Instead, he is in a runoff against Ted Cruz, the former state solicitor general, an energetic opponent who tapped into the anti-establishment vein in the Texas Republican Party.
Much has changed since Mr. Cuomo made his announcement in downtown Manhattan on an afternoon in May, most notably the emergence of the Buffalo businessman Carl P. Paladino as an energetic opponent in the race.
Chip Northrup, a former oil and gas investor from Texas who now splits his time between Dallas and upstate New York, is an articulate and energetic opponent of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for the natural gas locked in deep shale layers in the state.
Senator Jeff Sessions, the Republican from Alabama who may be the most determined and energetic opponent of an immigration overhaul bill now before the Senate, said on Friday that the legislation is "dangerous" for American workers, and he vowed to offer amendments in coming weeks to "confront the fundamentals of the bill" and slow its progress.
"There is no doubt that Microsoft has been the most energetic opponent of this agreement and has worked hard from behind the scenes to generate much of the opposition to this deal," Adam Kovacevich, a Google spokesman, wrote in an e-mail message.
At points in the first half for Bayern it might have seemed as if it was all happening again, another final slipping way in the face of energetic and fearless opponents.
The situation is reversed in the race for comptroller, where Howard Weitzman, the Democratic incumbent, faces a tough challenge from an energetic young Republican opponent, Donald Clavin, Hempstead's receiver of taxes who beat him in the Independence primary.
Nick Clegg is a highly energetic and informed opponent of hard Brexit and Tim Farron is doing his best to be a voice for "the 48%", but there's only so much the Lib Dems can do when they have just eight MPs and the media are reluctant to give them much of a hearing.
At times in the opening two sets there was even a sense of a champion expecting rather too stately a ride in front of his home-from-home crowd, and surprised by an energetic and aggressive opponent who refused to wilt.
Mr. Cuomo now faces an energetic and well-financed opponent, and he may be forced to tend to his base just when his campaign intended to focus on middle-of-the-road and Republican voters.
