Gov. Andrew Cuomo, center, with Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, right, and Tish James, left, at a rally in Harlem one day before the primary elections. All three candidates won nominations in the primary election.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has defeated insurgent challenger Cynthia Nixon in Thursday’s primary election to claim the Democratic nomination for governor in New York.
A total of 1.51 million Democrats voted in the New York State primary elections. Nearly 65 percent of them voted for Cuomo. He easily defeated Nixon with a 30 percentage point lead. But in some counties, Nixon was victorious against the incumbent.
Nixon narrowly won in Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Montgomery, Otsego, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties.
In Lewis, Rensselaer, Schoharie and Tompkins counties, Nixon won by nearly 10 percentage points.
The race was close in Herkimer, Jefferson, Oswego, St. Lawrence, and Ulster counties where Nixon lost by about one percentage point.
Downstate, Nixon couldn’t compete against Cuomo. In some counties like Westchester and Richmond, Nixon only had around 25 percent of the vote.
Cuomo lost in Greene and Washington counties by nearly eight percent, or almost 200 votes in each county.
In the Bronx, Cuomo won by more than 80,000 votes, or 60 percent.
The two-term governor’s lead over Nixon increased in the days leading up to the primaries. Cuomo led Nixon 63-to-22 percent, up from 60-to-29 percent from July, according to a Siena College poll of likely Democratic primary voters.
Gov. Cuomo will face Republican candidate Marc Molinaro in the general election on Nov. 6.
