New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has beaten Cynthia Nixon in New York’s Democratic gubernatorial primary election.

Nixon, an education activist and star of Sex and the City, made a spirited challenge to Cuomo, who has won the right to ask for a third term as governor of New York as the Democratic candidate.

Although her campaign was not victorious, Nixon’s bid energised a new base of supporters. In the aftermath of the result, she tried to put a more optimistic spin on her loss.

I'm not discouraged, I'm inspired, and I hope you are too. Before a single vote was cast, we already won.

BuzzFeed News has reported that Cuomo’s campaign spent nearly the same amount per day that the Nixon campaign had raised in total. Considering powerful endorsements for Cuomo from establishment figures including former vice president Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and party chairman Tom Perez, Nixon’s campaign was always facing an uphill struggle.

Yet Nixon’s progressive campaign does appear to have impacted Cuomo’s agenda. Cuomo proposed a ban on plastic bags, announced that he intends to restore voting rights to prisoners and became more open to the idea of legalising marijuana. He also took a harder stance on Donald Trump, after previously avoiding public criticisms of the president.

Ending her campaign, which centred on healthcare, fixing the subway and ending mass incarceration, Nixon gave an inspiring speech to friends and supporters. She later tweeted excerpts of the speech to her 240,000 followers.

Cheers to that.

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