Andrew Cuomo Biography Quotes 17 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Andrew Mark Cuomo was born on December 6, 1957, in Queens, New York, into a family that made public service its calling. His father, Mario M. Cuomo, served three terms as governor of New York and became a defining voice of modern Democratic politics. His mother, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, was a prominent advocate for children and families. The Cuomo household was close-knit and intensely political; dinner-table debates doubled as lessons in governance and ethics. Andrew's siblings include journalist Chris Cuomo, physician and author Margaret Cuomo, advocate and producer Maria Cuomo Cole, and attorney Madeline Cuomo, each carving out their own public-facing paths. The extended family and its civic commitments shaped Andrew's outlook and ambitions from a young age.

Education and Early Career
Cuomo graduated from Fordham University and earned a law degree from Albany Law School. He practiced law in New York while moving quickly into public affairs, managing Mario Cuomo's successful 1982 campaign for governor. The experience cemented his reputation as a strategist with a hard-edged, results-oriented style. In 1986, he founded HELP USA, a nonprofit focused on homelessness and supportive housing that grew into a significant provider of services; his sister Maria later played leadership roles in the organization. Under Mayor David Dinkins, he chaired the New York City Homelessness Commission, building a policy profile around housing, social services, and urban management.

Service in the Clinton Administration
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Cuomo as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He later served as HUD Secretary from 1997 to 2001. At HUD he pursued initiatives to expand affordable housing, modernize agency operations, and advance fair housing enforcement. The portfolio placed him amid national debates on urban policy and finance, and connected him with a network of mayors, advocates, and federal officials that would influence his later state-level leadership.

Attorney General of New York
After an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2002, Cuomo returned to statewide politics and won election as New York's Attorney General in 2006, succeeding Eliot Spitzer. Taking office in 2007, he investigated abuses in the student loan industry, addressed public corruption, and brought cases tied to financial misconduct in the wake of the 2008 crisis. He positioned the office as an activist watchdog and used its platform to argue for transparency and accountability in government and business. He was succeeded by Eric Schneiderman when he left the office to run for governor.

Governor of New York
Elected in 2010, Cuomo served as New York's 56th governor from 2011 to 2021, following David Paterson. He won reelection in 2014 and 2018, defeating primary challenges from Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon and general-election opponents including Carl Paladino, Rob Astorino, and Marc Molinaro. His tenure combined fiscal restraint with socially liberal goals: he advanced a property tax cap, championed marriage equality (enacted in 2011), signed the NY SAFE Act on gun control, created paid family leave, raised the minimum wage toward $15, and oversaw a fracking ban. He backed climate and energy reforms culminating in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Infrastructure megaprojects were a hallmark: the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge with the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, LaGuardia Airport's overhaul, and various upstate investments like the Buffalo Billion initiative, which also drew scrutiny amid corruption trials involving associates.

Cuomo's governing style was centralized and intense. Key aides such as Melissa DeRosa formed a tight inner circle. He clashed at times with New York City's mayor, Bill de Blasio, and negotiated forcefully with legislative leaders Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie. The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, which he convened in 2013 and later disbanded in 2014, became a flashpoint for critics. Longtime aide Joe Percoco's 2018 corruption conviction added to questions about the culture around the executive chamber, though Cuomo was not charged.

Leadership During Crises
Cuomo managed multiple emergencies, including Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, and other disasters that required coordination with federal officials and regional partners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his daily briefings in 2020 made him a national figure. He worked closely with neighboring governors such as Phil Murphy and Ned Lamont on regional policies, invoked protective measures dubbed "Matilda's Law" to safeguard vulnerable residents, and navigated contentious issues around testing, hospital capacity, and reopening. His administration's handling of nursing home data later became the subject of intense debate and investigation, including a report by the New York Attorney General that found the state undercounted certain deaths.

Resignation and Aftermath
In 2021, a report from Attorney General Letitia James concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed multiple women in the workplace. Cuomo denied intent to harass but faced mounting calls to resign from national and state leaders. He stepped down on August 24, 2021; Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul succeeded him, becoming New York's first female governor. Some prosecutors later declined to pursue criminal charges while noting allegations were credible; the political and personal fallout remained significant. After leaving office, Cuomo kept a public presence through occasional speeches and media appearances while contesting aspects of the findings and defending his record.

Personal Life and Publications
Cuomo married Kerry Kennedy in 1990; they divorced in 2005. The couple has three daughters, a central focus of his personal life. He later had a long-term relationship with television personality Sandra Lee that ended in 2019. Family ties, including those to the Kennedy family and to his parents' legacy, have been integral to his public identity. He authored "All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life" (2014) and "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2020), reflecting on governing, resilience, and the dynamics of power.

Legacy
Andrew Cuomo's career spans nonprofit innovation, federal housing policy, statewide law enforcement, and a decade as governor marked by large-scale projects and sweeping social legislation. He cultivated an image as a pragmatic, tough operator capable of moving complex agendas, while controversies over ethics, transparency, and workplace culture ultimately reshaped how many New Yorkers judged his methods and results. The people around him, parents Mario and Matilda Cuomo, siblings including Chris Cuomo, political allies and rivals, aides like Melissa DeRosa, and successors such as Kathy Hochul, formed the constellation that defined both his ascent and his fall, anchoring a legacy as consequential as it is contested.

Our collection contains 17 quotes who is written by Andrew, under the main topics: Justice - Leadership - Freedom - Nature - Equality.