Cynthia Nixon: I have a right to run for New York governor

Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon has said that being “unqualified” is a strength in politics and has defended her right to run for New York governor.

The liberal activist and actress announced her candidacy for the position this week, which will see her run against current office holder Andrew Cuomo, her Democratic opponent.

Nixon, who is best known for playing Miranda Hobbes in New York-based show Sex And The City, defended her position as a “celebrity” running for a political role and compared herself to Mr Cuomo, whose father was previously the city’s governor.

She told US Glamour magazine: “Andrew Cuomo is a celebrity politician because he was Mario Cuomo’s son.

“He is in a political celebrity family, and I am in a theatrical celebrity family. He was also a celebrity when he ran. But I don’t know.

“To me, celebrity seems like a distraction.”

Nixon, 51, praised the efforts of the teenagers from Parkland, Florida, who are now pushing for tighter gun control laws following the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17.

“For anybody who is saying to me, ‘What credentials do you have? What right do you have? You’re unqualified,’ look how long our government has been affirming that we have to do something about gun violence,” she said.

“And these teenagers have completely upended the debate on gun violence.

“We talk a lot about outsiders, but sometimes a little naivete is exactly what is needed.”

She added: “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.’”

Nixon earlier this week announced her candidacy and highlighted tackling healthcare, the broken subway and an end to mass incarceration.