Governor Andrew Cuomo handily won in a Democratic primary against actor Cynthia Nixon. Cuomo’s current lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul also won, as did Cuomo’s choice for attorney general, New York City Public Advocate Tish James.
A large campaign war chest, substantial spending on television ads, and union support paid off for Cuomo, as he beat back a primary challenge from the left from actor and education advocate Cynthia Nixon.
Bucking tradition, Cuomo did not appear in public, but in recent days focused his message not on his accomplishments or on his opponent, but on his fight against President Trump and Trump’s policies, and it seems the strategy paid off.
Cuomo held multiple get out the vote rallies in the days leading up to the primary.
“I want to send a message to this President,” Cuomo told supporters on September 10. “It’s every New Yorker who believes you are repulsive to what we believe.”
Nixon told supporters that she was “proud” of what her campaign accomplished.
“We took on one of the most powerful governors in America and it wasn’t easy,” said Nixon. “We had to fight just to get on the ballot. We had to fight just to get a debate.”
But she expressed some bitterness over dirty campaign tactics, including a mailer to Jewish voters approved by a top aide to Governor Cuomo that falsely accused Nixon of anti-Semitism. Nixon attends a synagogue and has Jewish children.
“My family was slandered,” Nixon said.
Nixon says she’s pleased that she pulled Cuomo to the left on several issues, including legalizing marijuana, saying, "If we want things to change in New York, we don't just need to elect more Democrats. We need to elect better Democrats."
Cuomo captured about two-thirds of all votes. But he took Nixon’s campaign seriously, spending $8 million in the last three week of the campaign. Nixon only spent $1 million.
Cuomo will face Republican Marc Molinaro, and independent Stephanie Miner in November.
Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, more narrowly defeated New York City Councilmember Jumaane Williams, who is better known in New York City. Hochul sounded relieved when she spoke to reporters in Buffalo Thursday night.
“I was going into it as an underdog, a lot of people said that the numbers would be against me,” Hochul said. “We’ve been fighting tooth and nail for every single vote.”
And the Democratic Party establishment’s choice for Attorney General, New York City Public Advocate Tish James, won the AG primary, ahead of Fordham Law Professor Zephyr Teachout, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney and Buffalo attorney Leecia Eve. James will face Republican Keith Wofford in November. If elected, she will be the first African-American woman elected to statewide office.
While Cuomo and the other statewide candidates who ran with him kept their seats, some former members of a controversial break away group of Democrats in the Senate lost to their primary challengers. Members of the Independent Democratic Conference were blamed by many democrats on the left for helping keep Republicans in power in the State Senate for the past several years. Among those who lost – former IDC leader Jeff Klein.
