Last year, as a growing schism over Israel tore at the Democratic Party, Andrew M. Cuomo threw himself into the fray. He announced he would lead a new advocacy group leveraging his clout as New York’s former governor to beat back growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left.
The group, Never Again, NOW!, offered an ambitious slate of plans for the summer and fall. In a speech outlining them at a synagogue in the Hamptons last summer, Mr. Cuomo likened himself to a “Shabbos goy,” a non-Jew who traditionally helps Jewish people on the Sabbath.
“The hour is getting late, my friends,” he said, “and now is the time to act.”
Almost a year later, though, the Cuomo group’s promises appear to have amounted to little beyond a few private informational receptions and opinion essays.
Never Again, NOW! never convened the summer symposium it said would expose “the truth about anti-Zionist rhetoric” on college campuses, nor an advertised lecture series in the fall. It has yet to launch the educational hub on Israel and Hamas still promised on its bare-bones web page. And AdImpact, a tracking firm, could find no record that the television ads the group said would air last July actually did.
Now, as Mr. Cuomo begins a comeback campaign for mayor of New York City, the group’s work provides one of the clearest windows into how he has sought to use well-timed political projects to re-enter the public sphere after his scandal-tarred resignation as governor. Others included a national gun safety group and a new political action committee to support favored candidates.
At a time when he was fighting to clear his name from accusations of sexual harassment, the groups earned Mr. Cuomo positive media coverage and helped rekindle relationships with key constituencies, especially wealthy donors. But a review of public records and interviews with people familiar with the projects show that they ultimately delivered far less than what he advertised.
Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman, defended the efforts, which he called a reflection of Mr. Cuomo’s desire to continue work he had done as governor to tighten New York’s gun laws and fight antisemitism. He said they would be top priorities if Mr. Cuomo became mayor.
“Never Again NOW! as an organization is still in its infancy and has only been in existence in this current form for 10 months, and its work is ongoing,” Mr. Azzopardi said, citing speeches Mr. Cuomo had made at private homes and events and in published essays.
It is unclear how much money the group raised or spent, or if Mr. Cuomo hired professional staff. The group has not yet been required to disclose its finances.
But leaders of a half dozen major Jewish advocacy groups that share Mr. Cuomo’s goal of combating hostility toward Israel in the Democratic Party said they had not interacted with Never Again, NOW! or seen evidence of its work. Several bristled when asked about it.
“There is a crisis of antisemitism and extremism that requires real leadership,” said Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “It only harms Jewish safety to treat us a political football in order to rehabilitate someone’s political image — especially when there’s no evidence this group has done anything.”
Mr. Cuomo’s emergence from political exile began in September 2022, just over a year after he resigned, when he released a video entitled, “What’s Next.” In it, he said he intended to launch a new group, “Gun Safe America Project,” that would push for federal action on firearms, and a separate political action committee “to elect the right people to office.”
Two and a half years later, though, records indicate that neither group has done any discernible work.
Mr. Azzopardi said that Mr. Cuomo later decided to directly support candidates with funds from his own campaign account instead of a PAC. He pointed to records showing the gun group was incorporated in early 2023, but did not detail any activity or fund-raising.
Mr. Cuomo’s work on issues related to Israel was more involved. He had been a staunch supporter of the country as governor, and he saw an opportunity to try to push back as some on his party’s left flank became more critical of its government.
In March 2023, at an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, he announced that he would form a pro-Israel group, which at the time he said would be called “Progressives for Israel.”
“I am going to call the question for Democrats,” he said. “Do you stand with Israel or do you stand against Israel, because silence is not an option?”
Mr. Cuomo’s timing was prescient. Seven months later, Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killed more than 1,200 people; hundreds more were taken hostage. It intensified a political dispute among Democrats over American support for Israel, one that only grew as Israel’s bombings in Gaza killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
When Mr. Cuomo finally incorporated his group in spring 2024, it was under a new name: Never Again, NOW!, a reference to the rallying cry after the Holocaust.
In a news release in early July and on its website, the group said that it would use “the prominence of its chair, Andrew M. Cuomo,” to accomplish specific goals.
