Actress Cynthia Nixon insists her lack of political qualifications is a positive for voters after announcing her plans to challenge Andrew Cuomo for the New York Governor's seat.
The Sex & the City star made her run official at the beginning of the week (19Mar18), drawing mixed reviews from New Yorkers.
Some applauded her for taking a dip in the murky waters of Big Apple politics, while others insisted Cynthia wasn't qualified to run an election campaign and potentially take the state's top job.
In her first in-person interview since announcing her political ambitions, Nixon tells Glamour.com, "We talk a lot about outsiders, but sometimes a little naivete is exactly what is needed.
"With a jaded system everybody says, ‘Yeah, well, that’s the way it is'. You need somebody to come and say, ‘Why? Why is that the way it is?’ Don’t try to tell me that I don’t have a right to stand here and say, ‘I want to be Governor, because I think you’re doing a lousy job. Nobody is talking about the things that you’re not doing, so I am going to do it'."
She's also taking aim at those who believe celebrities should stay out of politics: "Andrew Cuomo is a celebrity politician... He is in a political celebrity family, and I am in a theatrical celebrity family. He was also a celebrity when he ran."
Meanwhile, the actress insists when her critics stop lashing out and actually stop to listen to what she's fighting for, they'll understand she has every reason to run.
"When I’m speaking to people in low-income communities of colour, there are a number of issues that keep popping up: protecting undocumented people, the subways, and a whole host of things. But, by far, the number one issue that keeps coming up is the lack of affordable housing and the tyranny of landlords.
"Our government, particularly in New York state, is so owned by the real estate lobby. Our rent laws have been shredded... (Also) it seems to me that the thing that is happening in the city and the state and this country is this vast gap. We have so much wealth here...
"One per cent of New Yorkers earn 45 times what the other 99 per cent earn combined. I mean, that is a staggering statistic."
