The top Democrats in the state Senate think Gov. Andrew Cuomo should resign. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie questioned whether the governor can remain in office. 

But Cuomo has indicated hours before those blockbuster statements on Sunday that there is no way he'll be leaving office voluntarily, as his administration is beset by multiple scandals ranging from the reporting of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, to allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior with women. 

That will leave lawmakers with a handful of options: Continuing working with a governor they have publicly called on to step down, or the first impeachment and removal of a governor in more than a century. 

“If the governor continues to disregard the wellbeing of New Yorkers and refuses to step down, then the Assembly must embrace its constitutional duty and begin impeachment proceedings to remove the governor from office immediately," said Sochie Nnaemeka, the state director of the Working Families Party. 

“New Yorkers are facing an ongoing public health and economic crisis, combined with an absence of ethical and transparent executive leadership in Albany. Now more than ever, we urge our state legislators to step forward and lead.”

The only governor to be forcibly removed from office was William Sulzer in 1913 in a Tammany Hall-era melodrama. 

At the moment, impeachment in this century still seems remote among state lawmakers. Republicans in the state Assembly are pushing for the formation of an impeachment commission. 

Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Democratic critic of the governor who has been at odds with him over his handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, has called for impeachment as well. 

"I do not believe this governor will resign unless impeachment is on the table," said Assemblyman Phil Steck, a Democrat who represents the Capital Region, in a Sunday tweet. 

Cuomo has urged Democrats to wait for the outcome of an investigation that's now in the court of New York Attorney General Letitia James's office, which is reviewing the harassment allegations. James's office on Friday sent a record preservation letter to Cuomo's office. 

Cuomo, too, has apologized to anyone who may have been made to feel uncomfortable by his behavior, but has also insisted he never touched anyone inappropriately. 

In a Sunday conference call with the press, Cuomo struck a more defiant posture hours before top lawmakers called on him to resign, arguing the will of the voters was for him to be in office.

"I'm not going to resign because of allegations," he said. "The premise of resigning because of allegations is actually anti-democratic."