The searing sexual harassment allegations made against Gov. Andrew Cuomo are trouble for Democrats far beyond Albany and New York, Axios' Kadia Goba, Alexi McCammond and Alayna Treene report.

Why it matters: They hammered Donald Trump after the "Access Hollywood" tape. Pilloried Brett Kavanaugh over Christine Blasey Ford. Defended President Biden when he was accused of inappropriate touching. Now, Democrats have to show whether they walk the "#MeToo" talk.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki treaded the narrow line this morning. She displayed empathy by referring to Cuomo's accusers as "Charlotte" and "Lindsey," and told CNN: "It was hard to read that story, as a woman."

• Psaki also previewed the line adopted by most Democrats: They support an investigation into the contentions, a version of which Cuomo also has endorsed.

The backstory: The biggest critics are facing pressure to treat Cuomo the same way they aggressively went after the Republicans.

• Then-Sen. Kamala Harris called for Kavanaugh's impeachment a year after his nomination hearings, when two New York Times reporters wrote they found new corroborating evidence to support previous sexual misconduct allegations. 
• Several other then-2020 contenders also called for his impeachment, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Julián Castro (D-Texas) and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
• Biden, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also said the new allegations warranted further investigation.
• Cory Booker, who, as a New Jersey senator, has close ties to Cuomo, was celebrated by his Democratic colleagues for daring Republicans to try to expel him from the Senate. He publicly revealed some of Kavanaugh's emails the then-GOP majority had ruled confidential.

Breaking: Team Cuomo issued its third statement of the day, saying the governor had asked state Attorney General Letitia James to select an independent attorney of her choosing to investigate.

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A Democratic lawmaker representing a border district warned the Biden administration against easing up too much on unauthorized immigrants, citing their impact on his constituents, local hospitals and their potential to spread the coronavirus, Axios' Stef Kight reports.

Why it matters: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told Axios he supports Biden. But the moderate said he sees the downsides of efforts to placate pro-immigrant groups, an effort that threatens to blow up on the administration.

• "You just can't say, 'Yeah, yeah, let everybody in' — because then we're affected down there at the border," Cuellar told Axios on Saturday.

The big picture: Border crossings are rising. Hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley area are already busy. The U.S. Border Patrol has less capacity than normal.

• Cuellar hopes the administration continues using a Trump-era public health order to quickly expel migrant adults and families, at least during the pandemic. Activists have called for Biden to end the use of the policy, called Title 42.
• He said smugglers will likely use the shift in immigration tactics from the Trump to the Biden administration to convince migrants to come to the U.S. "The bad guys know how to market this," Cuellar said.
• Some immigrants are being allowed into the country without getting a COVID-19 test first — a concern for some non-governmental organizations caring for them, Cuellar said.

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CPAC proved such a draw, conservative Republicans chose the conference over their constituents, Kadia writes.

Why it matters: More than a dozen House Republicans voted by proxy on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in Washington so they could speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. And Sen. Ted Cruz chose to be there instead of his hometown of Houston when President Biden visited to survey storm damage.

• The proxy votes were particularly strident, given the GOP sued to stop the practice when Democrats created it to allow safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
• And Cruz's visit to Florida — which, he joked, wasn't as nice as his much-maligned trip to Cancún — cost him the same facetime that Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got when he greeted and accompanied the president in Texas.
• White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday: "There was neither an invitation nor a request for (Cruz) to attend. There are a number of members of both parties attending and joining the president on the trip."
• Cruz's office did not offer immediate comment but added later: "Sen. Cruz was was not invited but remains in close contact with state and local officials and is focused on helping ensure there is a full federal response to these storms."

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A new centrist political party is gaining steam, but records show it’s being largely financed by a single man: a former Philip Morris executive who helped steer the company through the tobacco wars of the 1990s, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports.

Why it matters: The Serve America Movement is running candidates in a handful of states, banking on the appeal of a non-ideological party. The outsized financial influence of donor Charles W. Wall underscores the challenge of overcoming extreme partisan rancor with a process-focused political movement.

• Nearly three of every four dollars SAM's national office has raised, roughly $3.4 million, has come from Wall, according to Internal Revenue Service filings, including more than 93% of the group’s funding last year.

Between the lines: Centrist political movements generally draw more backing from wealthy and corporate interests than grassroots donors, who tend to be more ideologically driven.

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Former President Donald J. Trump.