Cuomo vs Nixon: Official NY Dem Gubernatorial Primary Thread

Nixon is like the "Rent's Too Damn High" guy that ran all the time for NYC mayor. Everyone knew he was right, but nobody voted for him.

Date of the primary?

THE outcome will be the death of the Working Families Party. I am registered GOP so I'll just vote for a moderate in the primaries. And then hope for the best.

September 13th R2, which is quite late for a primary. Ensures there will be a long bruising campaign

[quote]Date of the primary?

September 13

R4 & R5 Thanks!

I only started this official thread, because I saw at least one thread about these two is being started each week. I figured an official thread is kinder to our fellow DLers lol

LOL Nixon's backers wrote this after seeing those poll numbers.

The title is "Cynthia Nixon has already won"

I'll vote for her to give her encouragement. After this run, she can aim a little lower.

[quote]After this run, she can aim a little lower.

Or she can just stick to acting.

She's a protest candidate who hasn't got a chance. Like Dennis Kucinich was when he ran for pres, like Bernie Sanders should have been when he ran for pres.

Huh that's an interesting thought r9

She is a big Deblasio supporter- way too liberal and she has a hideous looking wife. Nix to Nixon.

And De Blasio is a big Nixon supporter - encouraged an unqualified candidate like her to run as his personal payback against Cuomo.

Nixon is guaranteed to end up surrounded by more corrupt people than Cuomo could if he was trying. She has no political network whatsoever. And admin would have to be staffed from scratch. Any grifter could work their way in. Look at whats happening with Trumps admin. Political networks are necessary tools

New Poll shows the gap closing.

58 to 27

Nathan McDermott is cute and funny on twitter. And an out gay

[quote]She's a protest candidate who hasn't got a chance. Like Dennis Kucinich was when he ran for pres, like Bernie Sanders should have been when he ran for pres.

Except Bernie Sanders very well could have won if he had considered himself a viable option early enough. People who are blowing off Nixon are being way too flippant. It's a long shot, but she's for real. And she's obviously gotten under Cuomo's skin already. Independent Democratic Conference has already been dissolved; I'm sure Nixon pointing this out relentlessly helped make this happen.

Nixon should have run as an Independent because she could have gone all the way to election without stopping. She will be primaried out in Sept.

Nixon's The One!

I think people should remember Zephyr Teachout. I remember how she was going to be the one to take down Cuomo. He won 63 - 33. Nixon is polling under her so far. I respect many of her positions. And I respected some of Bernie's. But a serious problem the far left has is that you are all so convinced that everyone likes your ideas and you are only held down by the corrupt establishment that you don't spend any time actually trying to sell your platform. Explain why it's better than the status quo. The far left also tends toward negative campaigns focused on attacks in the harshest language. IF you want to win you need a new playbook.

Fwiw I agree that the Independent Democratic Conference was horse shit. It's what first soured me on Cuomo and it absolutely only got dissolved so blunt the issue in this primary. If De Blasio was running against Cuomo that'd be an easy vote for me. De Blasio has always been good at positive, uplifting, progressive campaigns

R21 - I think the over-under on Teachout's 2014 was that she got a bigger chunk of the vote than the political punditry was expecting - and this was without Cynthia Nixon's name recognition or a WFP endorsement (which went to Cuomo that year).

I agree, though, that the far left has a scorched earth strategy that basically has no Plan B; it's their way or the highway. That's how we ended up with President Sh*thole. I don't think there's too much of a risk of a Republican governor in NY, but I agree that the far left needs to come up with a better strategy than riling up the anger of the base and then being unable to convince it that a centrist Democrat is still better than someone like DJT.

New York had Republican George Pataki in for what was it, three terms, R22?

Cuomo just granted all parolees the right to vote via executive order.

She's exposed Cuomo's real vulnerability. He's done a shitty job with the MTA and New Yorkers feel it EVERY. DAMN. DAY. And New York City is where all the Democrats, votes and money is. Sure, upstate will be a focus in the general but if you want the nomination, you have to get the City to vote for you and his shitty handling of a very basic service has opened him up to this challenge.

Yeah I mean if Cuomo hadn't spent the last 8 years cuddling up to Republicans thinking that he'd make himself a bipartisan reputation to help him win the White House, maybe state democrats wouldn't be so resentful.

I don't think Nixon is the one to fix these issues though. It's far harder than just telling someone "fix the subway" and it's done in a few months. You have to be able to build a bureaucracy, convince people who don't like you to provide funding for things you want and give them trade offs, deal with the world of municipal contracting (having 20 firms tell you they are right for the job and trying to get a low bid but also not so low they do a shit job and the repairs go way over budget). Being a politician is FAR more than just convincing people to vote for you. There's a skillset involved.

