Cynthia Nixon probably wasn’t the first politician to tour the crumbling housing complex in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood this week.
But she likely was the first to have dozens of reporters trailing her, residents who took selfies and Inside Edition asking how her celebrity was playing in New York.
Nixon, the star of the longtime HBO series Sex and the City and an actress with numerous movie and TV credits, has launched a primary challenge against two-term Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, casting the incumbent as insufficiently liberal in a strongly Democratic state.
Celebrity worked for Donald Trump in 2016 as the nation elected him to run the country. The question is whether New York Democrats will be swayed by celebrity and toss aside an experienced politician with his own famous political name.
“When it’s election time, voting time, then you see Cuomo, but when it’s not, you can’t reach him,” said Joann Campbell, 55, who talked to Nixon during her Brooklyn stop. “So she’s an actress. We had a president, (Ronald) Reagan – he was an actor. We got Trump. How bad can it go?”
Trump erased barriers for celebrities as voters who have grown more cynical about politics embraced the newcomers. Oprah Winfrey delivered a buzzy speech at the Golden Globes earlier this year and stirred speculation among Democrats about a 2020 presidential bid. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is mentioned as a possible White House hopeful.
Trump also has proven the power of an outsider pitch, and the audience for anyone who insists that the political class had failed. Nixon, standing with Brooklyn borough president Eric L. Adams, has capitalized on her celebrity, drawing TV cameras and a crowd for her visit to the troubled housing project.
“All you people come out and cover it, so we can talk about what’s really happening,” Nixon said. “That’s the frank matter about celebrity. It’s what Eleanor Roosevelt said about herself. When she went places, the press would follow.”
Nixon, 51, who played Roosevelt in the 2005 TV movie Warm Springs, has been an activist for years on education and gay rights. She faces tough odds in her bid to unseat Cuomo. The incumbent has $30 million in campaign funds, the backing of nearly every elected Democrat in the state and a poll showing a 3-to-1 edge among New York City voters.
He mocked the idea of her primary challenge earlier this month. “Normally name recognition is relevant when it has some connection to the endeavor. If it’s just about name recognition, then I’m hoping Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Billy Joel don’t get into the race,” Cuomo said.
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