Former “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon announced on Monday via Twitter her decision to run for governor in the upcoming New York Democratic primary. Her decision sets up a race against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a two-term Democratic incumbent, in the upcoming September election.
In her announcement video Nixon said, “We want our government to work again. On health care, ending massive incarceration, fixing our broken subway. We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.”I love New York, and today I’m announcing my candidacy for governor. Join us: https://t.co/9DwsxWW8xXpic.twitter.com/kYTvx6GZiD
— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) March 19, 2018
A recognized celebrity and openly bisexual liberal activist, Nixon has used her position to advocate and politically speak out in the past. In an op-ed piece she wrote in March of last year, Nixon expressed her vexation over the way education was being handled at the federal level after Trump appointed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Nixon represented a voice against the Trump-DeVos agenda to expand school privatization through vouchers, which could potentially reduce funding for public schools.
“Frightening,” she wrote about DeVos policies. “But equally frightening is how much DeVos and Cuomo’s policies echo each other.”
Echoing her own words, according to Nixon’s campaign website, “Cynthia Nixon is a lifelong New Yorker and progressive activist who is running for governor to fight for a better, more equal New York.”
According to political adviser Jeffery Pollock in an AP report, Nixon’s celebrity status isn’t going to be enough to carry her through the race. Cuomo’s governing experience is likely to trump celebrity status among voters.
“Over and over in our research, Democratic primary voters say they’re not looking for an outsider because they look to Washington, D.C., and see what the outsider has meant to this country,” Pollock said.
In 2014, Nixon was appointed to the advisory board for the Mayor’s Fund To Advance New York City by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Her wife, Christine Marinoni, was also the special adviser for community partnerships with NYC’s Department of Education in the same year.
Although no stranger to the New York political scene, her campaign website claims, “Cynthia hasn’t been bought and paid for by special interests and won’t be accepting any corporate contributions in this campaign,” it said. “Instead our campaign will be powered by the people.”