[quote]I agree, though, that the far left has a scorched earth strategy that basically has no Plan B; it's their way or the highway. That's how we ended up with President Sh*thole. I don't think there's too much of a risk of a Republican governor in NY, but I agree that the far left needs to come up with a better strategy than riling up the anger of the base and then being unable to convince it that a centrist Democrat is still better than someone like DJT.

The Green Party could actually be a significant player here if they'd get their shit together and nominate people who are actually qualified. Hell, I'm probably voting Green in the general this year, unless they nominate someone else who's looney-tunes like the woman they put up for Senate in 2016.

Rumors are that Cuomo is about to dump Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul in favor of the candidate who's primary-ing her, Jumaane Williams, a City Councilman who represents Canarsie and Flatbush. He's still nominally supporting her, but getting a liberal from the city instead of a moderate from upstate seems to be all about placating city voters. It's a shitty thing to do to her, even though I'm voting for Williams.

I don't support Nixon but this tweet is funny

Cuomo must be legit worried, because he keeps making these amazing gaffes. At a union rally last week, he described himself as the "son of poor immigrants from South Jamaica." Both Mario and Mathilda Cuomo were born in Queens, and at least the former grew up in Briarwood. He also said he was "undocumented" which is not something people born in Queens generally are.

He also described himself as middle-class, which, again, his father was a fairly active public interest lawyer who also taught his alma mater.

He's clearly worried about her, if he didn't take her seriously he'd be in danger. Still, at the end of the day, I think he will have a lopsided victory. He will just have to work for it. And NY will get some progressive victories in the meantime. I think she is hurting herself by being so over the top in her campaigning, it makes her seem juvenile when she needs to be demonstrating she's serious. Stop with the nuclear attacks and talks about your plans

Nixon confuses advocacy with office.

R3: As a registered Republican, you can only vote in that primary. Therefore, you will have no say in the primary between Cuomo and Nixon. As for the WFP, Cuomo has been trying to destroy them for 8 years so I think they're going for broke as there is no easy situation for them.

R30, as someone born and raised in Queens, a lot if what you have in your post is untrue, particularly during the time that Cuomo was growing up there.

Gov. Cuomo says he won't punish grassroots groups for the Working Families Party's decision to endorse his primary opponent — that's for God to do.

"I'm not gonna punish — it has nothing to do with me," he said. "You know, punishment is for God."

LMAO @ R35 what a drama queen.

She's getting a shit more attention than Zephyr Treachout ever did, very early on. I think she'll wind up being a more formidable challenger to him and at the very least will derail whatever delusions of larger office he has. People are annoyed at Cuomo and it's not just Bernie Sanders liberals. The LIRR is constantly crapping out, the subway system is unraveling and at every turn he seems to be giving cosmetic treatments to the issue. My subway line in an area of INTENSE housing development totally shuts down during rush hour probably twice a week. People are stranded. Cuomo recently announced that they were closing stations to rebuild them and install phone chargers.

[quote] It's far harder than just telling someone "fix the subway" and it's done in a few months.

Cuomo took money from the MTA to bail out ski resorts in upstate New York.

[quote]People are annoyed at Cuomo and it's not just Bernie Sanders liberals.

[Raises hand]

The MTA has focused all their time and attention on getting the Second Avenue Subway open, because the UES really needed multimillion dollar stations to service a single line. Meanwhile, there are weekends where you can't get out of the outer boroughs because the line that services your neighborhood is shut down.

At least they're finally starting to put in new trains, at least, again, on the Second Avenue Line.

Vote for Nixon.

R18, you're nuts, or new to politics. Sanders would be in shreds when the Republicans were through with him. Bernie "the Commie Jew" would have lost to Trump in both an electoral and popular vote landslide.

[quote] The MTA has focused all their time and attention on getting the Second Avenue Subway open, because the UES really needed multimillion dollar stations to service a single line. Meanwhile, there are weekends where you can't get out of the outer boroughs because the line that services your neighborhood is shut down.

I live off the N/W line for 10 years. Service has never been as awful as it has been since the 2nd Avenue subway opened. I sometimes wait in midtown while three Q trains pass an no N. Don't even get me started on the four people who ride the 7 to the new extension.

What's so funny about the MTA is that they put those arrows on the floor of trains (I think in the 2 & 3 train) pointing left, right and straight ahead. They think that putting some 10 cent decals on the floor is upgrading the system?

Yeah, there is absolutely no reason to go out to the Hudson Yards station if you're not doing something at the Javits Center. I was there for a podcast convention last fall, and there's NOTHING ELSE there. There isn't even a restaurant within a reasonable walking distance, which leaves you stuck with their crappy, overpriced food court.

