It’s a pointed attack located right on the banner of her new website, between “Meet Cynthia” and “Why I’m Running”: #CuomosMTA.
Cynthia Nixon’s campaign announcement on Monday leaned strongly on the declining state of MTA subway service, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo has overseen during his two terms in office. It has become a point of frustration among New Yorkers that some observers believe could make the governor vulnerable in this coming election.
“We want our government to work again on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subways,” said Nixon in the video announcing her campaign, which features shots of her in the subway system. “We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.”
The “Sex and the City” star and political activist expanded on the theme on her website, which attacked Cuomo for his handling of the MTA and noted that, “unlike Governor Cuomo, Cynthia Nixon rides the subway every day.”
Nixon’s site doesn’t provide much of her own platform on transit, though, other than noting that the MTA must prioritize fixing its “century-old machinery” over “more bells and whistles,” like Wi-Fi or digital displays.
“The fact that Cynthia Nixon’s website has a header ‘#CuomosMTA’ is a clear statement that the subways need fixing and it’s her political opponent’s job to do so,” said Sarah M. Kaufman, assistant director for technology programming at the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation.
“She seems to have a lucid understanding of the issues that New Yorkers face and a grasp on the fact that it’s the infrastructure that needs repair,” Kaufman continued. “I would like to see more from her on how she would actually go about fixing the subway system, but I applaud her actively comprehending what’s going on.”
The nonprofit advocacy group Riders Alliance helped popularize the #CuomosMTA hashtag through a campaign it launched last year to hold the governor accountable for subway failures, like soaring delays and tanking on-time performance ratings.
“I’m not going to do political handicapping,” said John Raskin, the executive director of the Riders Alliance. “The subway is a mess and subway riders are talking about it every day. It makes perfect sense that candidates for governor are doing the same.”
