Nixon says all ‘signs’ point to yes

ALBANY — In her effort to get on the Sept. 13 Democratic primary ballot against Gov. Cuomo, Cynthia Nixon announced she filed more than 65,000 petition signatures — more than four times the 15,000 needed by law.

Nixon said her campaign and supporters used 3,500 volunteers from across the state as well as some paid canvassers over the past five weeks after being shut out at the state Democratic convention, where she fell far short of the 25% of the delegate vote needed to secure a guaranteed spot on the ballot.

She said she wanted a big number of signatures because she expects Cuomo will challenge the petitions in court. His campaign had no comment.

“Gov. Cuomo may have all the money in the world from Donald Trump and Wall Street and the real estate developers, but we have the people in this campaign,” Nixon said.

Cuomo in 2002, when he ran an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, collected 100,000 signatures to get on the ballot. But Nixon argued his campaign also spent about $1 million to do so.

Nixon spokeswoman Lauren Hitt couldn't provide a specific figure on how Nixon's campaign or groups like the Working Families Party spent on petition gathering, but said it will be “less than a tenth of what Cuomo spent (in 2002).”