I do appreciate the arrival boards being in more stations and that the wifi and cell coverage are so much better, but I'd like it not to take an hour and a half to get from Brooklyn to Queens. And that's even going on the Q part of the way.

Nixon comes under fire for trying for comments about Cuomo's role in legalizing gay marriage in New York. Her first real gaffe of the campaign

Pretty vile thing to do. Glad she got called out. As many have said upthread, she needs to stop with constant attacks and try running appositive campaign on her plans. Cuomo is vulnerable in the city but you can't beat something with nothing

[quote]I am registered GOP

[quote]way too liberal

[quote]the far left

[quote]I'm probably voting Green in the general this year

Sigh.

[quote]“He had a lot of big Republican donors who wanted the marriage issue to go away because they thought it was making the party look bad,” Nixon said. “And it was getting embarrassing — Iowa had marriage equality and not New York.”

You can disagree with it, but what she said is not "vile" by any stretch. People on DL were saying the same thing for months and months. It was such a mainstream talking point there were op-eds about how Iowa had gay marriage before New York did. That put pressure on Cuomo, even if Iowa only had gay marriage because of a court order.

Then after it was passed in NY, there was spin that NY was better than those flyover states because their legislation was "real" and not court-ordered. That's true but it was pretty tacky, and it looks like that's still the big talking point.

Nixon's only real mistake here was turning the issue national (Iowa vs New York) instead of keeping it to just the state she's running in.

Disagree sharply R48 being ordered by a court to do something against your will is not remotely comparable to getting the legislature to do something. Especially something they had previously rejected multiple times. Cuomo made an issue out of it when many others thought it was unimportant. And I think it's vile to impugn his motives and try to portray him as not caring about gays and doing it at the request of his donors. I would think that about impugning the motives about any one who brought about major civil rights. People who couldn't see the difference between Iowa and NY were fools then and now

In thought R49 was being sarcastic for a moment.

I use the N/W too. It used to be such an easy commute. Now it sucks. Basically what they did is just plop another train on that line then add two stops. Now my commute SUCKS. Mother fuckers.

I'm on the N/W as well. Biggest problem for me right now is the shut down of two stations for upgrade and renovation. The project has gone way over budget and businesses around those two stops have taken a hit. I'm doubtful the renovations will conclude and stations will re open by June. If they do, it's only because they'll be working 24/7 and paying massive overtime, further busting an already busted budget.

I wish someone more credible than Nixon was running against Cuomo in the primary. He's been in long enough and time for him to go. One of the problems of the Democratic Party, at least in New York, is that it's such a machine operation and not many are willing to buck or challenge a long entrenched incumbent except a protest type candidate like Nixon or Teachout, or on a National level, Sanders going against Clinton. There is a good deal of discontent with such politicians but unfortunately those with some credibility, rather than take them on, just fall into line and wait their turn. If the NY GOP has its act together (which I doubt) they should nominate a Pataki type candidate and have him/her campaign hard in NYC on a fix/upgrade the MTA and infrastructure platform. Might make a sizable dent in Cuomo's NYC support and knock him out of an office.

[quote]I think it's vile to impugn his motives and try to portray him as not caring about gays and doing it at the request of his donors

Why vile? Most politicians (including Democrats) weren't really pro-gay marriage until it became politically expedient to do so, within the last several years.

I just can't imagine being so concerned about a politician's reputation that you would say it was "vile" to suggest he did it for political reasons rather than deep concern for gay rights. He was criticized prior to 2011 by gay groups as well -- here's an NYT article from 2010 saying Cuomo was "all but invisible" and that he didn't do a lot of the things he was supposed to do to help push the measure through, and his "fraught relationship between Mr. Cuomo and gays and lesbians dating to the 1970s."

Again, we talked about this a lot on DL at the time, and I would say Nixon probably heard all the same arguments and read the same articles given her role in LGBT organizations.

Just because you disagree doesn't mean it's "vile." I think you may need to actually look at Cuomo's history here, instead of immediately buying the shallow spin being pushed about this by Cuomo's own people.

He can always revive his dad's old "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo" slogan.

Yes I think it's vile. I don't like Bernie Sanders, I voted against him in the primary. Some other Hillary people on DL once tired to suggest his embrace of civil rights for black people in the 60s weren't genuine and was just an attempt to put himself in the public light and I thought that too was vile. Civil rights are the most important political battles happening today. Just because you don't like a political opponent, doesn't mean you shouldn't acknowledge them helping fight critical battles. You act like his support was meaningless. Certainly not to the gay couples who were able to marry in NY for the first time in history. the NY state senate voted against gay marriage 3 times before Cuomo was governor and he forced it through once elected

On the weekends, the F train runs along the D line. The D train runs along the F line, except for the part where it runs along the A line. For F stops, take the D train. For D stops, take the F train. The F runs along the Q line after W 4 st. Cynthia, please put an end to this insanity!

