as-yet dominated. The survey finds Cuomo ahead in the first round of ranked-choice voting 36.4 to Mamdani's 33.7, with undecided voters excluded, and the state assemblymember winning the final round 51.8 to 48.2. (That split is akin to a head-to-head poll commissioned by city comptroller candidate Justin Brannan earlier this month. Since then, 384,338 New Yorkers have headed to the polls to vote ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary.) Emerson partnered with with PIX and The Hill to survey 800 voters; the poll has a 3.4 percent margin of error. It also shows city Comptroller Brad Lander's 20.1 percent favors Mamdani when Lander is eliminated in the seventh round. The comptroller has endorsed Mamdani and spent time and money opposing Cuomo. — Sally Goldenberg FINAL COUNTDOWN: If the stakes for the New York City mayoral election didn't feel high enough already, why don't we add the threat of war? The city should get ready for 'possible reprisal' from Iran, Cuomo said at a press conference Sunday. 'Who do you want in charge in that situation?' he asked. The ex-governor who handled Superstorm Sandy and COVID? Or Mamdani, an assemblymember, who 'has absolutely no qualification whatsoever to do the job.' Mamdani's Inexperience has been Cuomo's closing argument, POLITICO's Bill Mahoney reports. So this was more of the same, with a nuclear twist after President Donald Trump bombed Iran on Saturday. The two leading candidates' reactions were yet another example of their starkly different worldviews. Mamdani called it the result of a political establishment that would rather spend money on weapons than fighting poverty. Cuomo applauded the goal of targeting Iranian nuclear facilities — though both agreed Trump abused his authority by not getting Congressional approval, POLITICO's Joe Anuta reported. Speaking of Trump, Cuomo's reportedly under investigation by the DOJ after Republicans accused him of lying to a Congressional panel investigating his Covid-era policies. Cuomo denies it, and says it's politically motivated. But if he were to win, Cuomo would be preparing to lead while simultaneously defending himself in two lawsuits, pursuing a third and potentially responding to a federal investigation, POLITICO's Nick Reisman reports. That's just one of the reasons why this Mamdani-Cuomo matchup is remarkable — 'a 33-year-old socialist and a sex pest,' as POLITICO's Jonathan Martin writes — and the unlikely showdown has profound national implications, such as whether this will set up a Cuomo presidential run in 2028. Attorney General Letitia James could have been a contender, Martin noted. Instead, she spent Sunday night promoting the 'true freedom fighters' on the Working Families Party's mayoral slate: Mamdani, Brad Lander, Adrienne Adams and Zellnor Myrie. But it was only Mamdani who she compared to Barack Obama. 'They mispronounce his name. They say that he's inexperienced,' James said. 'Sort of reminds me of a candidate who ran on change.' More than 384,000 New York City residents voted early in-person, and another 46,000 absentee ballots have been mailed in already. Candidates were driving voters to the polls all weekend. Cuomo rode in the back of a flatbed truck in Bensonhurst. Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, shaking hands and taking selfies over more than 13 miles, POLITICO reported. Lander, who's trailing both Cuomo and Mamdani in polls, attacked, bringing together some of Cuomo's biggest critics for a closing argument press conference on the Upper West Side and calling him a 'sociopath' who can't take accountability for his actions. Cuomo attacked too, brushing off Lander as irrelevant, while holding a press conference harping on Mamdani's 'defund the police' tweets from 2020 and accusing the democratic socialist of 'hate speech.' Mamdani's decade-plus of pro-Palestinian advocacy against Israel is another one of Cuomo's closing arguments against him, while some supporters say they're motivated by his principled stance. POLITICO's Jason Beeferman reported Sunday on what Mamdani has actually said about Israel. Voting closes at 9 p.m. tomorrow, but the mayoral race is far from over. Stay tuned. — Jeff Coltin and Amira McKee HAPPY MONDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE'S KATHY? In Erie County, Niagara County, Monroe County, Onondaga County, and New York City, making an energy announcement at Niagara Power Project. WHERE'S ERIC? In New York City, making a public safety-related announcement with District Attorney Clark. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'We gotta talk on Wednesday!' — Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, responding to journalist Ross Barkan's X post about how Rep. Dan Goldman could be vulnerable to a primary challenge — suggesting the former city comptroller is thinking about another campaign. ABOVE THE FOLD LANDLORDS FOR ADAMS: The landlords love Eric Adams. At least that was the takeaway from a town hall the mayor did with property owners Friday evening in Brooklyn. The event in Red Hook, organized by the firm H.L. Dynasty, was attended by landlords from around the city, and some of them have little love for the former governor who their lobby is backing in the Democratic mayoral primary. 'This all started about six years ago when there was a governor by the name of Andrew Cuomo who declared war on landlords,' said Anthony Carollo, who owns a property management firm. The remark won considerable applause from the crowd. Carollo went on. 