I Couldn't Help But Wonder, Is Miranda Running for Governor?
PoliticsWill Cynthia Nixon run as a progressive challenger to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo? The former Sex and the City actress and activist is reportedly having “serious conversations” about doing so, news that Politico reports has caught Cuomo’s team by surprise.
“Many concerned New Yorkers have been encouraging Cynthia to run for office, and as she has said previously, she will continue to explore it,” Nixon’s publicist Rebecca Capellan said in a statement emailed to Jezebel and other media outlets. “If and when such a decision is made, Cynthia will be sure to make her plans public.”
Although the Democratic governor legalized gay marriage in 2011 and has made increasingly progressive gestures since Zephyr Teachout’s primary challenge in 2014, Andrew Cuomo—who reportedly has his eye on 2020—has historically behaved more like a business-friendly centrist. He has allowed the New York City subway system to descend into rot, entered into insane personal spats with the New York City mayor, empowered a group of Democrats in the Democrat-led New York State Senate to essentially relinquish Democratic control by caucusing with Republicans (a move that helps Cuomo shrug off the blame when initiatives like the Child Victims Act fail), and has seen very, very close associates arrested on corruption charges.
In other words, were she to enter the 2018 gubernatorial primary, Cynthia Nixon has a pretty solid campaign message. And there’s a growing appetite for change across the state, according to Teachout.
“What we saw was with a weird name and basically no money or name recognition, almost immediately when I started running, people came out of the woodwork in various communities saying they felt betrayed, he wasn’t supporting Democrats or addressing the real issues,” Teachout—who lost the 2014 primary to Cuomo but did snag over a third of the vote—told Politico on Tuesday. “The core dissatisfaction has not only remained, but it’s grown.”