The Democratic primary for governor in NY got more interesting today. More political capital was invested in the race. And none of it was for Andrew Cuomo. Which all contributed to this tweet from Joe Mahoney.
I'm hearing from source close to former Gov. Paterson that NY Dem officials & Team @NYGovCuomo are "stunned" by @zephyrteachout surge...
How out of touch can you be when you are backed by a group called
Republicans for Cuomo and you are stunned when real Democrats are excited about having someone else to vote for?
So, about that political capital. Today the Sierra Club endorsed Zephyr Teachout.
Teachout has been great on environmental issues and says she would ban fracking in NY. Amazing how being right on the issues gets you endorsements.
And the New York state chapter of the National Organization for Women also just endorsed Teachout.
If you know anything of NY politics you know that these endorsements were not entered into lightly. Andrew Cuomo is a feared entity in Albany politics. Well, feared by real Democrats who don't support his right wing agenda. The idea that large political organizations would be endorsing someone other than Cuomo in a Democratic primary was absolute crazy talk a few months ago.
If you aren't from NY and don't have a feel for this you might be saying, "Sure, Teachout seems right on all the issues and is getting endorsements but how is she doing in the polls"
Welcome to NY politics. There are no polls for the Democratic primary for governor or Lt. governor. You might ask, "how could that be?" Because people fear Andrew Cuomo and the pollsters (like Siena college) want their government handouts.
Andrew Cuomo helped keep Republicans in power in the New York state senate because it was good for his political ambitions. Andrew Cuomo is backed by very wealthy Republicans. Andrew Cuomo is governor 1%. And yet he and his team are surprised that Democrats in NY would be excited about voting for someone who actually represents their values. Let's hope more of these corporate owned "democrats" get a similar surprise in the near future. And can we mobilize Dailykos to support Teachout and Wu in this effort?
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