'We just want you to be advocating for us,' he continued, saying to Adams. 'We want you to express our anger to Andrew that he did this to us, and now he wants to come back and do it to us again. We cannot accept that.' Cuomo signed a package of tenant-friendly laws in 2019 that dramatically limited owners' ability to raise rents in rent-regulated housing. He recently expressed regret over elements of that package — particularly measures that restricted rent hikes after building and apartment improvements, known as MCIs and IAIs. 'This was a bad decision and it was a lack of understanding of the full ecosystem,' Adams said on those measures. There remains some discontent in the industry over Cuomo's role in the 2019 reforms, but major developers have nonetheless donated big sums to a Cuomo-aligned super PAC. And the New York Apartment Association, a landlord group, announced plans earlier this month to spend $2.5 million to boost Cuomo's campaign. Adams has often empathized with his fellow small landlords and once proclaimed, 'I am real estate.' The mayor spent some two hours Friday listening to landlords vent about housing court delays, the 2019 rent reforms, property taxes and city fines. He was joined by officials from a raft of city agencies, including the housing, buildings and finance departments. One landlord came wearing a t-shirt that read, 'Stuck with 8-years squatter.' Adams offered his sympathies to the man, saying, 'Our squatter laws are outrageous.' The mayor left the group with a call to action of sorts, encouraging the owners to 'be organized.' 'You are hard-working people who took a huge leap by purchasing those small properties because you believe that this is the American dream. People have turned that dream into a nightmare,' Adams said. 'We don't have to surrender, you don't have to give up.' — Janaki Chadha CITY HALL: THE LATEST DREAM DONORS: The campaign against ranking Cuomo for mayor — and supporting Adams in general — has been quietly playing out for months in New York City. A POLITICO analysis of campaign finance data shows progressive voters have been hedging their bets since the early days of the Democratic mayoral primary by donating to multiple left-leaning candidates. Their hope? Deny the moderate frontrunner Cuomo the Democratic primary and avoid the MAGA-curious incumbent Adams, who dropped out of the contest to run in the general election as an independent. POLITICO pored over donations to top contenders in the primary, including contributions before the mayor exited the race, through early-June. The findings show nearly 3,000 New Yorkers gave to candidates like City Comptroller Brad Lander, Mamdani — a assemblymember — state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — but not to Cuomo or Eric Adams. The contribution pattern is reminiscent of a strategy for ranked-choice voting that was initially popularized by the 'Don't Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor' or DREAM campaign. The neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of multi-donors — progressive and vote-rich enclaves in Brooklyn and Manhattan — will play a deciding role in the race. Read more about mayoral race multi-donors from Cris Seda Chabrier and Joe Anuta. SAVE THE PRIMARIES: The United Federation of Teachers and New York Communities for Change, along with other unions and left-leaning interest groups, are opposing major changes to the city's primary elections that Mayor Adams' Charter Revision Commission is considering. First in Playbook, a letter signed by 13 unions and 29 advocacy groups opposes a switch to an open primary where independent voters can take part as well, not just those registered with a party. The groups also oppose a switch to a non-partisan 'jungle' primary, where the candidates with the most votes advance to the general, even if they're both Democrats. The commission confirmed in its April preliminary report it was looking at putting such changes on the ballot this November, arguing that they would boost turnout. The unions and groups that signed onto the letter disagree, saying that switching to non-partisan primaries didn't help turnout in California — and that the real goal is to reduce unions' influence in elections. 'Wealthy people already have most of the power in our society. The Party primary is one of the few places where working-class, middle-class and poor people can even the score even a little bit,' the letter reads. The commission hasn't finalized which proposals it would advance to put on the ballot. A spokesperson said they'll review the letter. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — Cuomo's bullying reputation powered him through public life and is fueling his potential return to elected office. (POLITICO Magazine) — Cuomo enlisted Bill Clinton as part of a late-stage bid to fend off Mamdani. (The New York Times) — Eric Adams is hosting a kickoff event for his reelection campaign this coming week. (Daily News) NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY COST OF DOING BUSINESS: Democratic state lawmakers — nursing their wounds from a 2024 election that resulted in Donald Trump returning to the presidency — insisted they wanted to address affordability when they began the year. A state budget that provided a modest tax cut for middle-income earners and rebate checks — ostensibly to help New Yorkers address inflationary costs — was approved. Business groups can claim wins too, including a budget provision that will pay down more than $6 billion in unemployment insurance debt and the approval of tax credits meant to spur New York City business expansion. Still, Democrats acknowledge there's more to be done. 