Not long after President Biden said he thinks New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) should step down after a report from the state attorney general's office found that he had sexually harassed 11 female state employees, the Democratic governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island issued their own joint statement Tuesday night saying they were "appalled" at the report's findings and "Cuomo should resign from office."
Veteran political strategist Stuart Stevens said he's "worked in a lot of governor races" and he's "never seen anything like this" statement, explaining: "Governors, particularity of same party, tend to be chummy and hesitant to criticize another governor."
The resignation call from Biden, a longtime friend of Cuomo's, "could be a deciding factor" if the governor decides to step down, but the odds of him staying in office are "looking slimmer and slimmer by the minute," says Politico's Albany-based Anna Gronewold. If he doesn't quit, he will likely be impeached, putting Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in office until Cuomo is acquitted or convicted and permanently removed, she added. "But I think if it comes down to stepping down or being thrown out by a number of lawmakers who Cuomo has publicly held in disdain, he'd choose his own terms."
"How soon would they kick him out of the mansion?" Gronewold continued. "As far as we know, he literally does not have another physical home. Could be days, weeks or months."