Andrew Cuomo easily defeats Cynthia Nixon in New York gubernatorial primary

Impact

Gov. Andrew Cuomo won a Democratic primary for New York governor, beating back a spirited challenge on his left flank from actor and activist Cynthia Nixon.

Cuomo defeated Nixon, 66.5% to 33.5%, with 30% of precincts reporting, according to the New York Times.

Cuomo is now the odds-on favorite to win a third term as governor, given New York’s strong Democratic bent and the anti-Trump fervor across the country.

Nixon blamed her loss on high voter turnout, as well as an anti-Trump sentiment — a bizarre argument from a Democrat, given that both of those factors are favorable for Democrats’ hopes of sweeping Republicans out of power in November.

Polls leading up to the election showed Cuomo with a commanding lead, which never dropped below 22% in any public surveys throughout the race.

Cuomo vastly outspent Nixon, who in the final weeks of the race spent almost nothing on voter contact, according to the New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher.

The Working Families Party, a progressive political party in New York that switched its allegiance in 2018 from Cuomo to Nixon, seemed resigned to a Nixon loss the night before the primary. Instead, they took a victory lap by saying Nixon’s primary helped push Cuomo to the left.

“The Governor spent years building up a $31 million war chest, and that much corporate money has an impact,” WFP political director Bill Lipton said in an email to WFP committee members obtained by Mic. “But even if Cuomo comes out on top tomorrow, the world has changed around him: He will likely face a new political reality where he is no longer king.”