Cynthia Nixon unleashes attack on Andrew Cuomo's record, says he's not a 'real Democrat'

Cynthia Nixon hit the campaign trail Tuesday for the first time since launching her run for governor the day before, delivering a fiery speech attacking Gov. Andrew Cuomo's record and likening Albany to a "cesspool."

Nixon, the Sex and the City star and education activist, gave a 12-minute speech at a church in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, sounding a populist tone as she decried inequality in New York's economy and public-school system.

But the most aggressive portions of Nixon's remarks focused squarely on Cuomo, a Democrat with presidential ambitions who Nixon once supported but is now trying to unseat.

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Nixon, who is making her first run for elected office, intends to challenge Cuomo in a Democratic primary Sept. 13.

"I voted for Andrew Cuomo because I believed that he was a real Democrat," Nixon said while standing in front of a "Cynthia For NY" banner. "But since taking office, he has shown us his true colors."

Later, she said: "If Washington is a swamp, then Albany is a cesspool."

Nixon's speech Tuesday came less than 24 hours after she caused a stir by entering the governor's race by posting a campaign-launch video that quickly racked up nearly 2 million views on Twitter.

She delivered her speech Tuesday at the Bethesda Healing Center in Brooklyn, a church with a predominantly African American congregation.

The choice of venue was not an accident for Nixon, a white woman who must make inroads with diverse communities in order to have a chance at unseating Cuomo.

Nor was her choice of transportation to get to the event: The aging, often-hobbled New York City subway system, the condition of which Nixon has pledged to make a centerpiece of her campaign.

Cuomo has significant oversight of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the entity that runs the subway system. 

"I got here just in the nick of time," Nixon said to open her speech. "I allowed an hour and a half for what should have been a 30 minute ride. Cuomo's MTA."

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Cuomo, who was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, remains in a strong position for his re-election campaign, with more than $30 million in his campaign account.

A Siena College poll released shortly before Nixon entered the race Monday showed Cuomo with support from 66 percent of enrolled Democrats in New York. Nixon picked up 19 percent.

Nixon criticized Cuomo for accepting campaign donations from big-moneyed interests, pledging her campaign will not take a "single dime" from corporations.

She knocked Cuomo for not doing more to unseat Republicans from the state Senate, the GOP's final hold on power in New York. And she criticized Cuomo for allowing the Senate GOP to draw its own district lines in 2012.

She also honed in on the recent conviction of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide, campaign manager and close personal friend to Cuomo.

More:Joe Percoco, ex-aide to Cuomo, guilty of 3 felonies in bribery case

Percoco was convicted of three felonies last week for pocketing $300,000 from companies that leaned on him to take official actions that benefitted them.

A second trial is set for June, when former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros faces charges that he rigged the bid for some of Cuomo's top economic-development projects, including a $750 million solar-panel factory in Buffalo.

"Andrew Cuomo promised to clean up Albany, but instead he and his cronies have cleaned up for themselves," Nixon said. "There is a reason that people close to Andrew Cuomo keep winding up under indictment for corruption."

Prior to Nixon announcing her candidacy, Cuomo said he was unconcerned with Nixon's celebrity status and the impact it could have on the primary race.

“Normally name recognition is relevant when it has some connection to the endeavor,” Cuomo told reporters on a March 7 conference call before Nixon entered the race. 

“But if it’s just about name recognition, then I’m hoping that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Billy Joel don’t get into the race because if it’s just about name recognition, that would really be a problem.”

On the Republican side, three hopefuls are angling for their party's nod: Dutchess County Marc Molinaro, state Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco and Joseph Holland, a former official in then-Gov. George Pataki's administration.

Nixon, of Manhattan, is a Tony, Emmy and Grammy award-winning actress best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes on HBO's Sex in the City.

She's spent the nascent stages of her campaign emphasizing her New York roots and her role as an activist, including her many trips to Albany over the years to push for same-sex marriage and greater education funding for poor schools.

She closed her speech Tuesday by asking for support.

"I’m Cynthia Nixon," she said. "I love New York, all of New York. And If you do too I’m asking for your vote. 

Jon Campbell is a correspondent for the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau. Includes reporting by Albany Bureau staff writer Natasha Vaughn.