Andrew Cuomo Shares 'Painful Lesson' He Learned From Sexual Harassment Scandal

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo is looking back on what he learned from the sexual harassment scandal that forced him to resign from the New York governor’s office.

During a Monday morning appearance on “The View,” Cuomo spoke carefully when panelist Sara Haines asked how he’d address voters who have a “hard time looking past” the sexual misconduct allegations that pushed him from office in 2021.

While Cuomo continued to deny wrongdoing and called the claims “politically motivated,” he said that the experience taught him to be “much more cautious” about how his actions may make others feel.

An investigation from the Department of Justice released in January 2024 concluded Cuomo and his executive staff fostered a “sexually hostile work environment” that impacted at least 13 female state employees. Allegations against him included grabbing one woman’s buttocks and putting his hand up her shirt, as well as asking a young staffer if she dated older men and practiced monogamy, The New York Times reports.

During his stop by “The View,” Cuomo called the time around the allegations and the subsequent investigations a “very painful period for me and for my family,” but added that “if I offended anyone in any way, I didn’t mean it.”

“I learned a lesson. A painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious about everything you say, any joke, any comment,” Cuomo said. “I won’t kiss a person on the cheek unless they initiate a kiss. So it taught me a lesson just to be super cautious because there is a sensitivity that has evolved that is real. If people feel it, it’s true, and it has to be respected.”

He’s failed to gain much traction as an independent candidate, however. A poll from Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research conducted between Sept. 18 and 22 shows Mamdani leading Cuomo by 18 points, even after his other main competition, incumbent Eric Adams, dropped out of the race.