If you were skeptical at all about Cynthia Nixon running to be governor of New York, watch her interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert right now. It’s clear in this interview that Colbert, after some light-hearted banter about Nixon winning the Grammy for the Inconvenient Truth audiobook over him, is bringing up all the arguments and points that have been brought up by the public around Nixon’s announcement almost a month ago.
Is she actually serious about running? Do we need another celebrity in office? How qualified is she for the position? Nixon knocks each and every single one out of the park with humor, precise and informed answers, and cutting comments on Andrew Cuomo (the best perhaps being that she’d “Rather be the good Nixon than the bad Cuomo”).
First things first, Nixon confirms that she is 100% running. “I’m running because I’m a lifelong New Yorker and I love this state, and I just know we can do so much better. We’re a blue state. We’re a proudly Democratic state, but we’ve got a governor in there who governs like a Republican.” The gubernatorial candidate points to progressive actions being taken in states like California, Oregon, and Washington for campaign finance reform, voting reform, fully-funding schools, renewable energy and real criminal justice reform, saying “This is the kind of stuff we want to be doing in New York. We want to be closing racial and economic inequity here and we’re just not.”
She’s not done.
Nixon also comes down hard on Cuomo in the interview (which is no surprise if you’re following the news), criticizing him for the ways he’s allowed gerrymandering, the two Democratic caucuses, and big-money donors (Nixon makes it clear that she is “accepting no corporate money”). “He says he works with the Republicans, but frankly oftentimes it looks more like he works for the Republicans,” she says, adding that it looks as if he has no interest in fixing schools, the subway, or public housing.
When asked about the criticism around her being a celebrity, Nixon cites Glenda Jackson as an example to say, “You can have more than one career in your life.” In regards to comparisons to Donald Trump, Nixon defends her position as one drastically different:
“I think that first and foremost, Donald Trump is a real estate developer and he has inherited his money and his company from his father. That could not be more different from me. I grew up here in a one-bedroom, five-flight walk-up with a single mom. I went to public school. I started acting when I was twelve in order to pay for my college because my family couldn’t afford to.
I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with celebrity in politics: it gives you a platform, but it’s what you choose to do with that platform. Do you choose to give yourself and other 1%-ers a massive tax break that they don’t need? Or do you choose to advocate for important things that need your voice, like LGBTQ equality or women’s health or women’s rights—including a woman’s right to choose—or better public schools which I have been advocating for and fighting for the better part of 20 years?
I think that’s exactly the kind of resume that a progressive leader of New York state should have right now.”
Nixon still isn’t done.
Colbert asked about Nixon about her position on marijuana legalization, and when the candidate states that she is for it, he asks “Are you high?”
“Thank you for asking me,” replies Nixon, “I am not high right now. But I think it’s a good moment to speak about my past drug use since it will probably come out during the campaign.” She then reveals that she’s smoked pot twice in her life, and continues that she feels strongly about it because “it’s a racial justice issue.” Citing the fact that a person of color is much more likely to be arrested for marijuana, Nixon says, “for white people, marijuana has effectively been legal for a long time.”
Cynthia for New York.
(image: screencap)
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