NEW YORK — The New York Times reported Tuesday that Sex and the City actress and gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon is a supporter of Black Lives Matter and legal weed. Nixon played savvy lawyer Miranda Hobbes on the HBO hit series Sex and the City, and now she's setting her sights on governance and the state.
Nixon said that she would support legalizing recreational marijuana at a fundraiser on the Upper West Side home of writer Isabel Gillies last week. More than 70 people attended the private fundraiser, each contributing $50 to Nixon's Democratic campaign.
Nixon will run against the incumbent governor of New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is an opponent of legalizing recreational marijuana. Cuomo has been an advocate of medical marijuana and signed a bill last Veteran's Day adding PTSD to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. However, the governor also believes recreational marijuana to be a gateway drug.
The former actress said that if she is elected, she would legalize marijuana and implement a tax on it, using part of the revenue generated for New York's public education system and fixing the city's subways.
Nixon repeated her support of recreational marijuana publicly on The Wendy Williams Show Wednesday, also pledging her support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
When asked by Williams if she thought that the murder of Stephon Clark by police officers in Sacramento was "a black man thing," Nixon replied that she thought it was, adding, "If we are going to say black lives matter, we have to mean it." Clark was shot mostly in the back by police in his grandmother's backyard. He was shot more than 20 times.
Nixon said New Yorkers are ready for real progressive change in the state and that if the Democratic party doesn't embrace change, they will lose the support of the black community, which she says is the backbone of the Democratic party.
Nixon Supports Ethical Leadership, Income Equality, and Gun Reform
The gubernatorial candidate also supports stricter gun laws, attending the March for Our Lives rally last month. Nixon also supports raising taxes on those who earn more than $5 million per year.
Nixon has been an activist for several years but has never held a public office. Her reply when challenged on her experience was that her chief of staff wasn't convicted on three counts of bribery, charges that Gov. Cuomo's former aide and campaign manager Joseph Percoco was recently convicted of.
Percoco was convicted of corruption in a New York federal court on March 13. She also questions the current governor's true Democratic roots, given his efforts to help Republicans keep control of the Senate.
New York Could Have First Female Governor
Cuomo is currently enjoying a 47-point lead over Nixon. However, 46 percent of the 48 percent who said that they would re-elect the governor also said that would rather elect another candidate.
Nixon announced her candidacy for governor of New York on March 19. Nixon will be the first female governor of the state if she wins the election. She would also be the first openly gay person to ever to be elected as governor of a state.
She said that her motivation to run for public office was related to the election of Donald Trump, calling the election a real wake-up call. She went on to say that people who aren't satisfied by the tone of our current leadership in government have to get involved with politics to enact the change that they want to see, saying that is exactly what she is doing.
