Andrew Cuomo Bio
Andrew Mark Cuomo (born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and the son of former New York governor Mario Cuomo, he built a long career in public service that included serving as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and as New York Attorney General. Trained as an attorney at Albany Law School, Cuomo pursued major policy initiatives on same-sex marriage, gun control, infrastructure, and the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic during his time in office.
Early Life and Background
Andrew Mark Cuomo was born on December 6, 1957, in the New York City borough of Queens to lawyer and later governor of New York Mario Cuomo and Matilda Raffa. He grew up in the neighborhood of Holliswood, in a household shaped by his parents’ Italian heritage and a strong tradition of public service. Cuomo’s paternal grandparents came from communities in the Salerno province of Campania, while his maternal grandparents were from the Messina province of Sicily.
Cuomo has four siblings, including his younger brother Chris Cuomo, a former CNN journalist and current NewsNation anchor, and his elder sister Margaret Cuomo, a noted radiologist. He graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School, a private Catholic college-preparatory school in Briarwood, in 1975. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University in 1979 and a Juris Doctor degree from Albany Law School in 1982. After law school, he lived in Sunnyside, Queens for about five years before entering public life.
Path to US Politics
Cuomo’s entry into politics began with his father’s successful 1982 campaign for governor of New York, during which he served as campaign manager. He then joined his father’s administration as a policy advisor, earning a symbolic $1 a year and earning a reputation as the “enforcer” who helped push through his father’s legislative agenda. From 1984 to 1985, he worked as a Manhattan assistant district attorney and briefly at the law firm of Blutrich, Falcone & Miller.
In 1986, Cuomo founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (HELP), a nonprofit organization, and left to run it full time in 1988. He later chaired the New York City Homeless Commission from 1990 to 1993 under Mayor David Dinkins, developing policy on homelessness and housing access. These early roles laid the foundation for his work at the federal level in the Clinton administration.
Andrew Cuomo Career
Early Career (1993-2006)
Cuomo served in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development as assistant secretary from 1993 to 1997 and as secretary from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. During his tenure, he focused on housing policy, urban development, and initiatives to expand affordable housing across the country. After leaving Washington, he worked at the Fried Frank law firm from 2001 to 2004 and later at the Island Capital real estate firm.
Cuomo mounted an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2002 New York gubernatorial election. He rebounded in 2006 by winning the Democratic primary for New York attorney general with more than 65% of the vote and going on to defeat Republican Jeanine Pirro in the general election with 58% of the vote. As attorney general, he pursued high-profile investigations into student-lender practices and online child pornography, helping to change lending policies at many American universities.
First Gubernatorial Win and Reelections (2010-2018)
On May 22, 2010, Cuomo announced his run for governor in a video posted to his campaign website, with Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy as his running mate. In the November 2, 2010 general election, he defeated Republican Carl Paladino in a landslide, winning 62.6% of the vote. He was sworn in as the 56th governor of New York in 2011 and quickly moved to fulfill campaign promises.
Cuomo sought reelection in 2014 with former U.S. representative Kathy Hochul as his running mate, fending off a Democratic primary challenge from law professors Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu. He won the general election on November 4, 2014, with 54% of the vote against Republican Rob Astorino. In 2018, he defeated actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in the Democratic primary by a margin of 65.5% to 34.5% and then won the general election with 59.6% of the vote against Republican Marc Molinaro. During his three terms, he signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and recreational cannabis, oversaw major infrastructure projects, and enacted the NY SAFE Act of 2013, the strictest gun control law in the United States.
2025 New York City Mayoral Bid
After remaining politically active in the years following his resignation, Cuomo mounted a political comeback bid in 2025, running for mayor of New York City. Despite leading in most Democratic primary polls, he lost to Zohran Mamdani in what was widely considered a major upset. Cuomo continued his run as an independent candidate but lost again to Mamdani in the general election.
Notable Events and Milestones
Cuomo’s most defining moment in office came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he initially received widespread praise for New York’s lockdown and testing expansion but later faced sharp criticism and a federal investigation for ordering nursing homes to admit hospital patients without testing them for COVID-19. A January 2021 report by state attorney general Letitia James found that the Cuomo administration had undercounted COVID-19-related deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%. Beginning in late 2020, he also faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, and a report from independent investigators commissioned by James found in August 2021 that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women and retaliated against complainants. Faced with widespread calls for his resignation, including from President Joe Biden, he resigned from office effective August 24, 2021.
Andrew Cuomo Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Cuomo was born into a prominent political family headed by his father, Mario Cuomo, who served three terms as governor of New York, and his mother, Matilda Raffa. He has four siblings, including brother Chris Cuomo, a former CNN anchor and current NewsNation journalist, and sister Margaret Cuomo, a radiologist. The Cuomo family’s deep roots in New York politics shaped Andrew Cuomo’s early career, beginning with his role as campaign manager for his father in 1982.
Personal Life
Cuomo married Kerry Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, on June 9, 1990. The couple had three daughters: twins Cara Ethel Kennedy-Cuomo and Mariah Matilda Kennedy-Cuomo, born in 1995, and Michaela Andrea Kennedy-Cuomo, born in 1997. They separated in 2003 and divorced in 2005. Also in 2005, Cuomo began dating Food Network host Sandra Lee, and the couple moved in together in 2011. They resided in Westchester County, New York, and announced on September 25, 2019, that they had ended their relationship. Cuomo is Catholic.