A viral Internet video shows gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout at the New York City Labor Day parade. Teachout, a Fordham University law professor, approaches Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom she is facing in a Democratic Party primary. The challenger tries to shake Cuomo”™s hand but he ignores her ”“ a gesture that encapsulated the governor”™s primary campaign strategy.
Cuomo didn”™t debate or engage Teachout and even avoided mentioning her by name throughout the campaign, an approach from a well-funded and heavily favored incumbent who stood to gain little from acknowledging the primary.
Cuomo secured the Democratic Party line Tuesday night, with a primary election victory over Teachout, who started the campaign as a political unknown but still took more than one-third of the total vote. Cuomo will go on to face Republican nominee Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, in the November general election.
With 98 percent of districts reporting, Cuomo led Teachout 59.9 percent to 33 percent, with a third candidate, Randy Credico, netting a little more than 3 percent of the vote. Few expected Teachout”™s campaign to contend for victory but her surprisingly pronounced support accentuated a rift between Cuomo and the left-leaning wing of the state Democratic Party.
Although Teachout had lost, the mood of her concession speech on primary night was celebratory. “What we have done here is incredible,” she told supporters , who welcomed her with chants of “thank you.” “You created a courageous and marvelous campaign waged against all odds.”
Teachout and her running mate, lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Tim Wu, called the result historic. Pending official results, Teachout had one of the strongest showings for a primary challenger against an incumbent governor since the 1970s. The candidate tapped into some displeasure with the governor stemming from liberal members of the Democratic Party. Teachout was able to net the endorsement of several state labor groups and also tapped into the anti-fracking movement. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a form of mining natural gas that is under a moratorium in New York, is a much-debated issue that Cuomo has yet to take a stand on.
Despite what many viewed as a protest vote against Cuomo in the primary, in context the result likely does not mean a seismic shift in control of the party nor does it put a dent in the governor”™s re-election chances and potential presidential aspirations. Only about 10 percent of registered Democrats voted in the primary and despite it representing the first major political hurdle for Cuomo, the governor and his running mate”™s victory signaled that the establishment candidate remained popular among his voter base.
A scandal in which the governor interfered with and then prematurely disbanded a state ethics commission has not caught the imagination of voters, and polls have shown that large portions of the public are either not aware or not interested in the questions over corruption. The discontented liberal wing of the party is also unlikely to cross over the aisle and vote for Republican Astorino, who is pro-Second Amendment and leans right on issues such as abortion.
Kathy Hochul, candidate for lieutenant governor and Cuomo”™s handpicked running mate, won with 55 percent of the vote over Wu, who took 37 percent. Hochul, a former U.S. congresswoman from the Buffalo region, faced criticisms from the liberal wing of the party for several positions on issues, including what it viewed as a soft stance on gun control.
Wu, a Columbia University law professor, was buoyed by an endorsement from The New York Times, though a late surge in profile did not put him over the hump in the vote. The last time a governor/lieutenant governor bill split was in the 1980s, when former Westchester County Executive Alfred DelBello won a primary for lieutenant governor but his running mate for governor, Ed Koch, lost to incumbent Mario Cuomo. DelBello eventually resigned from the position after winning the general election with Cuomo.
Current Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy decided not to seek re-election.