'There were some meaningful steps forward, especially on universal school meals, but there were missed opportunities,' Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis told Playbook. 'The biggest cost of living pressures remain housing, utilities and property taxes — and these are issues that continue to require major overhaul.' Convincing voters that Democrats — even in deep blue New York — care about the cost of living will be crucial for the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Policies approved in Albany, like the controversial cashless bail law, often become factors in House races. And New York is home to several battleground seats that could determine control of the chamber. Republicans won't surrender the affordability issue, though. GOP lawmakers blasted environmental bills like curtailing natural gas hookups in new construction, warning the legislation would raise costs. 'Instead of addressing the real challenges facing our communities like affordability, crumbling rural infrastructure and an exodus of families and businesses, Albany Democrats pushed forward with the same extreme agenda that created this mess in the first place,' GOP Assemblymember Andrea Bailey said. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Just in time for a hot primary day, Hochul approved a law allowing voters to receive water while waiting in line. (NY1) — Several environmental bills failed to get a vote in the state Assembly, disappointing supporters. (Gothamist) — Efforts to revitalize downtown Albany are focusing on expanding the city's convention center. (Times Union) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION BIG-TENT REACTION TO IRAN: House Democrats' responses to the Trump administration's strikes on Iran ran the gamut over the weekend, and two Bronx Democrats had starkly opposing takes. Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres lauded the raid as necessary to eliminate a threat. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saw it as grounds for Trump's impeachment. 'The world can achieve peace in the Middle East, or it can accept a rogue nuclear weapons program — but it cannot have both,' Torres posted on X. 'The decisive destruction of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant prevents the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons in the world's most combustible region.' Torres was applauded by Republicans, including Rep. Mike Lawler. (Both are weighing bids for governor.) Torres also said later that he supports reasserting Congress' war powers, but added that both Democratic and Republican presidents have sparked military conflict without congressional approval. The progressive Ocasio-Cortez was on the other end of the spectrum. 'The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,' she posted on X. 'He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.' — Emily Ngo More from Congress: — Top Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, say they weren't briefed in advance of the U.S. attack on Iran on Saturday. (Axios) — Among the 18 Democrats who helped advance the GENIUS Act crypto bill, none played a more central role than Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. (Punchbowl News) — Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota press their GOP colleagues to preserve clean energy credits. (Newsday) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released from immigration detention and welcomed home by supporters including Ocasio-Cortez. (POLITICO) — Food banks are bracing for the fallout from federal aid cuts. (New York Times) — A $2.3 billion deal will upgrade the Long Island Rail Road's train cars. (Newsday) SOCIAL DATA MEDIAWATCH: Mayor Adams should lift his press conference ban on Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt, Daily News columnist Leonard Greene writes. SPOTTED at a rooftop party Thursday night in honor of Sam Tanenhaus' new biography of William F Buckley, Jr., 'Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America' ($29.79), held by Matthew Sitman and Katy Roberts: Beverly Gage, David Klion, Pamela Paul, Jennifer Szalai, Kathy Bonomi, Ian Ward, David Oshinsky, Alex Star, Andrew Marantz, Samuel Adler-Bell, Jennifer Schuessler, Barry Gewen, David Margolick, Nina Burleigh, Jacob Heilbrunn, John Ganz and John Williams. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) … Adam Boehler … Brian Pomper … Nick Weinstein … Patrick Morris … Ryan Rogers Woodbury … Caitlin Dorman … Josh Lauder … Robert Lezama … (WAS SUNDAY): AP's Jill Colvin … Carson Daly … Michael Falcone … Brit Hume … Martin Lipton ... Alisa Doctoroff … … (WAS SATURDAY): Axios' Mike Allen … Greyson Brooks, deputy campaign manager for Zellnor Myrie … Mark Levine aide Jack Lobel … NYT's Elizabeth Williamson and Elizabeth Dias … Laura Meckler … Sam Nunberg … Forbes' Emma Whitford … Max Clarke … Chloe Frelinghuysen … Zack Richner … Daniel Wagner … George Jahn … Mason Reynolds … Charles L. Glazer … (WAS FRIDAY): Bob Garfield ... Gregg Birnbaum ... Josh Raffel Missed Friday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Cuomo's management of the MTA was fraught — and offers a look into how he would lead NYC
