Cynthia Nixon Will Challenge Andrew Cuomo in New York Governor Race

To the growing list of celebrity politicians, we can now add actor Cynthia Nixon—most famous for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City. Nixon registered her campaign, and kicked it off in earnest with the video below, which issues a direct challenge to her primary opponent Andrew Cuomo:

“Our leaders are letting us down,” Nixon says in voiceover. “We are now the most unequal state in the country.”

Nixon, who is gay, emerged as a political figure to be contend with in early February, after a fiery speech at a Human Rights Campaign gala in New York, where she spoke not only of the attack on LGBT citizens, minorities, and immigrants, but of the need for Democrats to offer a stronger alternative to Trumpism, and not simply to believe that being polite would be enough. “Now is a time to stick our necks out,” she said. “We have to be more than the anti-Trump party. In 2018, we don’t just need to elect more Democrats, we also need better Democrats.”

Nixon’s campaign will be managed by the same consultant who worked on Bill de Blasio’s 2013 mayoral campaign. Zephyr Teachout, who ran an unsuccessful but motivating campaign against Cuomo in 2014, will serve as her treasurer. Defeating Cuomo will be a tall task—he is seen as an entrenched figure in New York, and even has presidential ambitions. Unsurprisingly, he holds a huge lead in (very early) polling against Nixon. However, she may have energy on her side—Cuomo has been under fire from some Democrats of late due to allegations of corruption, and coziness with state congressional Republicans.

In response to the news, a spokesman for Cuomo’s campaign threw a little shade Nixon’s way: “It’s great that we live in a democracy where anyone can run for office.”