NY Election Results: Cuomo Beats Nixon For Gov., James Wins AG

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo handily defeated Cynthia Nixon in Thursday's Democratic primary election, snuffing out an insurgent left-wing challenge on his path to re-election as governor.

Cuomo had 64.4 percent of the votes to Nixon's 33.9 percent with more than 98 percent of the precincts reporting. The Associated Press called the race for Cuomo at 9:30 p.m., just half an hour after the polls closed.

The governor will face the Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro in the Nov. 6 general election, in which he has a good chance of securing a third four-year term. He would be the first Democratic governor to do so since his father, Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo secured his party’s nomination as the rest of his ticket defied a progressive, anti-incumbent wave that has shocked other politicians in New York and around the country.

The governor’s chosen candidate for attorney general, Public Advocate Letitia James, won a crowded primary race to succeed Eric Schneiderman, who resigned from that office in disgrace in May. James will be the first woman of color to hold the job if she defeats Republican Keith Wofford in the general election.

She had 38.5 percent of the votes with nearly 99 percent of precincts reporting; the Associated Press called the race for her just after 10:30 p.m. Nixon-backed law professor Zephyr Teachout came in second with about 29.6 percent, followed by U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and Verizon lobbyist Leecia Eve.

James, a former Legal Aid attorney and city councilwoman, pledged to remain independent and serve as "the people's lawyer."

"Today we are launching a new era for the Democratic Party," James told supporters gathered in northern Crown Heights. "Today New Yorkers stepped up and they have redefined what it means to be a Democrat."

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul narrowly fended off a spirited challenge from City Councilman Jumaane Williams, Nixon's running mate. She had about 48.4 percent of the votes to Williams' 42.4 percent with nearly 99 percent of precints reporting. The Associated Press called the race in Hochul's favor at 11 p.m.

Turnout was far higher than the last gubernatorial primary in 2014. Nearly 1.5 million registered Democrats had cast ballots for governor as of about midnight, more than twice as many as four years ago.

The governor was reportedly absent from his own party's election night celebration in Manhattan, instead opting to watch returns in Albany.

Nixon's supporters gathered in Brooklyn booed when she announced that she had called Cuomo to congratulate him. She took credit for kickstarting a progressive movement that she said has "fundamentally changed the political landscape in this state."

"The fight for the soul of the Democratic Party is just beginning," Nixon said in her concession speech. "Before we can take our country back, we have to take our party back."

The six-month gubernatorial race had a dynamic similar to some other recent Democratic primaries around the country: an experienced, pragmatic official against a progressive challenger fighting the status quo.

U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley felt the consequences of that trend on June, when he took a stunning loss to the democratic socialist candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But Cuomo seemed to take nothing for granted, reportedly spending heavily to defeat Nixon while casting himself as the commander of New York’s battle against Republican President Donald Trump.

Cuomo largely stood on his eight-year record of progressive accomplishments, such as legalizing same-sex marriage, securing one of the nation’s toughest gun-control laws and putting the state on the road to a $15 minimum wage. But Nixon castigated him consistently for mishandling the New York City subway and being too friendly to corporate interests and Republicans.

Cuomo maintained a healthy lead in the polls throughout the race — one released just on Monday had him ahead by more than 40 points.

The campaign was often bitter and tempestuous, even to the very end, when Cuomo took days of flak over a state Democratic Party mailer that falsely accused Nixon of being weak against anti-Semitism, even though she is raising her children Jewish and attends a synagogue.

While it caused a headache for Cuomo, the mailer didn’t seem to impact the outcome of the race.

Not every incumbent, though, was insulated from the state's burgeoning progressive movement. Thursday night saw the defeats of six former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a now-disbanded group of Democratic state senators who allied themselves with Republicans for years to give the Senate a GOP majority.

In New York City, Alessandra Biaggi took out former IDC leader Jeff Klein in the Bronx; Zellnor Myrie defeated Jesse Hamilton in Brooklyn; Robert Jackson beat Marisol Alcantara in Manhattan; and John Liu and Jessica Ramos respectively ousted Tony Avella and Jose Peralta in Queens.

Additionally, democratic socialist wunderkind Julia Salazar handed Sen. Martin Dilan a loss in north Brooklyn despite many questions about her background.

The eight IDC senators rejoined the mainline Democratic conference earlier this year in a deal that Cuomo reportedly brokered. But that apparently wasn't enough to stem frustration among voters in their party.

Nixon praised the IDC challengers' "brilliant insurgent campaigns."

"The Democratic establishment thinks that primaries have hurt our party," Nixon said. "Well, we have proved them wrong."

(Lead image: Photo by Craig Ruttle-Pool/Getty Images)