Are you a John, a Paul, a George, or a Ringo? A Lila or a Lenu? A Sam or a Frodo? Fitting your personality into a pop culture character has long been a fun, idle pursuit, the fodder for a billion BuzzFeed quizzes. Sex and the City has been a helpful framework, too — especially now, as the next governor of New York might be a Miranda. No, literally: Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda on the long-running HBO show, is reportedly exploring a bid for governor, as reported by The New York Times.
When it comes to political roles, Nixon has a notable fictional resume. She played Nancy Reagan in the 2016 TV movie Killing Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt in the 2005 TV movie Warm Springs, and the fictional Senator Carly Armiston on the Amazon Original show Alpha House. (Alas, Miranda never explored office in the show.) Though she’s best known for her iconic role on Sex and the City, Nixon has long been involved in politics. As a 2013 New York Times article detailed, she has campaigned for Democrats Bill de Blasio, Barack Obama, and Al Franken as well as advocated for the legalization of gay marriage and the preservation of Roe v. Wade. In 2014, de Blasio appointed Nixon to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City advisory board. As of last summer, she is still serving in that capacity.
Nixon, whose wife Christine Marinoni is the former director of the Alliance for Quality Education in New York, has primarily focused her advocacy on improving equity in public education. Currently, she serves as a spokesperson for the organization and has come out as a vocal critic of current governor Andrew Cuomo’s educational policies. In August 2017, Nixon took to The Today Show to address rumors of her gubernatorial aspirations. While she didn’t reveal whether or not she would run, she spoke out against the governor handling of school budgets and the state’s standing as the second least equitable in the nation when it comes to educational spending. “Between our hundred richest schools and our hundred poorest schools, there’s a $10,000 gap on what we spend per pupil,” she said. “That gap now between our richest schools and our poorest schools is wider under Governor Cuomo than it has ever been before, and that’s gotta stop.”
“I think there are a lot of people who would like me to run for a number of reasons but the number one is education.”
This year, Nixon was awarded the Human Rights Campaign’s 2018 Visibility Award. Upon accepting the honor at the organization’s gala, she reportedly called for “better Democrats” and “bluer Democrats” to run for office and address issues of income inequality, further fueling rumors that she would soon be hitting the campaign trail.
Should Nixon choose to enter the race for governor she’ll have a hefty fight ahead of her. A recent Siena College poll found that Cuomo has a 62 percent approval rating among New York voters. Even so, he has yet to be tested against Nixon’s progressive educational goals, clean political record, and downright star power. Now, let the debates ensue: Is Cuomo a Charlotte or a Samantha?
