Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo (/ˈkwoʊmoʊ/; Italian: [ˈkwɔːmo]; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician, author, and lawyer serving as the 56th governor of New York since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position his father, Mario Cuomo, held for three terms. He has served as Chair of the National Governors Association since August 2020.
Born in New York City, Cuomo is a graduate of Fordham University and Albany Law School of Union University, New York. He began his career working as the campaign manager for his father, then as an assistant district attorney in New York City before entering private law practice. He founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (HELP USA) and was appointed chair of the New York City Homeless Commission, a position he held from 1990 to 1993.
In 1993, Cuomo joined the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 2006, Cuomo was elected Attorney General of New York. Cuomo won the 2010 New York gubernatorial election to become Governor of New York and has been reelected twice after winning primaries against liberal challengers Zephyr Teachout (2014) and Cynthia Nixon (2018).
During his governorship, Cuomo oversaw the passage of the 2011 Marriage Equality Act, introducing same-sex marriage in New York, and the 2014 Compassionate Care Act, legalizing medical marijuana. In response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the 2012 Webster shooting, Cuomo signed the NY SAFE Act of 2013, the strictest gun control law in the United States. He co-founded the United States Climate Alliance, a group of states committed to fighting climate change by following the terms of the Paris Climate Accords. He also delivered Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act; a 2011 tax code that raised taxes for the wealthy and lowered taxes for the middle class; 12-week paid family leave along with a gradual increase of the state's minimum wage to $15; and pay equity. Cuomo received national attention for his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic in New York.
Cuomo was born December 6, 1957, in the Queens borough of New York City, to lawyer and later governor of New York Mario Cuomo and Matilda (née Raffa). His parents were both of Italian descent; his paternal grandparents were from Nocera Inferiore and Tramonti in the Campania region of southern Italy, while his maternal grandparents were from Sicily (his grandfather from Messina). He has four siblings; his younger brother, Chris Cuomo, is a CNN journalist. His elder sister is noted radiologist Margaret Cuomo.
He graduated from St. Gerard Majella's School in 1971 and Archbishop Molloy High School in 1975. He received a B.A. from Fordham University in 1979, and a J.D. from Albany Law School in 1982
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