The whole campaign was to kick off with a pair of ads meant to highlight the depravity of Hamas’s attack and convey that “Israel is the victim.” The first 60-second spot, entitled “This is Hamas,” was produced by Mark Penn, a well-known pollster, and shared with potential donors and news media. A second ad was promised but never circulated.
Mr. Cuomo added more details a few days later at the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, which regularly hosts politicians. He described pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses like Columbia University as “criminal acts,” and portrayed himself as a rare Democrat willing to stand up to the activists.
“We’re going to run television ads that are going to tell the truth about Hamas,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be straight, but it’s going to be factual.”
“And it is starting now,” he added.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, the synagogue’s leader, called the former governor’s focus “signature Cuomo,” and said that his congregants “could sense Andrew’s authenticity and his genuine commitment to fighting antisemitism and supporting the state of Israel.”
The group shared invoices from an ad buying firm showing that it had been billed about $50,000 for several weeks of media time, and its treasurer, Steven M. Cohen, said an ad ran on cable and online. It was not clear where the ads ran.
Tracking databases maintained by the Federal Communications Commission, Google and Facebook did not show records that Never Again, NOW! had placed any ads on television or online.
But even if the $50,000 had been spent, veteran political strategists said it would have only funded a minuscule number of television spots at New York City rates. Three said the details resembled what political firms call a “show buy,” an ad campaign primarily meant to reach news media or donors, rather than viewers.
Mr. Cuomo had little trouble taking his message directly to some of New York’s most influential Jewish business and civic leaders.
In April, he got a warm reception at the Central Park West home of Barry Rosenstein, a hedge fund billionaire.
The real estate magnate Andrew L. Farkas, a longtime Cuomo confidant, organized a small call with potential donors, according to two people familiar with it. Among the participants was Bill Ackman, who had spent the previous months campaigning against Harvard over its response to complaints of antisemitism on campus.
Mr. Cuomo spoke in June at the private Harmonie Club, an organization for Jewish leaders in Manhattan. Page Six spotted him back in the Hamptons in early August to talk up his group at the Bridgehampton home of another prominent businessman, Irwin D. Simon, and his wife, Daryl.
As the pro-Israel group’s public-facing plans failed to materialize, some potential donors said in interviews that they came away with the impression that it was a dress rehearsal for a comeback attempt by Mr. Cuomo.
Its leadership consisted of Mr. Cuomo and members of his inner circle. Charlie King, a director of Never Again, NOW!, is now a lead strategist for Mr. Cuomo’s mayoral campaign. Jennifer Bayer Michaels, another director, is its fund-raiser.
Mr. Cohen, who is one of Mr. Cuomo’s most steadfast advisers and was also listed as the group’s secretary, is now running a super PAC that is aiming to raise $15 million to boost his candidacy. Mr. Cohen is seeking support from the kind of large donors he and Mr. Cuomo pitched for Never Again, NOW!
In a statement, Mr. Cohen praised Mr. Cuomo. “At a bleak moment when the Jewish community was under attack and feeling vulnerable, Andrew Cuomo stood up, showed up and was part of a community outreach and educational effort that is ongoing,” he said.
Mr. Cuomo’s opponents are poised to seize on what he did not deliver.
“Andrew Cuomo is the same person he has always been: desperate to be seen as a savior and arrogant enough to believe he can trick New Yorkers with terrible P.R. stunts when New Yorkers are most vulnerable,” said Scott Stringer, one of two Jewish Democrats running for mayor.
But others who crossed paths with the group were more sanguine.
Rabbi Schneier said that Mr. Cuomo had simply found a bigger platform running for mayor, making his advocacy group look “kind of diminutive” by comparison.
And Mr. Simon said New York City needed a leader like Mr. Cuomo, and he planned to raise funds for his campaign. He said it was not especially “relevant” to him what the group ended up doing because Mr. Cuomo was broadcasting his solidarity.
Michael Nussbaum, a pro-Israel activist whom Mr. Cuomo helped raise funds for a separate TV ad attacking the Democratic Socialists of America, was more matter of fact.
“How many politicians at their State of the Union speech or State of the City promise things that never happen?” Mr. Nussbaum said.
“What he was trying to do was think out loud with people in suggesting ideas and where he could get back into the game and become relevant,” he added. “And obviously now he is.”