Politics

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday objected to a Democratic attempt to advance new limits on gun purchases as one Rebpublican legislator pulled out his handguns at a hearing to complain that they could be banned.

The House Judiciary Committee met in an emergency session in the midst of a week-long Memorial Day recess as funerals were under way in Uvalde, Texas, for some of the 19 children and two teachers gunned down by an 18-year-old with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle last week. There were other mass shootings the week before and on Wednesday.

Republican Representative Greg Steube, who attended the committee meeting virtually from his Florida home, contended the legislation would ban various handguns. He held up four guns one by one for the committee to see.

“Here’s a gun I carry every single day to protect myself, my family, my wife, my home,” the second-term congressman said.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler interjected, “I hope to God that is not loaded.”

Steube retorted: “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.”

Democrats who narrowly control the House intend to put their 41-page “Protecting Our Kids Act” to a vote by the full chamber next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

President Joe Biden’s party holds enough votes to pass the bill in the House, but it faces slim chances in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most legislation. Republicans in Congress strongly advocate for gun rights.

“It’s regretful that Democrats have rushed to a markup today in what seems like political theater,” the top Republican on the panel, Representative Jim Jordan, said. He added, “Our hearts go out to the Uvalde community.”

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators is trying to craft a narrow bill. It might focus on boosting school security and possibly enacting a “red flag” law allowing authorities to seize guns bought by people suffering from mental illness. Previous such efforts have fallen flat.

Biden is expected to call on Congress to act during a national address at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) on gun violence.

The broader House bill couples a handful of already pending measures. It would raise the minimum age for buying certain guns to 21 from 18 and clamp down on weapons trafficking. It also would restrict large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

Nadler, a Democrat, opened debate noting the 400 million firearms in the country and the 45,000 Americans killed by gun violence in 2020.

Anticipating Republican arguments that Democrats were moving too fast following the Uvalde killings on May 24, Nadler said, “Too soon? My friends, what the hell are you waiting for?” He recounted the long string of school shootings over the last few decades.

Republicans accused Democrats of trampling on the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.

Democrats argued that right is not without limits, as they recounted tales of young children questioning whether they would live through the next day’s classes.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators on Thursday urged airlines and regulators to take steps to reduce flight cancellations and delays after more than 2,700 Memorial Day weekend flights were cancelled.

Travelers are bracing for a difficult summer as airlines expect record demand and are still rebuilding staff after thousands of workers left the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a letter https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/0602.22dotflightdelaysandcancellations.pdf to detail steps the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) “is taking to hold airlines accountable for serious disruptions and to ensure consumers are wholly and justly compensated.”

They added: “While some flight cancellations are unavoidable, the sheer number of delays and cancellations this past weekend raises questions about airline decision-making.”

They wrote Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others seeking an “update on airlines’ plans to reduce and minimize the impact of such delays and cancellations going forward.”

The group declined to comment Thursday.

Airlines are working to hire and train more workers to accommodate the growing demand. Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian told reporters Wednesday in New York the airline is working to train new employees “as we’re seeing historic surging demand.”

Lawmakers want USDOT to complete action on a number of rules to improve airline consumer protections.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, Blumenthal and Markey have asked Buttigieg to “define the timeframe for an eligible refund, and make the refund request process more transparent.”

Buttigieg said in May USDOT is “actively working on a rulemaking that would address protections for consumers unable to travel due to restrictions or concerns related to serious communicable disease” and set a standard for when delays are long enough to trigger refunds. A Buttigieg spokeswoman said he would respond directly to the senators.

In January, USDOT issued a final rule to make it easier for regulators to move faster to protect airline customers from deceptive practices.

USDOT also plans to issue separate rules to require upfront disclosure of baggage fees, change fees and cancellation fees and proposed new rules to require passenger airlines to refund fees for significantly delayed bags and refunds for inoperative services like onboard Wi-Fi.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Bernard Orr)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Declaring “Enough, enough!” President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other sensible gun control measures to address a string of mass shootings to address a string of mass shootings that have struck the United States.

Speaking from the White House, in a speech broadcast live in primetime, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings of school children in Texas, at a medical building in Oklahoma and at a Buffalo, New York, grocery story how much it would take.

“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.

The president, a Democrat, called for a number of measures that have historically been blocked by Republicans in Congress, including raising the age at which adults can buy guns and repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their weapons.

