Things quickly went downhill in the first gubernatorial debate between incumbent New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, who is competing for the Democratic Party nomination.
“Can you stop interrupting?” a visibly frustrated Cuomo asked Nixon on Wednesday night. “Can you please stop interrupting? Can you please do that?” Nixon retorted, “If you stop lying, I will stop interrupting.”
At another point in the debate, Nixon asked Cuomo, “Can you stop lying?” The governor said, “Yeah, as soon as you do.”
During the debate, held at Hofstra University on Long Island, Cuomo accused Nixon of calling in favors to New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, suggesting that she did so for her former castmate Sarah Jessica Parker. (Nixon is close with DeBlasio.)
Nixon vociferously protested when Cuomo accused her of supporting Michael Bloomberg for governor, saying only that she would not have run if he were in office.
When Nixon accused Cuomo of being a “corporate Democrat,” he replied, “The only corporate Democrat on the stage is my opponent.”
Nixon advocated during the debate for single-payer health care, a policy that Cuomo suggested he would not completely support.
Cuomo attempted to nationalize the primary competition, saying, “The problem is Trump. … We need to stand up to Trump.”
The two will face off at the ballot box on Sept. 13.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter