Democratic New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio praised Cynthia Nixon on Thursday after her highly anticipated debate with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid their fight to become the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 2018.
“I thought she more than held her own last night in the debate,” De Blasio said during an interview on MSNBC. “I thought she got a lot of very powerful ideas out and a lot of very powerful critiques out. And I found some of the governor’s counterpoints a little desperate.”
De Blasio, who is yet to endorse a candidate ahead of the state party’s primary on Sept. 13, cited Cuomo’s criticism of Nixon for releasing five years worth of returns Friday, for making them available to reporters for only a few hours, and for filing her taxes as a corporation, which is typical of actors.
[Also read: Cynthia Nixon campaign: Andrew Cuomo ‘sexist’ by trying to freeze debate hall]
“I think the bottom line here is just like we’ve been talking about, this race is unpredictable,” De Blasio said. “There’s a lot going on on the ground, and there’s a lot of people who are thinking very independently, and anyone who thinks they know where this is going is not watching what is happening in current politics.”
Cuomo and Nixon clashed Wednesday night during an hourlong debate at Hofstra University over topics ranging from New York City’s subway network to allegations of corruption by Cuomo during his past two terms leading the state.
“Can you stop interrupting?” Cuomo said at one point.
“Can you stop lying?” Nixon hit back.
“Yeah, as soon as you do,” the governor retorted.
Nixon, who has already secured New York Working Families Party’s gubernatorial nomination, trails behind Cuomo among Democratic voters in most polls.
Republicans named Marcus Molinaro as their nominee following their party convention in May.
