Ottawa Citizen

Another Nixon entering politics?

Former Sex and the City actress, other celebs might run for office

- EMILY HEIL

This is not a plot line from the reportedly shelved Sex and the City 3 movie: Miranda, the fictional gal gang’s resident cynic and lawyer, is running for governor of New York — or at least the actress who played her is.

Cynthia Nixon is reportedly gearing up to potentiall­y challenge Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary. The convention­al wisdom among Empire State political wags is that she likely won’t unseat him, but she could prove to be a Manolo stiletto in his side. Nixon has needled the governor on education issues, which could form one of her potential campaign’s planks. In a Today show interview last year, Nixon said she had been encouraged to run.

“The gap in our richest schools and our poorest schools under Gov. Cuomo is wider than it’s been before,” said Nixon, a mother of three children who have attended New York public schools. “And that’s got to stop.”

Nixon is hardly the only celebrity dipping a famous toe into political waters. Both Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson are rumoured presidenti­al hopefuls.

But here are a few boldfaces actually making the leap — and aiming slightly lower than the Oval Office:

Actress Diane Neal, best known for her role as assistant district attorney Casey Novak on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is running as an independen­t for a House seat in Upstate New York. “Let’s show everyone how it can be done — with empathy and reason!” she tweeted last month.

Celebs are running in two California districts. Former soap starunderw­ear model turned prominent Trump defender Antonio Sabato Jr. is seeking to unseat a Democrat representi­ng the Ventura County area.

Actress Stacey Dash is seeking a seat as a Republican in the 44th district, a heavily Democratic, Hispanic-majority Los Angeles area now represente­d by a Democrat. But she’s filed paperwork for her campaign committee “Dash to DC” with the FEC and promised this week that she’ll debut her platform “asap.”

 ?? CHARLES SYKES/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Clueless star Stacey Dash is running as a Republican in a heavily Democratic district.
CHARLES SYKES/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Clueless star Stacey Dash is running as a Republican in a heavily Democratic district.
 ??  ?? Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon

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