EASY WIN IN A BREEZE
Soundly beats Nixon in Dem gov primary, vows to keep heat on Trump in general elex
ALBANY – After a bitter sixmonth battle, Gov. Cuomo easily beat back a primary challenge from his left flank from actress Cynthia Nixon.
The Associated Press called the race for Cuomo at 9:30 p.m., a half hour after polls closed. Cuoo had an early 65.9% to 34.1% lead with about a quarter of the vote counted.
For the governor, who is seeking a third term, it was his toughest electoral battle since taking office as it became another battle in New York and nationally between the energized progressive wing of the Democratic party and establishment Dems like Cuomo.
Cuomo will now go on to face Republican Marc Molinaro in a race some predict will be less difficult given the state’s heavy Democratic enrollment.
“The arrows are pointing in the right direction,” Cuomo told reporters after voting at his Westchester County polling station. “I want to keep that going. And I want to keep up the battle against these Washington policies that will erode the fundamental foundation of what we’re about.”
The primary battle with Nixon was one of several in New York that pitted establishment Democrats against insurgents from the left-wing of the party.
While even those close to her were preparing for a big loss to Cuomo, Nixon before the polls closed predicted the progressive movement that has sparked major upsets nationally and in New York, including in Queens where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley, will roll on.
“This is not just a moment in time,” Nixon said Thursday morning on upstate public radio’s “The Capitol Pressroom.” “I think this is a movement and I think it is a movement to make sure that the Democratic party is not just a kinder gentler, more diverse version of the Republican party. People don’t show up when we’re not clear about who we are and what we fight for.”
“This is a movement because Donald Trump is doing so much harm to our country and our values,” she added. “But one of the good things that he has inadvertently done is he has gotten the progress movement on the move and people are getting involved in ways they never have before.
“It’s not the end, it really is the beginning.”
Four years ago, Cuomo barely acknowledged his primary challenge from underfunded and little-known Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout, who was in a four-way primary for attorney general Thursday night.
But this year, with the progressive wing of the Democratic party energized against President Trump and a string of upsets nationally and in New York—particularly in Queens where Democratic socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez defeated long-time Rep. Joseph Crowly, Cuomo took no chances.
He dipped into his massive fundraising account, spending more than $16 million and blanketing the airways with ads.
He dipped into his massive fund-raising account, spending more than $16 million and blanketing the airways with ads.
Nixon couldn’t compete. She raised roughly $2.5 million, mostly through small donations. Without the money to launch a statewide ad campaign, she relied heavily on digital and social media. She also benefited from huge amounts of free media due to her celebrity.
Nixon continuously hammed Cuomo as a corporate Democrat who governs more like a Republican. She repeatedly called him a liar and corrupt and repeatedly tied him to two top aides and other associates who were found guilty of federal corruption charges. Cuomo was never implicated in the cases.
She also accused him of emboldening the Republicans in the state Senate, which blocked key progressive legislation.
But it wasn’t enough to cut into the polls that Nixon claimed didn’t take into account the growing number of young and newly registered Democrats energized against Trump. She ended up with about the same vote percentage as Teachout four years ago.
Cuomo and his camp continually highlighted Nixon’s inexperience in government, mocking her for being an actress who was good at reciting her lines. At the same time, they sought to play up Cuomo’s progressive record that led to the legalization of gay marriage, passage of a tough gun control law, enactment of a $15 minimum wage and creation of a statewide paid family leave program.
Since his primary against Teachout, Cuomo healed the rifts with most public sector unions and took away a key upstate leftist issue that followed him around in 2014 by banning a controversial gas drilling practice known as hydrofracking.
He also co-opted different issues pushed by Nixon, including now supporting the idea of legalizing marijuana after only a year ago calling it a “gateway drug.”
Still, other than their one debate, Cuomo virtually ignored Nixon publicly for much of the campaign, preferring to take on President Trump, who is wildly unpopular in his home state of New York.
A confident Cuomo told reporters before the polls closed that he wants to continue a “robust” agenda that includes major building projects like the rebuilding of LaGuardia and Kennedy airports and taking on the Trump administration.
“As governor I believe it’s New York’s obligation to stand up and lead and lead against a lot of these changes in Washington that are totally opposite of who we are as New Yorkers and what we believe,” Cuomo said Thursday before the polls closed. “There is a divisiveness coming out of Washington that I think is cancerous to this nation.”
Looking ahead to the general election, Cuomo made it clear he will continue to try and tie Molinaro to President Trump, saying “the Republicans are all in lockstep now.”
“They are all following President Trump, and President Trump has carved out a very harsh agenda and a very anti-New York agenda, not just in values, but economically,” Cuomo said.
Meanwhile, Williams, a Brooklyn city councilman, said that despite his loss to Hochul, he will continue to take the fight to Trump and Cuomo.
“This is the beginning,” he said.