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De Blasio: Some of Cuomo's Counterpoints at Debate Were a 'Little Desperate'

August 30, 2018

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D.) said on Thursday that he found some of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D.) counterpoints at Wednesday's gubernatorial debate a "little desperate."

Cuomo sparred Wednesday night with his primary opponent, former "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon. Nixon has criticized the governor as not being progressive and governing as a Republican.

"Morning Joe" anchor Mika Brzezinski asked the mayor, who has said Nixon could "unquestionably" beat Cuomo, about the debate and if he was concerned the race has become too negative.

"The Democratic primary for governor has gotten kind of spicy. Andrew Cuomo accused Cynthia Nixon of being a phony who concealed her tax returns. I don't think that's true," Brzezinski said. "And that she would run the state into a debt-driven chaos. So I guess two questions. Would Cynthia Nixon be a good governor for the state of New York and are you concerned that the race has gotten too negative?"

De Blasio noted he has not publicly endorsed anyone in the Democratic primary race before going on to praise Nixon–both as a person and candidate–and take a shot at Cuomo.

"Well, first of all, I have not made a public endorsement in this race and it is something I'm still looking at. But there's no question in my mind Cynthia Nixon is an extraordinary human being, activist who has made a huge impact, particularly in terms of education and fairness for our children," De Blasio responded. "I thought she more than held her own last night in the debate. I thought she got a lot of very powerful ideas out and a lot of very powerful critiques out. And I found some of the governor's counterpoints a little desperate, honestly, the notion of calling her a corporation, that sounded like the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court the -- the corporation is a person."

The mayor and the governor have an ugly ongoing feud that has sometimes boiled over in public view.

"Look, I think the bottom line here is just like we've been talking about, this race is unpredictable here in New York. There's a lot going on on the ground and there's a lot of people who are thinking very independently. And anyone who thinks they know where this is going is not watching what's happening in current politics," de Blasio added.