Since actor-turned politician Cynthia Nixon announced that she would be challenging Governor Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic primary in New York, Andrew Cuomo has been freaking out. He should be freaking out. It’s been known by many, and continues to be understood by many more that Andrew Cuomo isn’t progressive, and he’s barely a Democrat. Cuomo has been feeling the pressure of his waning hold over the Empire State, as the Working Families Party ignored his bullying and endorsed Nixon. Nixon for her part has been hitting all of the should-have-been-done-years-ago issues. From legalizing marijuana, to attacking Cuomo’s tax cuts for the rich, Nixon is hitting Cuomo where it hurts—his record.
As she saw it, Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York, was the Trump in her own backyard. “We’ve had such a sense like, Oh, we’re a deep-blue state. We’re Democratic. I’m sure those people in Albany are doing the right thing and taking care of us,” she said, her voice getting stronger as she slipped into candidate mode. “But New York is the single most unequal state in the entire country, and it’s become more and more unequal under Andrew Cuomo.” For years, people in the liberal-activist circles that Nixon and her wife, Christine Marinoni, travel in had chafed at the governor’s arrogance, his backroom wheeling and dealing, and especially the concessions he has made to Republicans. He has allowed them to redraw their own districts and enabled the Independent Democratic Conference, a bizarre splinter group of senators who were elected as Democrats but chose instead to vote as Republicans, thus often watering down progressive legislation. The governor “presents himself as a progressive champion, but really nothing could be farther from the truth,” Nixon told me, credibly delivering the line as though she were saying it for the first time. “He slashed taxes on the wealthiest, and he’s slashed services on everybody else. He’s lost $25 billion from state revenue,” she said, referring to tax cuts under Cuomo’s tenure. “And we need it. Think of all the things we are craving here, whether it’s funding our schools or fighting for single-payer health care or renewable energy or fixing the subways or ending the school-to-prison pipeline.”
And in the almost four weeks since Nixon announced her run, Andrew Cuomo has been freaking the fuck out. Of course, Nixon and progressives have had answers for every seemingly “smart” move Cuomo has made. When Cuomo decided to pretend he was distancing himself from the Independent Democratic Caucus—the crew of DINOs who have effectively turned a Democratic majority into a minority in the state’s legislature, Nixon hit him hard … with his record.
Nixon released a campaign video where she highlighted the need to legalize marijuana because it was a transparently racist set of laws used to incarcerate young people of color. A short while later here comes Cuomo saying he’s for legalizing marijuana.
And then today, this news came through.
And people responded:
And this.
Here’s a favorite.
And something we may have to push for across the country.