With three weeks to go until the September 13 Democratic primary, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been focusing not on his opponent Cynthia Nixon, but President Donald Trump, suggesting Thursday he'd be vulnerable to impeachment should he pardon former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
“It would be a total aberration of justice,” said Cuomo. “I believe it would be an immediately impeachable offense because it really is an obstruction of justice.”
In Albany on Thursday at a church in the Arbor Hill neighborhood, Nixon addressed a gathering of about 100 people, criticizing the governor's record and approach on Trump.
“I think he'd rather run against Donald Trump than against me,” said Nixon. “I think frankly he's not interested in being governor of New York state anymore. He's sort of passed over this race.”
Nixon is scheduled to debate Cuomo next week. But she is not ruling out staying in the race on the Working Families Party line should she lose next month's primary.
“We will not be making a decision until after we win the Democratic primary,” said Nixon. “Everything is possible.”
Nixon dropping out of the race after the primary would be a blow to the Working Families Party, which would have to find a new candidate to run and secure a minimum of 50,000 votes in order to keep its ballot status. Nixon, meanwhile, said she preferred Cuomo over his Republican opponent, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.
“I don't think that Gov. Cuomo has been a good governor because I think he has largely been someone who talks like a Democrat and governs like a Republican,” said Nixon. “I think someone who talks like a Republican and governs like a Republican would be a step down.”
Public polling has shown Nixon trailing Cuomo by as much as 30 percentage points, but she notes polls had shown Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez losing to Congressman Joe Crowley, only to win in an upset last month.