Democrats Pick Cuomo, Hochul, and James in State Primary Action

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo handily won the Democratic Primary against Cynthia Nixon, as expected, with 64.4 percent of the vote as of 12:08 a.m., while Nixon garnered 33.9 percent.
In other state polling, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul held off a robust challenge by Jummane Williams. As of just past midnight, Hochul was leading Williams by 48.4 percent to 42.4 percent.
The State Attorney General’s race, which was thought to be the most closely contested, had, as of midnight, Letitia James leading with 38.5 percent, followed by Zephyr Teachout with 29.7 perecent. Third was Sean Patrick Maloney with 23.9 percent and Leecia Eve tallied 3.3 percent.
In Chautauqua County, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s candidate James Quattrone easily won the Conservative Party primary over incumbent Sheriff Joseph Gerace. For more on this see the report from WNYNewsNow’s Matt Hummel.
Nixon was never closer than 20 percent in the polling. She conceded the race, but praised her efforts.
“Thank you all for believing and fighting and leaving it all on the field. We started something here in New York, and it doesn’t end today,” Nixon tweeted on Twitter after the loss. “This is just the beginning. And I know that together, we will win this fight.”
Speculation remains as to what Nixon’s roughly 508,000 supporters will do. Reports are that Nixon could endorse another candidate, such as Libertarian Larry Sharpe, or the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins. It is unlikely that all her votes will return to Cuomo and very likely that none will poll with his GOP opponent Marc Molinaro.
In Chautauqua County, Cuomo won 64-35, just about exactly as the rest of the state. County Democrats also endorsed Hochul 78-22.
The county’s Democrats, however, saw the Attorney General race in a much different light than the rest of the state party. Maloney easily won the county with 50 percent. Teachout was second with 28 percent. Winner James finished third with 15 percent and Eve received about 6 percent.
The Democrats were not the only primary voters in action Thursday, with Nancy Sliwa winning the Reform Party nomination for Attorney General with about 39 percent to Mike Diedrich’s 17 percent and 17 percent for Christopher Garvey.