If by some miracle she wins the primary and goes on to win the general... she'll be surrounded by bottom feeders due to a lack of a political support network. It's also easy to promise the world to voters.

I don't think most people think about stuff like that R57. Staffs don't just create themselves. She doesn't even have a staff to vet a staff

Who was he running against, R54?

Ed Koch. It was in the 1977 NYC Mayoral primary.

And Cuomo isn't surrounded by bottom feeders? He's a bottom feeder himself.

An update on polling:

Cuomo leads 58-27, so already down a few points from Op's early poll.

And here's a deep dive into the race from Sabato. TLDR : Only 1 incumbent has lost re-election in 100 years, so Cuomo is unlikely to be defeated, but he can certainly be bruised.

R58 The same thing happened in Canada with Trudeau. His party had been pretty much wiped out the election prior to forming government. They were the third party in the Canadian House of Commons.

I don’t like Cuomo that much, but Cynthia Nixon is the alternative?

Oh well.

I would like to see him spurred to action, but I can not imagine voting for her.

Why does Cuomo persist in thinking he is a viable presidential candidate? He's not and never will be , particularly now that he's so muddied by corruption.

Basically my opinion r65. I wouldn't rule out voting for her if she got more serious

Do we really want to give more roots to this “vote for me because you saw me on the teevee” thing? It’s not working out so far.

Anything political "v. Nixon" just looks so weird.

Just don't blow it and pull on your dog's ears Cindi.

Cuomo says: I'm black. I'm gay. I'm poor!

I think most of the jokes about this have been really funny, but as a black voter I get what he was trying to convey and I appreciate it. I know one other black person who felt the same.

Does turning lezzie make women feel all-powerful or something?

I'm voting for her. She's been a resident of the city for ages. Her kids are in public schools. She knows the problems and the solutions. Better than some rich offspring who spreads their legs for big business.

The problem is that most of the people who bitch and moan about how corrupt the Presidential race is don't vote for Independents where it counts in their state and local levels. This is where it needs to happen.

If you thought Hillary was too corporate friendly but vote for Cuomo, you're part of the problem. But this is the same state that swooned over Giuliani making him "America's Mayor".

It's time for change.

[quote]she'll be surrounded by bottom feeders due to a lack of a political support network

As opposed to the bottom feeders Cuomo surrounds himself with?

She's talked about taking on the MTA union, saying its ridiculous that it costs so much to build a mile of subway. That doesn't sound so far left.

Cynthia has a lot to do if she is to succeed in defeating the patriarchy.

cuomo is a corrupt corporate shill, if she can make him sweat, and kill any presidential ambitions, more power to her

Cuomo just introduced a statewide ban on single use plastic bags. I'm enjoying the liberal victories but he should calm down. It looks desperate and I'm not sure it's even helping him

R78, well, that's the upside to him having a challenger from the left. He's already done a few things that he could have done months and in some cases years ago, and everyone thinks it's because he's trying to look more progressive. So, it's extremely unlikely that she will win the primary, but if she gets more votes than Zephyr Teachout did in 2014 (she got 33.5% of the vote), then it's a (small) win for progressives.

Turns out Nixon bought her endorsements with cold hard cash. How long before she starts screaming "Drain the Swamp"?

Cuomo leading 61-26. She actually lost a little ground since the last Sienna poll

It's Kwanzaa Cake Time! Has Cuomo ever disavowed that apple pie filling stuffed, spiced frosted, corn nut sprinkled, store bought angel food cake recipe? No? Then it is time he be forced to.

Honestly though, Cynthia needs to reach out more to minority communities even more. She needs to come up with a real economic plan for working class NYers. Something more concrete than pot revenue for slavery. She needs to hit him really hard on how hard it is to exist for regular earners.

I think that she can win this.

[quote]She's talked about taking on the MTA union, saying its ridiculous that it costs so much to build a mile of subway. That doesn't sound so far left.

Cynthia is a member of Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA. She's not going up against any union.

It never ceases to amaze me that the BernorBusters still think their faux Saint could have beaten Trump when he lost the primaries to Hillary Clinton by 3.7 million votes.

BTW, what qualifications does Nixon have that she thinks she can be governor of NY?

R82 I don't think she can. Voters are looking for more than awesome promises