NEW YORK — One of Andrew Cuomo's testiest exchanges with a campaign rival offered a revealing look into how the former governor ran the nation's largest transit system. During the final debate in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, Brad Lander claimed that, as governor, Cuomo had 'screwed' and 'cheated' immigrant workers who washed subways during the pandemic. In batting down the allegation, Cuomo reminded New Yorkers that sometimes he acknowledges he's a micromanager — and sometimes he doesn't. 'They should never have hired illegal immigrants — if it is true,' Cuomo said of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 'But obviously I had nothing to do with them hiring anyone.' Lander balked at Cuomo's use of the term 'illegal immigrants' and fired back, saying the orders for the cleaning service 'came from on high.' 'Oh, I see,' Cuomo said. 'So every contract that the MTA contracts, you want me to be held responsible? Come on.' The idea for the cleaning was something Cuomo announced in late April 2020, prompting an unprecedented overnight closure of the subway system. And for anyone familiar with his reputation as a micromanager, it's not a stretch to think Cuomo could actually be responsible for the contract. After all, as governor, Cuomo involved himself in rethinking how to repair the tunnel that carries the L train, picking the color of subway tiles and pressing the MTA to spend a quarter billion dollars to decorate a bridge with colorful, pulsating lights. At other times, though, Cuomo has claimed the MTA wasn't his thing. 'I have representation on the board,' the then-governor said in 2017, downplaying his role. 'The city of New York has representation on the board, so does Nassau, Suffolk, Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, other counties, OK?' His rivals aren't buying it. According to them, the former governor's rollercoaster leadership of the MTA informs how he would helm the country's biggest city. Lander, Zohran Mamdani and the alliance of progressives seeking to block Cuomo from winning the Democratic primary have tried to capitalize on every perceived weakness, from his treatment of women who accused him of sexual harassment to the nursing home Covid-19 deaths during his tenure. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing. Some of his MTA controversies — especially his redirecting of transit funds to struggling state-run ski resorts and his mixed messaging about who runs the agency — have been part of the battery of campaign attacks against him. 'The first thing that New Yorkers deserve out of a leader is an acknowledgment of their own responsibilities,' Mamdani, the state assemblymember eating into Cuomo's lead, told POLITICO on Saturday. 'There were years where he tried to tell New Yorkers that the MTA was actually under the auspices of Bill de Blasio, and what we need is someone who owns up to the scale of the crisis at hand.' Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi responded by ticking off the former governor's list of accomplishments. 'Governor Cuomo increased MTA operating funding by $2 billion a year, passed the largest capital plan in history, increasing it 125 percent to $54.8 billion, and he proudly finished the Second Avenue Subway and Moynihan Train Station — two projects generations of politicians talked about but didn't have the slightest clue how to actually build,' Azzopardi said. He pointed to the L train tunnel project and the East Side Access project, which connected the Long Island Rail Road to a newly opened Grand Central Madison terminal. 'The advocates and the far left didn't support that nor did they support hiring 500 MTA police to combat subway crime — history has borne out both those decisions,' Azzopardi added. That isn't nearly all there is to Cuomo's track record when it comes to the MTA, though. To understand Cuomo's role with the MTA, it's important to know who's actually in charge. The agency's board has a complex balance of power, with the New York City mayor, suburban county executives and state Senate having some say over its voting members. The governor, though, controls the nominating process, has more board representatives than anyone in the state and picks its chair and CEO. Early in his administration, Cuomo was so notorious for keeping his distance from the agency's problems that John Raskin, the former head of the Riders Alliance, made it his mission to get straphangers to understand the power Albany had over their commutes. In the summer of 2015, the group took a cardboard cutout of Cuomo on a tour of the subway system to make its case. That hands-off approach made Cuomo's exchange with Lander all the more galling to the transit advocacy group. 'He's still running away from the major responsibility he had to New York City as governor,' said current Riders Alliance spokesperson Danny Pearlstein. At City Hall, Cuomo would have far less power over the MTA than he did as governor, but as governor, in one of many clashes with Mayor de Blasio, he called it the 'city subway system.' 