Cynthia Nixon should drop out of governor race
Sarah Allam | Ilustration Editor
The Democratic primary for governor is in our rear view mirror, and Cynthia Nixon should be too.
Nixon lost the democratic primary by a solid 30 points to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), and while I supported Nixon in the primary, having more than one democrat on a general election ballot distracts from what should be the main goal — forming a liberal coalition of voters for the November election.
“Cynthia Nixon shouldn’t interfere with the democratic process,” Andres Victoria, the president of the Syracuse College Democrats, said.
At this point, Nixon is just messing with the election, and jeopardizing the values she stood for, Victoria said.
“The Democratic Party showed up and supported her opponent,” Victoria said.
As disappointing that might be to hear, it’s the truth. Nixon did only slightly better than Zephyr Teachout in 2014 and now stands to divide liberal voters in the 2018 election.
According to a Sienna College poll, Nixon could take roughly 10 percent of the vote in the general election, with former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner taking roughly one percent of the vote, come November.
In the next election, voters will have three candidates that generally believe the same thing, in terms of state policy. And voters are going to be forced to make a decision about who best represents them in this election.
Nixon staying in the race divides Democratic voters unnecessarily.
If Nixon believes in the values she supported throughout the election for the Democratic nomination, she will drop out of the race and support Cuomo. For the state’s sake, all liberals should stand together and support Cuomo.
Ryan Golden is a policy studies and religion dual major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at rjgolden@syr.edu and on Twitter @RyanJGolden.
Published on October 1, 2018 at 9:12 pm