“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, pressing Republicans to allow bills including gun control measures to come up for a vote.

The United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by the high-profile mass shootings at a grocery story in New York, an elementary school in Texas that killed 19 children, and a medical building in Oklahoma.

Gun safety advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb gun violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have more lasting impact than any presidential order.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday was working on a bill aimed at toughening national gun laws, though the measure has little chance of passing the Senate.

Biden’s evening address was aimed at putting further pressure on lawmakers and keeping the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. He has made only a handful of evening speeches from the White House during his term, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one about the Texas shooting last week.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States in 2022, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada, Australia and Britain all passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced two decades of massacres in schools, stores and places of work and worship without any such legislation.

A broad majority of American voters, both Republicans and Democrats, favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.

Prices of shares in gun manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have boosted firearm share prices after other mass shootings as investors anticipated that gun purchases would increase ahead of stricter regulations.

As president, Biden has called on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons and pass measures to require universal background checks for those who purchase guns.

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, he urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that backs politicians who oppose such legislation.

The Senate is split, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.

“The only room in America where you can’t find more than 60% support for universal background checks is on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” said Christian Heyne, vice president for policy at Brady, a gun violence prevention group.

Advocates have expressed cautious optimism that lawmakers will coalesce around some gun control measures. If not, they plan to make it a rallying cry in the November midterm elections.

While Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court is due to decide a major case that could undermine new efforts to enact gun control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attack.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Alexandra Alper and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s primary on Tuesday will set the stage for a November election where a handful of U.S. House seats in the Los Angeles area and Central Valley will help determine which party controls Congress.

Democrats dominate California politics but the Republican Party retains pockets of strength in a sprinkle of House districts that will be among the country’s marquee elections. Republicans need to capture only a handful of seats nationally to seize the majority from Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House and polls show sagging popularity for Democratic President Joe Biden. Voters have been rankled by inflation, rising crime, abortion rights and other cultural disputes at home and conflict overseas.

While no incumbents appear in dire trouble in California’s primary it could be a different story in November. The main battlegrounds are Orange County, a one-time conservative stronghold southeast of Los Angeles that has become increasingly diverse and Democratic, and the Central Valley, a vast inland stretch sometimes called the nation’s salad bowl for its immense agricultural production.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, from the Central Valley city of Bakersfield, could become the next speaker if the GOP flips enough seats.

Former President Donald Trump has been framing major contests in other states but has kept a distance from heavily Democratic California, though some GOP candidates have openly embraced him in hopes of tapping into remnants of his conservative base.

Democrats are looking to claw back four seats the party lost in 2020. Also, a special election runoff is being held to fill the vacant seat of former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, who resigned to lead Trump’s media company. The seat is expected to stay in Republican control.

Despite the troubling national climate for Democrats, the California Republican Party has been drifting toward obscurity for years. The GOP holds only 10 of the state’s 53 House seats — with the Nunes vacancy — and accounts for less than 24% of registered voters statewide. California is dropping to 52 House seats next year because it’s once-soaring population growth has stalled.

A snapshot of key races:

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VOTE BRINGS UNCERTAINTY

Rep. David Valadao is a survivor. Despite running in a heavily Democratic, largely Latino district in the Central Valley, the Republican with a bipartisan streak held his seat from 2013 until January 2019, lost it for a term, then won it back in a 2020 rematch with Democrat T.J. Cox.

His newly drawn district, the 22nd, has a similar, strong Democratic tilt. An early challenge will be getting by lingering resentment among some conservatives over his vote to send articles of impeachment to the Senate that faulted Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Rival Republican Chris Mathys, an ardent Trump supporter, is promising to oust Valadao for that vote. But Trump has not significantly engaged in the race, and Valadao, a dairy farmer, has the backing of McCarthy, who is close to Trump, and the state GOP endorsement.

If he survives the primary, Valadao is likely to face five-term Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a moderate Democrat.

A REPUBLICAN LOOKING TO DEFY THE ODDS — AGAIN

Rep. Mike Garcia is an anomaly in the Los Angeles metropolitan area: a Republican congressman. He occupies the last GOP-held House seat anchored in heavily Democratic Los Angeles County, which he retained in 2020 by a mere 333 votes.

The former Navy fighter pilot was endorsed by Trump in 2020. He joined House Republicans who attempted to reject electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania and opposed Trump’s impeachment after the Capitol insurrection.

