Activist and actress-turned-gubernatorial candidateCynthia Nixon lost her highly publicized bid for New York governor on Thursday night, with her opponent and incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo cinching about 65 percent of votes.
Despite the defeat, Nixon left her supporters with a rousing concession speech, in which she urged progressives to continue fighting for change and pushing for equality in New York and across the rest of the country.
“This is not a time to settle for the way things are, or sit back and hope for things to change,” she said. “This is a time to fight. As long as New York remains the single most unequal state in the country, we will keep fighting.”
Nixon had positioned herself as a progressive alternative to Cuomo and promised to change the status quo. Had she won, the former Sex and The City star would have been the state’s first female and openly gay governor, and her platform included championing LGBTQ causes, as well as solutions for racial and economic injustice.
In a statement to Glamour after announcing her candidacy, she explained how the election of Donald Trump was a “wake-up” call to women who have launched political campaigns this year in unprecedented numbers.
“I’ve been humbled and inspired by the thousands of women who are running for office for the first time. And today, I am honored to join their ranks,” she said.
Nixon, like recent progressive candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had pledged not to take any corporate campaign money and eventually secured a record number of small donors that helped her pull 30 percent of votes. She ended up raising about $2.5 million—just a fraction of the $25 million Cuomo reportedly spent on television ads and mailers, according to the New York Times. Buzzfeed reported that Cuomo’s spending per day was almost the same amount of Nixon’s total.
In her speech on Thursday, Nixon praised the gains her campaign had made despite being up against Cuomo’s hefty budget, and said she was inspired rather than discouraged.
“Before a single vote was cast, we have already won. We have fundamentally changed the political landscape in this state,” she said. “This campaign changed expectations about what is possible in New York state.”
She also evoked the achievements of recent progressive candidates, such as Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, who have toppled long-standing incumbents and represent a new era of progressive politics. She urged Democrats to “stand for something” and take back the party while encouraging a new generation to keep pushing forward.
“This is an incredible moment for progressives, but it is not just a moment. it is a movement, and this movement is only growing stronger… To all the young people. To all the young women. To all the young queer people who reject the gender binary. Soon you’ll be standing here, and when it’s your turn, you’ll win,” she said.
MORE: With Letitia James’ Primary Win, New York Could See Its First Black Female Attorney General
