Cynthia Nixon’s campaign has accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of being “sexist” by seeking debates in rooms with the temperature turned down.
Rebecca Katz, Nixon’s strategist, asked debate officiator CBS in an email to set the debate hall at Hofstra University on Long Island at 76 degrees because Cuomo is “notoriously sexist when it comes to room temperature, so we just want to make sure we’re all on the same page here,” according to the New York Times.
Cuomo, 60, is known for holding previous debates in frigid temperatures. In anticipation for that, Katz made a high bid to see if the media company could not find a middle ground between the two politicians.
Nixon, 52, challenged Cuomo to a debate in May, but the incumbent made big demands as to the conditions he expected if he were to show up. His team has not publicly shared the temperature it wants the room to be the night of the debate, but previously it has sought frigid temperatures.
“CBS was very frank with us that they really didn’t have a choice — that these were his demands and if they were not acceded to, he wouldn’t show up,” Nixon said in August.
[Also read: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: America ‘was never that great’]
Among those demands is a seated format instead of the standard standing pose behind a podium.
“This time we were finally given the opportunity to debate but only by his rules, including no handshake,” Katz said.
Cuomo’s spokeswoman Lis Smith told the New York Times the accusations of sexism are being drummed up from nothing.
“Unlike Cynthia Nixon, the Governor has more important things to focus on than the temperature of a room,” Smith said in a statement to the Examiner.
Cuomo is running for a third four-year term as the top state leader.
[Opinion: Cynthia Nixon, thermostat warrior]