Garcia is seeking reelection in the new 27th District, which overlaps a chunk of his old terrain but has a stronger Democratic tilt. Several Democrats are on the ballot, including Christy Smith, a former legislator who lost to Garcia in 2020, and Quaye Quartey, a retired Navy intelligence officer.

Garcia points to his vote supporting $2,000 stimulus checks as one example of his political independence. Democrats have a nearly 12-point registration edge, but Garcia’s local roots, military service and Latino surname are formidable assets.

PROGRESSIVE STAR BATTLES IN FORMER ‘REAGAN COUNTRY’

Southern California’s 47th District, which includes Huntington Beach and other famous surf breaks, is an area once considered “Reagan Country” for its conservative leanings and ties to former Republican President Ronald Reagan. But it’s changed, like much of California, and the Orange County district is about equally split between Democrats and Republicans.

The boundaries of the district reach inland to include Irvine, the hometown of Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, a star of the party’s progressive wing. Her leading opponent is Republican Scott Baugh, a former state legislative leader and past head of the county GOP.

About two-thirds of the voters in the newly drawn district are new to Porter, and her challenge is enlisting them as supporters. She comes with an advantage: nearly $19 million in the bank, making her one of the most prolific fundraisers in Congress.

Baugh has been attacking her as a “radical” in the mold of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a self-described democratic socialist. Democrats can be expected to highlight a $47,900 civil fine Baugh agreed to pay in 1999 while in the Legislature for campaign finance violations.

A RIVALRY ON THE RIGHT

Rep. Young Kim, a South Korean immigrant and former legislator, was among four California Republicans who captured Democratic seats in 2020. Running in the GOP-leaning 40th District this year, it appeared she had a relatively open lane to reelection.

But her campaign and GOP allies recently invested over $1 million in ads to blunt the trajectory of rival Republican Greg Raths, a retired Marine colonel and Trump booster. It appeared to be a precautionary move, with Kim endorsed by the state GOP and holding a wide fundraising edge over Raths.

The ads also look like a counterweight to a move by the sole Democrat on the ballot, physician Asif Mahmood, who ran ads highlighting Raths’ conservative credentials. Mahmood appears to be following a common strategy in trying to elevate a primary rival -– in this case Raths –- who presumably would be easier to beat in the general election.

PULLING NO PUNCHES IN DIVERSE DISTRICT

The 45th District anchored in Orange County has a slight Democratic registration edge and includes the nation’s largest Vietnamese American community. The seat was specifically crafted to give Asian Americans, who comprise the largest group in the district, a stronger voice in Congress.

It’s in this diverse district that Republican Rep. Michelle Steel, a South Korean immigrant, is hoping to win another term in Congress, although she lives in a neighboring district. It’s been a furious, at times nasty fight so far with Democrat Jay Chen, her likely opponent in a November runoff who also lives just outside the district.

Republicans accused Chen of “racism” after he told supporters an “interpreter” was needed to understand Steel’s remarks, arguing that Chen was mocking her accented English. Chen, the son of immigrants from Taiwan, said his words were being twisted for political purposes and he was referring to “convoluted talking points” that he said Steel uses to sidestep issues, not her accent.

GOP SEES POTENTIAL PICKUP

The 49th District runs through Orange and San Diego counties and has only a slight Democratic registration edge. Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat, is seeking another term after first capturing the seat in 2018.

As an incumbent he has an advantage, but Republicans see an opening with Democrats struggling nationally and many Californians unhappy with homelessness and crime.

Levin is expected to advance to the November runoff. A handful of Republicans are fighting for the slot to challenge him in November, including several with political experience: Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett; Oceanside Councilman Christopher Rodriguez; and former San Juan Capistrano Mayor and businessman Brian Maryott, who was defeated by Levin in 2020 and has the state GOP endorsement.

In a district that straddles Camp Pendleton, Levin has focused heavily on veterans affairs, as well as climate change and the environment.

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By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) – North Carolina lawmakers advanced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for some public school students, a move decried by opponents as harmful to LGBTQ youth.

The “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” a broad piece of legislation that opponents say mirrors Florida’s so-called “Don’t say gay bill,” cleared the state’s Republican-led Senate and will head to the House of Representatives, which also has a Republican majority.

It could reach the desk of Governor Roy Cooper as soon as this week. Cooper, a Democrat, has spoken against the bill and is all but certain to veto it.

