This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Rep. Elise Stefanik may have missed out on the deluxe apartment in the sky afforded to the U.N. ambassador, but her path to the Executive Mansion in Albany just got much smoother. Rep. Mike Lawler, who was seen as one of her top rivals for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, decided to run for reelection in the House instead. Now, it’s just Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman who could offer Stefanik a tough primary battle.

Turns out an ill-timed nap on the House floor during the “big beautiful bill” vote isn’t hurting Rep. Andrew Garbarino. The Long Island Republican is the new Homeland Security Committee chair. At 40, Garbarino is the youngest committee leader on Capitol Hill and is now charged with a vast security and disaster preparedness portfolio. But will he be responsible for protecting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s pets?

What timing! Andrew Cuomo relaunched his run for mayor in New York City just as the state settled with another woman who accused him of sexual harassment. Former aide Brittany Commisso, who accused the former governor of groping her in 2020 and then slapped him and the state with a lawsuit, will receive $450,000 in the state’s second settlement with one of Cuomo's 11 accusers. That’s the same amount that former aide Charlotte Bennett settled for earlier this year.

“Protect and Serve” … unless your girlfriend is the alleged perpetrator. Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski was placed on administrative leave Monday after his girlfriend, Susan Rice, allegedly hit two teenagers in Johnson City on July 18. Zikuski was off-duty but was slow to move until Rice was hit back – he then struggled to lift her up and drag her off the porch (and they say chivalry is dead). The police chief was previously placed on paid administrative leave in 2015, following sexual assault allegations that were later dropped.

If it wasn’t bad enough to discipline more than 70 students for participating in a pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University’s Butler Library in May – rolling out an onslaught of suspensions, expulsions and even degree revocations – the Ivy League school has now agreed to pay the government over $200 million so the Trump administration restores its federal funding. That’s not all. University leaders also agreed to meet a host of other demands, like employing public safety officers with the power to arrest students and changing its admissions criteria.

Look who’s on Trump’s bad side now. Mayor Eric Adams, along with other city officials, was sued by the federal administration over the city’s sanctuary policies. The same federal officials who got Adams’ corruption case dismissed – with prejudice, to their likely current disappointment – are apparently fed up that Adams hasn’t lived up to his end of the bargain in collaborating on immigration enforcement. If you’re feeling disoriented by Trump turning on Adams, take comfort in the fact that some things never change. Like Adams attracting apparent straw donors.