Showbiz and reality collide as NY Governorship race heats up
Will a highprofile actress be able to upset an establishment Democrat?
There is a lot about living in New York City that can make you think you are living in a movie. You’re sitting in the back seat of a yellow taxi heading up Sixth Ave. Throngs of identical cabs surround you, jostling for position between green lights. The sulking glow of Times Square is off to the west. Your taxi driver pushes the car through clouds of steam. The throng of cabs creeps northward, blasting their horns like barking seals. You’re in Taxi Driver.
You’re walking south on Vanderbilt Ave, along the western wall of Grand Central Terminal. The pavement is smattered with metal grates. Air from the subway tunnels below pushes forcefully up and into the daylight. Your dress flutters. You’re in The Seven Year Itch.
On my daily commute, I emerge from the subway on 42nd Street. To my left is Bryant Park. And just behind me, bordering the park, is the New York City Public Library.
The New York Public Library of Ghostbusters. Ray, Egon and Peter are ‘‘shushed’’ by the first ghost they attempt to ‘‘bust.’’ The New York Public Library of Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Paul Varjak and a jubilant Holly Golightly are ‘‘shushed’’ by a frumpy librarian. And the New York City Public Library of the first Sex And the City movie. Carrie had planned on marrying Big there. He got cold feet, and she fled, stuffing her Vivienne Westwood gown into the back seat of a limousine along with her broken heart.
Movie life and real life recently collided for New Yorkers of a certain age: Cynthia Nixon, best known as Miranda Hobbes, the sensible red-headed lawyer and ‘‘straight gal’’ to the kooky Carrie Bradshaw, has announced she is running for New York Governor.
Nixon will face the current Governor, Andrew Cuomo, in a Democratic party run-off in September. Cuomo is the son of former three-term New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and the brother of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. When asked why she decided to run, Nixon’s answer was a mix of the dramatic and the mundane. She told talkshow host Wendy Williams that her run was inspired in part by Trump’s election. ‘‘It was a wakeup call’’. Nixon also talked about the MTA, New York City’s subway system. It is the bane of many a commuter’s life. Nixon wants to fix it.
Cuomo, a Democrat who fancies a 2020 run at the presidency, seems knocked off balance by Nixon’s challenge from the left. He has governed New York from the middle, making alliances with Republicans, for eight years. But in the age of Trump, Democratic voters are pushing for politicians and policies who are very liberal. And Cuomo hasn’t delivered.
The knives came out from Cuomo’s allies immediately, of course. Christine Quinn, the former speaker of the New York City Council, called Nixon an ‘‘unqualified lesbian’’. Nixon is now selling ‘‘Unqualified Lesbian’’ swag to finance her campaign.
Will New York State support Nixon for her progressive and positively anti-Trump policies? Or will they turn away, burned too recently by a celebrity with no governing experience taking elected office? Nixon is considered a long shot. But six months is a lifetime in politics. And given Nixon’s moxie, I’m expecting some Sex And The City-level drama to unfold. Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte would be proud.