NEW YORK STATE

GOVERNOR

DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIMARY

★ Preferred Candidate ★

Andrew Cuomo – Dem
Candidate has returned a questionnaire
Age: 60
Occupation: Governor
Education: Fordham University, B.A.; Albany Law School, J.D.

Andrew Cuomo has served as governor of New York State for two terms and, prior to that, was the state Attorney General for one term. Before seeking elected office, he was the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for four years in the Clinton administration. As governor, he championed the passage of the Marriage Equality Act, enacted stronger gun control laws, established paid family leave, and raised the state minimum wage to among the highest in the country. Recently, he championed free college tuition for qualified applicants and signed an executive order enfranchising people on parole through conditional pardons. He also worked closely with Citizens Union to enact legislative redistricting reform.

On the other hand, Citizens Union has criticized Cuomo over prematurely closing the Moreland Commission in the midst of its investigation of public corruption, not doing enough to advance ethics reform, and permitting a lack of transparency around billions of dollars in each year’s state budget.

However, in his interview with Citizens Union, Cuomo committed to supporting a “database of deals,” which would list all taxpayer subsidies to corporations, and track the state’s return on investment. He also committed to support changing the state law that shields police disciplinary records from the public and said that he would push voting reform in his third term. While acknowledging concerns, Citizens Union prefers Andrew Cuomo in this race because of his extensive experience in New York State government, his administration’s many accomplishments, and with the expectation that he will honor his commitment to advance these reforms.

Cynthia Nixon – Dem
Candidate has returned a questionnaire
Age: 52
Occupation: Actor
Education: Barnard College, B.A.

Cynthia Nixon is an education and LGBTQ rights advocate, and an actor. She has been a
spokesperson for the Alliance for Quality Education for 17 years and has lobbied the city and state for public school funding. In 2010, she became a leader in a campaign to unseat state senators who opposed marriage equality, and continued her advocacy until its passage into law. Nixon’s top priorities include providing fair and equitable funding for public schools, creating driver’s licenses for undocumented New Yorkers, improving rent stabilization laws, enacting campaign finance and ethics reform, and eliminating cash bail. Her campaign has also focused on plans to improve MTA services and create a single-payer healthcare system. Nixon supports all of the reforms on Citizens Union’s questionnaire.

In an interview with Citizens Union, she emphasized campaign finance reforms like closing the LLC loophole, creating a public matching funds system for state campaigns, and lowering contribution limits. Nixon is clearly passionate about serving New York State and speaks knowledgeably about the issues she supports. However, Citizens Union has concerns that she does not have sufficient experience to undertake an executive role that is so consequential to all New Yorkers.