Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters in New York. | AP Photo/Seth Wenig Cuomo says Trump is a gift to Democrats from 'the Good Lord'

ALBANY — Donald Trump was a gift from God to Democrats who hope to re-take a majority in the House of Representatives, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared at a Monday fund-raiser.

“Any race that was anywhere close, I believe we can win. We just have to seize the moment. We have to seize the moment. The Good Lord gave us a moment with this Donald Trump. He really, really did,” Cuomo said. “If we push this point, we’re going to win.”


Cuomo, nine days ago, blasted the state’s Republican candidates and challenged them to disavow Donald Trump’s objectifying remarks about women. The governor has previously worked to portray himself as a reach-across-the-aisle kind of guy.

The governor joined a fund-raising luncheon at the Harvard Club in Midtown alongside a half-dozen members of the state’s congressional delegation and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a longtime Cuomo family friend who the current governor said was always especially beloved by his late father, Mario.

During his speech — a recording of which was provided to POLITICO New York — Cuomo predicted Hillary Clinton will win on election day, and said the focus must be on Democrats also re-taking the Senate and House of Representatives. Otherwise, he said, Republicans would “frustrate and stop and impede, because when government stops working, they win.”

“It takes three to tango … you give the Republicans the House and they will frustrate everything she is trying to do, and it will become the bastion for all the hate. They will migrate to the House and they’ll make that their final stand,” Cuomo said. “They’ll say, ‘Don’t you dare be moderate’ … and then we’ll be more radical than ever before.”