Ranting On...Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon (D-NY)

As a primary voter, I'm a bit of a conundrum.  I am a Yellow Dog Democrat, through-and-through (Keith Ellison is trying that a little bit for me right now, but I'll probably get there even if I'm secretly hoping he drops out) when it's a general election, but when it comes to primaries, I tend to vote more "establishment" than most people my age, gender, and sexuality would vote in a Democratic Primary.  I was not only a Hillary Clinton supporter in 2008 & 2016, for example, I was also a Wesley Clark voter in 2004, which gives you an indication of what kind of Democratic voter I am.  During the campaigns this fall, I generally avoided stepping into primaries, save those in my home state in terms of tangible contributions (I only donated to a single non-MN Democrat in a competitive primary, Ann Kirkpatrick, mostly because her Democratic opponent seemed kind of like a creep in his campaign ads).  All this being said, I'm as surprised as you are that I'm 100% behind Cynthia Nixon on Thursday, and hope she pulls off the upset-of-all-upsets and beats Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

This wasn't something I anticipated when Nixon first announced.  I thought it was a bit of a silly gadfly run (and to be honest, based on polling so far, it probably was), and I am not someone who is easily swept up by celebrity candidacies, particularly against incumbents; I didn't even vote for Al Franken in his 2008 primary, and he was a heavy favorite as opposed to Nixon.  Nixon's platform, I figured quite quickly, would much more resemble my own more progressive politics, but she's a brand-new candidate running for one of the biggest jobs in elected politics, and I almost always vote with my head, rather than my heart.  And it's not like Nixon herself is influencing me in major ways to change my stance on longshot or "ultra progressive" candidacies-I am also rooting for Tish James, whom I think is more qualified for the AG job, in the primary race against the more "grassroots" candidacy of Zephyr Teachout.

But Nixon's campaign has had mud slung at it that feels gross, and the candidacy of Andrew Cuomo is an embarrassment for the Democratic Party, frequently resembling something that Donald Trump would run rather than a longtime member of the New York Party.  The debate performance of Andrew Cuomo was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.  I was shocked that Cuomo would run such a risk as to debate Nixon at all.  She was, after all, polling some 25-30 points behind Cuomo in most major polls, and many times incumbents would ignore such a candidate were they to be running against them in a general, much less a primary.  Giving Nixon that stage was a risky move that had almost no pluses unless Cuomo's internals are saying something public polling is not, which feels unlikely.

During the combative debate, Cuomo accused Nixon of not releasing her tax returns (she has), and particularly went after Nixon from her right on labor unions.  Cuomo, who is a bit of a kingpin in New York politics and generally a bully in politics, rallied the labor unions in the hall by yelling "How am I with labor?" to a roaring crowd (again, something very akin to Donald Trump), while then quickly saying that teachers should have limitations for their right to hold public strikes, a shocking statement from a Democrat (it feels like something Ted Cruz would say), particularly considering the successful teachers' strikes in places like West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona earlier this year.  While labor is frequently a backseat component of the Democratic agenda (you don't oftentimes hear it as a major campaign issue anymore), it's also a critical part of our voting bloc in most states, including New York, and it's simply not a statement someone who is concerned about winning a Democratic Primary says out loud, even if it's clearly what they believe.  As a result, I left feeling like Cuomo simply did the debate to tear Nixon apart, trying to stifle any serious and deserved criticism heading his way from more powerful figures in the next four years, not just on labor but also on public transportation (Nixon's right-the MTA is a joke in NYC and likely costing the city millions in lost revenues, not to mention workload productivity) and PAC money (Cuomo has taken millions in PAC contributions despite lambasting Nixon for listing herself as a "corporation" for tax purposes).  Since then, the New York State Democratic Party has sent out mailers accusing Nixon of anti-semitism with absolutely no cause (and no proof), and while Cuomo has distanced himself from these mailers, it's impossible to believe that a man so entrenched atop this NY Democratic Party's leadership wouldn't have had to okay such an attack.

Cuomo's bullying, his rightward stance on a number of important issues, his opportunistic & cruel lies about his opponent, and the fact that the winner of this primary is tantamount to be elected Governor of New York means that I'd vote for Nixon if I still lived in New York.  She's not the perfect candidate, and I would have preferred someone like Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner or Cuomo's own-running mate Kathy Hochul, the sitting LG and former member of Congress, but in politics you get the cards you're dealt.  I doubt she'll win, but I hope Cynthia Nixon gets her "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment come Thursday evening, because Cuomo has shown himself unfit to be our nominee.  The Democrats don't need their own Trump, and at this point Cuomo's run a campaign that borrows too liberally from the president's playbook for me to be comfortable.