Cynthia Nixon Trashes NY Gov. Cuomo on Colbert, Dismisses Trump Comparisons
Awarding winning actress-turned gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon appeared on The Late Show and took some shots at her political rival New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The conversation began when Stephen Colbert pointed out that her campaign is putting focus on her first name and not so much with her last, which many link to President Richard Nixon for obvious reasons.
“I am aware of the dubious nature of my last name, but I also have to say that if I was given a choice, I’d rather be the good Nixon than the bad Cuomo,” Nixon said.
“Wow,” Colbert reacted. “Dang! Holy cow! Put some ointment on that burn!”
Nixon explained that she was running because she’s a “life-long New Yorker” and that “we can do so much better” than Cuomo.
“We’re a blue state. We’re a proudly Democratic state, but we’ve got a governor in there who governs like a Republican,” Nixon told Colbert. “All of the progressive things that California’s doing and Oregon and Washington— campaign finance reform and voting reform and fully funding our schools and being a leader in renewable energy and enacting real criminal justice reform— 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.”
The former Sex and the City star slammed Cuomo for “allowing” Republicans in their state to “gerrymander their own districts” and accused him of “working for the Republicans” instead of working with them in order to “please big money donors.”
“I am accepting no corporate money. Zero!” Nixon declared, which was welcomed by cheers from the audience.
Colbert then asked Nixon if this was a “serious run” or if this was all to “make a point.”
“I am 100% running to be governor of New York,” she assured Colbert.
She also dismissed Colbert invoking the candidacy of Donald Trump, noting that the “celebrity” that’s occupying the White House is “not working out very well.”
“I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with celebrity in politics,” Nixon continued. “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 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 right, including a woman’s right to choose, or better public schools which I have been advocating for and fighting for for the better part of 20 years. I think that’s the kind of resume that a progressive leader of New York state should have right now.”
Nixon launched her campaign last month hoping to unseat Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Watch the clip above, via CBS.
