Cynthia Nixon got 0% of the black vote at state Democratic convention

[ehrnst]

Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Cuomo from the left in the Democratic primary, picked up less than 5% of the vote at last week's state party convention—none of which were from black delegates.

"That should open some eyes," said Charlie King, a Cuomo ally and former executive director of the state Democratic party.

Nixon has acknowledged in order to pull off an upset against Cuomo in the September primary, she must cut into his advantage in the black community.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nixon-0-back-vote-state-dem-convention-article-1.4012491

https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/cynthia-nixon/

[Renew Deal]

1. She's not going to win

It's a stunt

[ehrnst]

2. Perhaps that's why OR endorsed her? (nt)

[Renew Deal]

4. OR?

[workinclasszero]

5. Our Revolution

https://ourrevolution.com/

[ehrnst]

6. "Our Revolution."

https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/cynthia-nixon/

[FSogol]

7. Nina Turner's Our Revolution. They luv vanity candidates with a zero chance of success.

[Renew Deal]

9. Makes sense. You don't have to accomplish anything if you don't win.

[Anon-C]

27. They aren't there to win, rather to DISRUPT in the military sense.

... IMHO.

[ehrnst]

12. It appears to mean that they are not after mere "political success"

The goal appears to be proving that they are right about "the corrupt system" by demonstrating that their candidates can't succeed in getting there...

They seem to think that not winning gives you progressive cred, somehow - and yes, you aren't expected to deliver the moon that you promised either, and blame the lack of getting anywhere on "the corrupt two party system!!"

[liberalhistorian]

28. That's an excellent

description, pretty much nails them. Hopefully, they'll begin to see that soon, but I wouldn't count on it.

[ehrnst]

29. I think of "the Producers" when I think of OR...

Where losing actually benefits them, in terms of donations.

From what I can see, they only raise enough for staff salaries.

[Me.]

10. KIss Of Death

[Kaleva]

3. Looking on the bright side, that percentage can't get any lower.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Vanity campaign.

[Gothmog]

11. Who is surprised by this?

[brooklynite]

13. Funny how nobody here called Zephyr Teachout's campaign a stunt four years ago...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12772730

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/106818892

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025029517

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/106819441

I have no doubt Cuomo will win, but Cynthia Nixon was known as a political activist (like a certain radio host on Air America) before running for office. More to the point, she's organized a smooth running campaign so far, and has largely been driving the terms of the debate.

As for "no black support", one thing the NYS Democratic Party is NOT is "grassroots". The folks at the State Convention were almost exlusively political representatives and very unlikely to buck the incumbent ticket.

[NCTraveler]

16. As you can see from your links there was almost zero conversation about "him".

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1251370086#post1

Seems people here weren't calling "his" campaign anything.

[brooklynite]

18. "her"

[NCTraveler]

21. I see you didn't click the link.

brooklynite



1. Simple answer - no

Zephyr Truthout couldn't get the Working Family's Party to seriously consider him. He has no money, and no political connections to turn out votes. Assuming he does get on the ballot, I wouldn't give him more than 20% in the Primary.

[Exotica]

34. this is why

[brooklynite]

35. ...and at no point did I question her motives, or claim she was a "vanity campaign"...

I have no doubt Cuomo will win, but I don't see any reason to disparage her campaign.

[Exotica]

36. Sorry, I was not more specific

It was because you called her a him by mistake.
Nothing more.

Cheers

[samir.g]

14. maybe next time, Becky

[oberliner]

15. How many black delegates were there?

[ehrnst]

17. She got 5% of the vote overall, Cuomo ended up getting more than 95% of the vote on the floor

I'm not sure what the ratio is, but I don't see how this would change anything.

Perhaps you can dig around and find out?

You seem to be very knowledgable on issues of ethicities that you're part of, so I imagine you can dig that up for us.

[oberliner]

20. I've been trying but can't find the figure

The article does point out that the people who nominated her were two black women.

[ehrnst]

22. Yes, however they were not delegates. (nt)

[MineralMan]

19. With only 5% of the vote, she won't even be on the primary ballot,

unless she does a successful signature drive, which seems unlikely. I think it's over for her.

[Jim Lane]

23. In 2014, Zephyr Teachout got three times as many signatures as she needed.

On what basis are you predicting that Nixon will fall short? She starts with much higher name recognition than did Teachout. She also starts with the endorsement of the Working Families Party. In 2014, a lot of WFP members wanted to endorse Teachout. Cuomo headed that off by making the WFP various promises, which he then didn't keep. This time around, Cuomo lost. That suggests that the dissatisfaction with Cuomo among progressives is higher now than it was in 2014. (The WFP has a separate ballot line and could run Nixon even if she loses the primary, but so far it has merely endorsed her, which is different. The point is that, in 2014, Teachout didn't get even that.)

Another difference from 2014 is that Cuomo's corruption problem has gotten even worse. One example, from the Wikipedia article about the "Buffalo Billion" project:

Federal prosecutors filed charges in September 2016.[9] In November 2016, a federal grand jury indicted Cuomo's former aide Joseph Percoco and the former president of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Alain Kaloyeros, for bribery and bid rigging, alongside six government contractors.[10] Percoco was accused of taking at least $315,000 in bribes.[10] In March 2018, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted Percoco on felony charges of honest services fraud and soliciting bribes from Competitive Power Ventures, an energy company, and COR Development, a real estate developer.[11][12] Cuomo's former aide Todd Howe had already pleaded guilty to eight corruption charges relating to COR Development and LPCiminelli.[10]

A handful of people connected closely to each other have dominated the process of planning, building and promoting the majority of Buffalo Billion's projects. Some include developers who have contributed to Cuomo's campaign. The New York Times wrote on May 24, 2016:[7]

…federal investigators' interest seems to lie less with whether the people of Buffalo will ultimately benefit than with those who already have: a tangle of well-connected players — including developers and frequent donors to the governor — who have feasted on Buffalo Billion money.

The vote at the state convention doesn't reflect the views of grassroots Democrats. Teachout easily met the petition requirement, and then got more than a third of the vote against Cuomo, despite having almost no support from party officials.

[MineralMan]

24. Good for her, if she can get the signatures she needs.

She still hasn't a prayer of winning in the primary. Not a chance.

[ehrnst]

26. What is your defintion of "grassroots Democrats?" (nt)

[Jim Lane]

31. In New York, the grassroots Democrats are the people who are registered to vote as Democrats.

In some states, there could be a gray area where the applicability of the term is unclear -- namely, people who are nominally registered as independents but who almost always vote Democratic, or people who almost always vote Democratic but who live in a state (like Vermont, just to pick a random example) that doesn't have partisan voting registration.

For a New York primary, however, the obsession that some people have about nominal party identification is irrelevant. New York doesn't have open primaries. In fact, it has what I think are the most closed primaries in the country. Someone who, as of today, is registered to vote but is not registered as a Democrat can't vote in the primary and can't even now change his or her registration to vote. For the September 2018 gubernatorial primary, the deadline for changing party registration was in October 2017, about eleven months in advance.

In one recent poll of grassroots Democrats (i.e., registered Democrats), Nixon's support was at 28%. She's unlikely to win. She's even more unlikely to be held below 5%, which I guess is the result one would predict for her if one thought that the convention was representative of the grassroots.

[Cha]

25. Good on the Black Delegates..

[stonecutter357]

30. lol

[Gothmog]

32. This should surprise no one

[Scurrilous]

33. K&R