Andrew Cuomo is building up his campaign team in his comeback bid for mayor, including by bringing in political veterans who’ve been in the trenches with him before.
One of the trusted pals drafted is longtime top Democratic strategist Neal Kwatra, who is joining the campaign as a senior adviser.
Kwatra is the former political director for the Hotel Trades Council union and worked for Cuomo’s 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial runs.
The operative previously served as chief of staff for then-state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, working closely with Melissa DeRosa, a key Cuomo adviser who served as his top deputy during his third term as governor.
Sources close to the campaign said Ramon Contreras, who previously worked as an aide to chief of staff Stacy Lynch in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, will be involved in constituent outreach.
Joshua Joseph, executive director of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, has been tapped to conduct political outreach.
Mercury Public Affairs, the firm where longtime Cuomo confidante Charlie King is a partner, will be a key consultant to the campaign.
Mercury partner Jake Dilemani will play a particularly key role, sources said.
Jason Elan, who previously worked for Cuomo and Hochul when he was his lieutenant governor, as well as Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi’s gubernatorial campaign for governor and former Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, will join the communications shop along with Esther Jensen, who worked on Cuomo’s 2018 campaign for governor.
They will work with Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.
Prisca Salazar-Rodriguez, who worked on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for Senate and Ray McGuire’s 2021 campaign for mayor, will be a senior adviser.
“In short order the governor has put together a seasoned, professional team reflective of the experience, leadership and competence that frankly has been missing from the arena for several years,” a Cuomo campaign source said.
Cuomo officially kicked off his bid for mayor Saturday, running to unseat Mayor Eric Adams in the Democratic primary.
He held a campaign event Sunday defending his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic despite blowback from nursing-home families who lost loved ones during the crisis, allegedly fueled by his controversial policies.
Other candidates running in the Democratic primary include state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie, city Comptroller Brad Lander, state Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, ex-Assemblyman Michael Blake, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and financier Whitney Tilson.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is the declared Republican candidate for mayor.
Cuomo was forced to resign from the governor’s seat in 2021 after being hit with a barrage of sexual misconduct claims, which he denies.