Advocates and civil rights groups have tracked hundreds of bills this year across state legislatures directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including many that target transgender youth specifically.

Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill was signed into law in March. In April, the governor of Alabama signed a bill prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grades, and similar measures are being considered in Louisiana and Ohio.

The North Carolina measure would prohibit mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in curricula for students from kindergarten through third grade. Schools would also have to notify parents if a student requests to be addressed by a different name or pronoun.

Supporters of the Republican-sponsored measure say it would allow greater involvement of parents in their children’s education and well-being.

Those opposing the legislation warned it could result in youth being outed to their families. If enacted, critics said, it will put an unnecessary burden on teachers and create a more hostile school environment for LGBTQ children who already face marginalization and are at greater risk of suicide.

“We’re disappointed but not surprised. And we will continue to fight for the rights of LGBTQ youth,” the ACLU North Carolina chapter said on Twitter.

Shortly after senators cast their votes, opponents of the measure in the gallery erupted in chants of “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going anywhere.”

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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Yet company executives at a meeting Biden hosted from the White House told the president that they knew the substantial impact that the shutdown of a major production plant in February would have on the U.S. supply almost immediately.

“They did, but I didn’t,” Biden told reporters later, saying he was not made aware of the severity until early April.

The delay, unexplained by Biden or White House aides, undercut the administration’s efforts to demonstrate that he has been on top of a problem that has compounded stress and economic difficulties for families with young children at a time when Americans are already struggling with Inflation.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that the administration began working to address the crisis within days of the plant’s closure, but could not explain the delay in raising the issue to Biden. She acknowledged that he is “frustrated” by the situation.

“We have been doing this whole of government approach since the recall,” she said. “We have been working on this for months, for months. We have been taking this incredibly seriously.”

“There’s nothing more stressful than feeling you can’t get what your child needs,” Biden said, adding that as a “father and a grandfather,” he understands how difficult the shortages have been for parents and their children.

Jean-Pierre said Biden was satisfied with how the Food and Drug Administration has handled the response, though the agency itself has promised to conduct and after-action review of what it described as a deficient effort.

Biden hosted the roundtable with leaders of manufacturers ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Reckitt, Perrigo Co. and Gerber. Notably absence was Abbott Nutrition, whose Michigan plant was shut down in February over safety concerns, leading to the domestic shortage. The White House did not explain why Abbott was not included.

The meeting Wednesday was a chance to provide an update on what the administration is calling “Operation Fly Formula” to import formula and to use the Korean War-era production law to require suppliers to prioritize their orders in a bid to ease bottlenecks.

The White House announced the third and fourth round of formula shipments from overseas would begin next week, from producer Kendamil in Britain and from Bubs Australia.

The shipments would bring Kendamil formula from Heathrow Airport in London to U.S. airports over a three-week period, starting June. 9. The flights will carry about 3.7 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents, shipped free of charge by United Airlines.

The first shipments will include Kendamil Classic Stage 1 and Kendamil Organic formulas, which will be available at Target stores across the United States.

And Bubs Australia will ship the equivalent of 4.6 million 8-ounce bottles of its infant formula on Defense Department-contracted commercial aircraft from its hub in Melbourne, Australia, to Pennsylvania and California on June 9 and June 11, respectively.

The Food and Drug Administration began focusing on Abbott’s plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalizations and two deaths.

After detecting positive samples of rare but dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17.

U.S. regulators and Abbott announced an agreement last month that would help pave the way for reopening the plant, though production has not restarted.

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By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval rating rose six percentage points this week to 42%, rebounding from a week earlier when it sank to the lowest level of his presidency, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Wednesday found.

The two-day national poll found that 52% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s job performance.

Biden’s approval rating has been below 50% since August, raising alarms that his Democratic Party is on track to lose control of at least one chamber of Congress in the Nov. 8 midterm election.

Biden has been dogged this year by a surge in inflation, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helping drive fuel prices higher and global supply chains still hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president’s popularity within his own party rose to 78% from 72% the prior week. Only 12% of Republicans approve of his performance in office.

Biden’s overall approval rating last week rivaled the lows of his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose popularity bottomed out at 33% in December 2017.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English throughout the United States. The latest poll gathered responses from a total of 1,005 adults, including 435 Democrats and 371 Republicans. It has a credibility interval – a measure of precision – of four percentage points.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – A group of Florida abortion providers including affiliates of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the state’s new Republican-backed ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying the measure violates the state’s constitution.