'As governor, he defunded and badly weakened the subway system and caused the summer of hell,' Lander said Saturday as he campaigned outside an Upper West Side subway station. The so-called summer of hell was an infamous series of transit problems in 2017 that began with Amtrak's Penn Station but also included MTA infrastructure breakdowns that left its customers suffering from the worst on-time performance of any major rapid transit system in the world. As that hell was beginning, Cuomo said his responsibility for the MTA merely consisted of appointing a few people to its board. But during his tenure, he also exerted control. In 2016, he was publicly reported to be 'hands on' and fretting about details like circuits that were complicating work on the Second Avenue subway. In early 2019, he was hailed for avoiding a shutdown of the L subway line. By the time a new subway boss, Andy Byford, arrived at the agency in 2018, Cuomo was 'sinking his hands deeper every day,' according to the late New York Times reporter Jim Dwyer, a legendary observer of the subway system. By spring 2019, another local news outlet had enough fodder to compile a list of Cuomo's 'greatest MTA micro-managing hits.' Out on the campaign trail, Cuomo has pointed to an unsafe subway system as one of the reasons he's running. In the speech launching his bid, he talked about an era when 'government worked and the subways were safe. But today people stand with their backs against the walls, away from the tracks and away from each other, wary, on guard, afraid they might be the next victim, afraid of New York at its worst.' Cuomo has run his campaign for mayor on a platform of experience and competence, including his three terms as governor, as New York attorney general and as U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 'The mayor of the city of New York — we have to understand that that is basically a management job,' the former governor told a Brooklyn megachurch Sunday. His opponents contend that's the point and have mocked him for precisely that when it comes to the MTA. Mamdani submitted bids for equipment once purchased to fulfill Cuomo's dreams of a choreographed, colored light show on the MTA's bridges, and he criticized the multimillion-dollar check Cuomo's administration once had the MTA cut to bail out upstate ski resorts. Homelessness in the subway, by Cuomo's own account, worsened during his and de Blasio's tenures: In 2019 — more than eight years after he took office — Cuomo said the homeless problem in the train system was 'worse than ever.' The pandemic accelerated that. Because of lost ridership during the pandemic, the MTA was facing the worst financial crisis in its history when Cuomo resigned in August 2021 following the sexual harassment allegations. There was turmoil at the top, too, after Cuomo's repeated spats with MTA leaders, including Byford, who resigned amid feuds with Cuomo. Before stepping down in 2021, Cuomo attempted to change how the agency was run by proposing a leadership structure that would give him even more say, echoing a move his father had tried four decades earlier. None of this appears to be forgotten under Gov. Kathy Hochul. During her time in office, there have been occasional indirect shots at how things once were under her predecessor. MTA CEO Janno Lieber recently thanked Hochul and state lawmakers for signing off on a budget deal that helps fund a $68 billion multi-year capital plan, the largest in the agency's history, but one focused primarily on repair work. Lieber said the deal acknowledges that the MTA needs money for repairs and isn't 'some weird bailout' to invest in essential infrastructure. 'We're not waving around a ton of shiny baubles,' he said. 'We love new projects — no secret they have helped to transform and grow the system — but we must maintain, we must preserve this system.' After leaving office, Cuomo changed his position on at least one important MTA-related policy: the congestion pricing tolls he signed into law to fund subway upgrades. Last year, as he was pondering his political future, he and his former aides criticized Hochul's handling of congestion pricing — first for embracing it, then for temporarily tanking it. With the midterm elections looming and Republicans critical of the policy, Cuomo questioned in March 2024 whether 'now is the right time to enact' the tolls; that June a top adviser criticized Hochul for pausing the program before it went into effect. For his transit critics, Cuomo did everything wrong, except for congestion pricing; while Hochul did everything right for the MTA, except for the five-month period where she paused congestion pricing. Now, Hochul is one of the program's biggest champions, in part because it's shown she can stand up to President Donald Trump, who has opposed the toll. Hochul has shown a willingness to take ownership of issues plaguing the MTA. She pushed plans to redevelop Penn Station, struck a funding deal with New Jersey on new train tunnels under the Hudson River, advanced plans for a new transit line between Brooklyn and Queens and agreed to fund increased police patrols in the subway system amid a major crime spike. Within months of winning a full term, she had filled the MTA's budget gap. And she hasn't burned through MTA leaders, instead having remarkable stability after years of tumult. Even when congestion pricing went off the rails, she and Lieber stood together. If Cuomo wins the primary and goes on to be elected mayor, advocates who did battle with him over his MTA management are bracing for the worst and hoping for the best. 'The hope is that Cuomo grew a lot as a person and manager and can actually delegate because, if he can't, then the city is going to be dysfunctional in a different way than it was under Eric Adams,' said John Kaehny, executive director of the government accountability group Reinvent Albany. 'But if the MTA is your only basis of comparison, then it bodes very poorly for the city.' Jeff Coltin contributed to this report.
