Report: Cuomo considering primary run against Hochul

From TV ads to the church speech, there have been speculations that Gov. Cuomo has been eyeing a political comeback.

Now, a new CNBC report says he is considering a primary run against his replacement, current Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The report says the former governor is making an attempt at a comeback after resigning due to allegations of sexual harassment by women who worked for him. Cuomo continues to deny those allegations.

It also cites people close to him, saying his aides have been doing their own voter polling about a potential matchup between Cuomo and Hochul. Also in the race are Congressman Tom Suozzi, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Paul Nichols.

The chair of the Democratic Party told CNBC that a run would be a "bad mistake."

Speculation recently increased as Cuomo spoke at a church several weeks ago, and rolled out a multi-million dollar ad campaign.

The ads lay out his accomplishments in Albany and cast doubt on Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of the allegations against him.

Ronald Seyb is an associate professor of political science at Skidmore College.

"I don’t believe that there can’t be second acts in politics, but he’s coming back from a pretty deep hole," he said.

Still, a recent poll from Emerson College and The Hill had Cuomo trailing Hochul by just four points in a primary matchup.

"That could be an artifact of people in some ways having a nostalgia about Cuomo, it may not be indicative be indicative of what they think about him as somebody they would actually vote for," Seyb said.

The same poll found nearly 60% of New York voters polled trust the attorney general’s report.

Taken in contrast to the polling numbers, Seyb says "[voters] may be putting in more the kind of Bill Clinton context, where this was personal behavior– ‘It’s something that’s unfortunate, he’s a flawed individual, we all have flaws, let’s look at the record.’"

The primary is scheduled for June 28, and Cuomo would have to get his signatures in by April 7.

"People might think that is a technicality but getting those signatures even for somebody like Andrew Cuomo in such a short window of time is going to be extraordinarily difficult," Seyb said.

He explained that an infrastructure of campaign volunteers is necessary to get signatures quickly.

"Is Cuomo going to be able to mobilize a group of volunteers to do that kind of work, which is thankless?" he asked.

Cuomo has still not said whether he will or won’t run.

Seyb thinks Cuomo could be testing the waters for a future run.

"Maybe thinking for the next cycle, maybe thinking it’s a little too soon to back into the political waters because there still is a lot of anger toward Andrew Cuomo, particularly in the parts of the understandable groups, women’s groups, but not only women’s groups. A lot of people feel betrayed by him," he said.