Cynthia Nixon – Governor – New York
A New York for the Many, Not Just the Few
Cynthia Nixon on the Stephen Colbert Show
MEET Cynthia:
I’m running for governor because I love this state. New York is the only place I’ve ever lived, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I know that we can do better. We need a New York that works for all of us – a New York for the many, not just the few.
I was born in New York City, and I grew up in a one-bedroom fifth floor walk-up with my mom. I’m a proud public school graduate, and these days, an even prouder public school parent. For the last 17 years, I’ve traveled across this state to fight for better schools, LGBTQ equality, and women’s health care, including the right to choose.
This is the state where I started acting at age 12 to put myself through college when my mom told me she couldn’t afford to. This is the state where I made my career, raised my kids, and met and married the love of my life, my wife Christine.
When I grew up here, we didn’t have much money, but I still felt like anything was possible. I had opportunities that I just don’t see for the vast majority of New York’s kids today.
New York has become the single most unequal state in the country. The top 1 percent of New Yorkers earn 45 times more than the bottom 99 percent combined. Black and Latino families in New York still earn much less than white families. Women still earn much less than men.
This crushing inequality isn’t something that just happens.
It’s not an accident.
It was a choice.
It was a choice to slash taxes for the super-rich and impose austerity on everybody else. It was a choice to allow the schools attended by children of color to be underfunded and over-policed. It was a choice to sell our government off to corporate interests and wealthy donors, while the rest of us suffer.
These are choices usually made by Republicans. But for the past eight years, they’re all choices that have been made by our governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Eight years ago, I voted for Andrew Cuomo because I believed he was a real Democrat. But since taking office, Governor Cuomo has shown us his true colors. He let the Republicans gerrymander their own districts to suppress Democratic voters, especially voters of color. Then, when Democrats still won a majority, he cut a backroom deal that allowed Republicans to take over the State Senate through the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) — a group of breakaway Democrats who voted with the Republicans to hand them control, and with it, the power to block almost all of our key Democratic legislative priorities.
Andrew Cuomo has given massive tax breaks to corporations and the super rich while starving the state and its cities of the most basic services and decimating our infrastructure. His inhumane budgets have been passed on the backs of our children, our working and middle class, and our elderly.
We hear all the time about how the big money interests control DC. But if Washington is a swamp, then Albany is a cesspool. Andrew Cuomo promised to clean up Albany, but instead, he and his cronies have cleaned up for themselves. There’s a reason why people close to Cuomo keep winding up under indictment for corruption.
New York’s eight years under the Cuomo administration have been an exercise in living with disappointment, dysfunction, and dishonesty. Our state could be a place where every single New Yorker has what we need to thrive, if only we could stop our governor from selling New York off to the highest bidder.
We don’t have to settle for the way things are. We know that our state can do better.If New York had a governor as bold and progressive as its people, things could be different.
We could fully fund our public schools — all of our schools. We could end the school to prison pipeline, and level the playing field for students in every part of the state, regardless of the color of their skin or their zip code.
We could fix our crumbling subway system by providing the MTA the money we were promised for repairs, and stop asking New York City or its riders to clean up Governor Cuomo’s mess.
We could take on the real estate developers and landlords who are buying off politicians, raising rents, and forcing people out of their homes. We could strengthen and renew our expiring rent laws, and protect affordable housing for millions of New Yorkers.
We could make sure that no one suffers because they can’t afford health care in the wealthiest nation on earth.
We could take on New York’s corrupt political establishment and the billionaire class on Wall Street by passing campaign finance and ethics reform.
We could make a bold commitment to invest in renewable energy, one that will get us off fossil fuels completely and provide tens of thousands of good jobs.
We could finally pass the DREAM Act, which has been blocked by Cuomo’s IDC. We could make New York a true sanctuary state, and make sure that no family in New York would ever live in fear of Donald Trump’s ICE agents.
We could end mass incarceration, and end the over-policing of communities of color that is costing people access to housing and job opportunities, and even exposing many to deportation.
Cynthia Nixon is a lifelong New Yorker, actor, and progressive advocate who is running for governor to fight for a better, more equal New York.
Cynthia hasn't been bought and paid for by corporate interests, and won’t be accepting any corporate contributions in this campaign.
Cynthia grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and in Yorkville, where she was raised by her single mother in a one bedroom, fifth-floor walk-up apartment. She is a proud graduate of New York public schools and an even prouder public school parent. Her three children, Sam, Charlie and Max, are all New York City public school students or graduates.
Unlike the current leadership in Albany, Cynthia rides the New York subway nearly every day, and understands the toll that the mismanagement of the MTA is taking on everyday New Yorkers.
Cynthia began working as an actor when she was 12 years old to earn money to pay for her college education, and has been a proud union member ever since. She continued to act in a variety of film, stage, and TV roles to put herself through Barnard College at Columbia University, and went on to an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winning career. Perhaps best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes on HBO’s hit series, “Sex and the City,” Cynthia received her Grammy for her role in the audio version of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the seminal book warning about the dangers of climate change.
For the last 17 years, Cynthia has been fighting for better schools and more equitable education funding all across the state, including as a spokesperson and organizer for the Alliance for Quality Education, which helped to reverse hundreds of million in education budget cuts. Cynthia has traveled the state, met with legislators, and spoken out in Albany on numerous occasions to demand that public schools in every district get the resources they need, regardless of income level. For her work promoting educational and racial justice in New York state, she was honored at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s Triumph Awards.
A lifelong Democrat, Cynthia is a well-known, outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. In 2010, Cynthia helped create Fight Back New York, an effort to remove state Senators opposed to same-sex marriage. The campaign ultimately raised $800,000 and helped elect three new Senators in support of marriage equality. Cynthia worked with the Empire State Pride Agenda to fight for marriage equality in New York state, and traveled around the country to support similar efforts in Maryland, Washington, and New Jersey. In 2010, GLAAD honored Cynthia with the Vito Russo Award, given to an LGBT figure in the media “who has made a significant difference in promoting equality for the LGBT community”.
Cynthia has also pushed for women’s reproductive rights, including representing Planned Parenthood in Albany to advocate for the full Women’s Equality Agenda, including the right to choose. A breast cancer survivor, Cynthia has been a spokesperson educating women about the importance of early detection and being proactive about seeking treatment.
Cynthia is married to longtime education organizer Christine Marinoni, who until recently worked at the New York City Department of Education.
They are members of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBT synagogue, and live in Manhattan.
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