In a lawsuit https://tmsnrt.rs/3xafVml filed in Leon County Circuit Court, the health care providers cited a decades-old Florida Supreme Court ruling that said the broad privacy protections in the state’s constitution extend to a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.

Those rights would remain in place regardless of whether the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed the national right to abortion, as a leaked draft opinion suggested last month, the plaintiffs say.

They argued the measure Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law in April is a “brazen attempt to override the will of the Florida people” and must be blocked from taking effect on July 1.

“Nobody should be forced to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles for essential health care — but this abortion ban would do just that,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is “prepared to defend the law,” her spokesperson said.

Republican-led states have been rapidly passing anti-abortion legislation in anticipation of the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual abortion ruling in a case concerning a 15-week ban in Mississippi.

The Florida law, known as HB 5, criminalizes providing abortion care after 15 weeks and makes exceptions only in cases when the mother is at risk of death or “irreversible physical impairment,” or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

State law had previously permitted abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida is one of 11 states in which high courts have recognized that the state constitutions protect abortion rights, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn a U.S. District Court judge’s April order that declared the government mandate requiring masks on airplanes, buses and in transit hubs unlawful.

Hours after the federal judge in Florida declared the mandate unlawful, the Biden administration said it would no longer enforce it.

The Justice Department told the appeals court that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order issued in January 2021 was “within” the agency’s legal authority.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on whether it would reinstate the requirement if the ruling was overturned.

Days before U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball’s April 18 order, the CDC had extended mask requirements through May 3. The CDC said earlier this month it still recommends travelers continue to wear masks in airplanes, trains and buses.

The Justice Department’s appeal came just hours before a appeals court filing deadline.

“None of the district court’s quarrels with the CDC order comes close to showing that the CDC has acted outside the ‘zone of reasonableness,’” the Justice Department wrote, adding that the CDC findings in early 2021 provided “ample support for the agency’s determination that there was good cause to make the order effective without delay.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said this month the rate of unruly air passenger incidents fell to its lowest level since late 2020 soon after the judge’s mask mandate ruling, which also lifted requirements for masks in taxis or ride-share vehicles.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Pullin)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to have opted against mounting an independent run for his old job — at least for now.

Cuomo, who resigned in August amid allegations he sexually harassed multiple women, had said he was open to running for governor this year, despite the scandal.

But 5 p.m. Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to collect 45,000 voter signatures if they wanted to appear as an independent candidate for governor on the November general election ballot.

That deadline passed without Cuomo’s campaign turning in the required nominating petitions, according to the state Board of Elections.

Cuomo could still get on the ballot if his campaign had collected those signatures and put his petitions in the mail. If that paperwork was to arrive by Thursday, bearing a postmark dated Tuesday or earlier, it would still count, Board of Elections spokesperson Jennifer Wilson said.

Cuomo’s spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, did not respond to requests for comment.

The former governor has been making more public appearances in recent months and suggested in March that he might gather petition signatures to try to get on the ballot.

After giving a speech about gun violence Sunday in Brooklyn, Cuomo did not answer a question about whether he would run. Instead he said he was “speaking as a New Yorker” that day and added: “I don’t have to worry about political correctness.”

Cuomo could still try to mount a long-shot campaign as a write-in candidate in November, but he’d face a nearly impossible task of trying to get millions of people to write in his name instead of the Democratic or Republican nominee.

His former lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, took over as governor when he resigned in August, promising a clean break from Cuomo’s administration. She has scooped up donors and emerged as a front-runner in the governor’s race. Hochul’s Democratic primary opponents include U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Cuomo stepped down in his third term, saying at the time that while he denied the allegations of wrongdoing, he was stepping aside to avoid subjecting the state to months of turmoil.

A sheriff in Albany filed criminal charges against Cuomo in connection with an aide’s groping allegations, but those charges were ultimately dropped by the county’s district attorney, who cited a lack of proof.

Cuomo had initially been considering running again for a fourth term and left office with millions in his campaign fundraising account.

Since leaving, he’s used the money partially to fund a series of political TV ads touting his record.

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This story has been corrected to show Cuomo spoke about gun violence in Brooklyn, not Buffalo.

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