This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The lieutenant governor has reasons to celebrate after Cuomo officially steps down on Aug. 24. She will become the first female governor in state history and an instant contender to win a full term next year. That is a pretty good place to be after 2,427 days of schlepping around the state as LG, but Hochul will really have to remake the Second Floor as her own if she wants to do more than break another glass ceiling. Cleaning house with a tough feminine touch is one place to start. 

Miles away from New York’s latest political upheaval, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has finally managed to cram through a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. It took weeks of hassling progressive and centrist Democrats as well as Republicans to hop on board. But while Schumer made major strides in pushing forward the legislation important to the president, he’s got plenty more obstacles ahead as it heads to the House and as he takes on a new, more difficult task to get legislators to sign off on a $3.5 trillion spending plan. 

Following a lengthy recount process and intensive campaign against a well-established incumbent, Kristin Richardson Jordan will officially represent Harlem’s District 9 in the New York City Council. Jordan, a social justice activist, poet and democratic socialist, ran a ground-level campaign against long-time politician Bill Perkins who conceded the race this week. She defeated 12 others vying for the seat with a campaign centered on a socialist platform.

Oh how the mighty fall. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally admitted defeat in the face of numerous sexual harassment accusations, an impeachment inquiry and growing animosity from New York voters. Even his hardcore fanbase dubbed “Cuomosexuals” have begun to hide away their pro-Cuomo merch. And he is, of course, still leaving in Cuomo fashion: reiterating his innocence and drawing out his exit to the suspicion of many politicos who suspect he might be up to something nefarious before officially resigning. All that comes next is figuring out whether Cuomo is finally going to hang up his hat, or return in next year’s election for another shot at running the state. 

Cuomo’s resignation may be getting all the press this week, but don’t forget that his second-in-command, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, stepped down first on Sunday evening. DeRosa – one of several Executive Chamber staffers implicated in the attorney general’s report – is a Cuomo loyalist to the bitter end, which pretty much cements the end of her career in public service. 

The chair of Time’s Up, which is aimed at combating gender-based discrimination in the workplace, and co-founder of its legal defense fund resigned on Monday, following the release of Attorney General Letitia James’s damning report that corroborated 11 women’s allegations of sexual harassment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The report revealed that Kaplan was involved in efforts to discredit one of Cuomo's accusers and that she has had close ties to the governor. Safe to say that time is officially up on her work defending victims of workplace harassment.