Group-chat bans and 'daddy issues': A report on Andrew Giuliani's campaign to be New York's governor highlights family drama

• Andrew Giuliani's longshot NY gubernatorial bid was the subject of a New York Magazine profile.
• Strained family dynamics underpin the shoestring campaign, according to the magazine.
• Despite being a former White House aide, Andrew is reportedly not Trump's first pick.
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Andrew Giuliani's gubernatorial bid was the subject of a New York Magazine report published Thursday, with bizarre Giuliani family dynamics taking center stage.

"I'm a politician out of the womb," he told reporter Olivia Nuzzi, repeating a line from his mid-May campaign announcement. "I'm my father's son."

His father, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has not held office for 20 years, although he remains a prominent figure in national politics as one of former President Donald Trump's most loyal allies. Andrew said his family name could bolster his campaign and thinks it "evokes a reaction in most people."

The Republican candidate and former Trump White House aide also said he plans to use guidance from his father to help his run. "If I didn't use him as an asset, as an adviser, as somebody who I'd rely on, I'd be foolish," Andrew told the outlet.

But the report also delves into Andrew's strained relationship with Rudy. After his parents divorced and Rudy remarried in 2003, Andrew went through "long stretches" of his life in which the pair hardly spoke.

Heather McBride, Andrew's former babysitter and now his campaign spokesman, told the magazine that Rudy is not a member of "the 12-member family group chat that includes extended Giuliani relatives and close friends."

Still, Andrew has grown to stay by his father's side, the report says. Andrew spoke out on his behalf in April when federal agents executed search warrants on Rudy's home and office and seized his electronic devices, per New York Magazine.

"He's a tough guy. He can take anything," he told the magazine. "And what he knows is he's got his son backing him."

GOP officials and associates close to Giuliani's family are unsure why Andrew has decided to run for governor, especially in a state where Democrats are virtually guaranteed to win. Some are convinced it has to do with his father.

"There's pain and daddy issues that exist beneath this," an unnamed source close to Rudy told New York Magazine.

Even given the remote odds of the eventual Republican nominee becoming the first to win statewide since 2002 - when Republican Gov. George Pataki unseated Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, denying him a fourth term - Giuliani is reportedly not the favored candidate.

That would be Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, who has already picked up endorsements from New York's GOP congressional delegation and Trump is also reportedly rallying support for him ahead of an expected endorsement.

Zeldin also has fundraising experience from his time in Albany and Washington, DC, while Giuliani's financial viability remains unclear.

"What Andrew is doing is less about Rudy than it is about what Andrew is doing to process Rudy," a longtime associate told New York Magazine.