FILE - In this combination of file photos, New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, left, speaks during a Democratic primary debate in Hempstead, N.Y., on Aug. 29, 2018, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this combination of file photos, New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, left, speaks during a Democratic primary debate in Hempstead, N.Y., on Aug. 29, 2018, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a press conference in New York on July 18, 2018. Democratic primary voters in New York on Thursday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Democrats across New York state are picking the winner of a long and sometimes nasty primary contest between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and activist and former "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon. 
 
 The outcome of the Democratic primary that got underway on Thursday will likely resonate around the nation, as it is a particularly high-profile example of the insurgent left-wing that is seeking to oust establishment incumbents who they say have failed to deliver on liberal promises. 
 
 Nixon has hammered Cuomo for failing to address New York City's beleaguered subways and for not following through on pledges to address corruption. She's called Cuomo a bully and says she represents a wave of liberals eager to take a greater role in American politics. 
 
 "Together, we can show the entire country that in the era of Donald Trump, New Yorkers will come together and lead our nation forward," Nixon wrote Wednesday evening in a final message to supporters. 
 
 Cuomo has mounted a formidable defense, touting liberal accomplishments such as gun control, free public college tuition and a higher minimum wage. He's spent millions on ads and tried to make the race about Republican President Donald Trump, arguing that he's the best qualified to govern and push back against the White House. In short, the liberal who gets things done. 
 
 "We don't just believe it — we live by it," he told a rally in Buffalo on Tuesday. 
 
 Polls show Cuomo has a commanding lead, with the most recent survey, from Siena College, suggesting he was more than 40 percentage points ahead in the race's final days. Nixon argues that recent upset victories should make anyone cautious about the accuracy of polls. She points to Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary victory over longtime Congressman Joe Crowley as evidence that underdog challengers can defy the odds. 
 
 While he seldom mentions her name, Cuomo has taken her seriously as a political threat. Four years ago he largely ignored primary challenger Zephyr Teachout, refusing even to shake her hand, and lost a third of the vote. This year he's spent millions on ads and, intentionally or not, moved to the left on issues such as legalizing marijuana, banning plastic bags, returning voting rights to former inmates and addressing conditions in New York City public housing. 
 
 The race has featured bitter attacks. Nixon called Cuomo a "bully" and a liar, while Cuomo's campaign has dismissed Nixon as "unhinged." 
 
 Cuomo has also racked up endorsements from a wide assortment of people including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and, on Wednesday, the musician Nicki Minaj. 
 
 Nixon, meanwhile, is hoping several recent missteps by Cuomo and his campaign come back to bite him. 
 
 The governor was mocked for saying America "was never that great" during remarks criticizing Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. 
 
 Cuomo also claimed to have no knowledge of a Democratic Party mailer that questioned Nixon's support for Jewish people — despite Cuomo's control of the party and a recent $2.5 million contribution to its campaign operations. Party Director Geoff Berman later said the mailer was a mistake, and Cuomo's spokeswoman acknowledged that a Cuomo campaign worker was behind the piece. 
 
 The winner of the primary will face Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins and former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, an independent, in the November general election. 
 
 It's possible that no matter who wins, both Cuomo and Nixon could appear on the November ballot anyway, thanks to third-party nominations. New York state law allows candidates to run on multiple ballot lines. 
 
 Cuomo has the nomination of the Independence Party and the Women's Equality Party, while Nixon has been nominated by the Working Families Party — though she has said she will seek to remove her name if she doesn't beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary. 

 That the governor should be hiding from the media on the day before his election is, perhaps, a testament to the series of self-inflicted wounds that have hobbled his campaign. | AP Photo Nixon says Cuomo is 'running scared' ahead of Thursday primary 
 
 NEW YORK — Cynthia Nixon tried to wrap herself in the mantle of political sensation Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the eve of Thursday's closely watched New York gubernatorial primary, while Gov. Andrew Cuomo struggled to institute a media blackout following days of bad press. 
 
 Both candidates focused their energies on New York City Wednesday as the former "Sex and the City" actor aimed to deny Cuomo a third term and pull off the latest long-shot upset of the volatile 2018 campaign cycle. 
 
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 “Polls and, frankly, the media, keep not grasping this progressive moment that we’re in and how hungry voters are for a change,” Nixon said at a Bronx public school as she was joined by the 28-year-old Democratic socialist who vanquished Queens County Democratic boss Rep. Joe Crowley earlier this year. 
 
 Reporters seeking to cover Cuomo were left to their own devices — his campaign didn't tell the media about rallies he held in Westchester, the Bronx and Manhattan. (The Cuomo camp ultimately appeared to succumb to media pressure, alerting reporters to a 7 p.m. rally in Brooklyn.) 
 
 That Cuomo should be hiding from the media on the day before his election is, perhaps, a testament to the series of self-inflicted wounds that have hobbled his campaign in recent days — from the botched opening of the new Tappan Zee Bridge, which he had named for his father, to his campaign’s involvement in the distribution of campaign literature implying, without evidence, that Nixon is anti-Semitic. 
 
 Cuomo’s pre-election day hiding is “a weird approach, but not necessarily a dumb one,” said one Democratic consultant. “He’s not forced to defend their ever-changing answers on the mailer and bridge and he can stage-manage things without incoming from reporters. They probably would rather be mocked on Twitter for hiding than make anymore unforced errors.” 
 
 And mocked they were, by reporters on Twitter, and also by Nixon herself. 
 
 “The fact that he seems to be in hiding the day before the election — yeah, I think he’s running scared,” said Nixon in the Bronx. “He’s made some really bad mistakes in the last few days.” 
 
 But even though the optics of the past several days may be awkward for Cuomo, it’s not clear how much they matter. 
 
 Public polling has Cuomo up by more than 40 points, and he’s got most of the state’s institutional support behind him. Nixon, meanwhile, has struggled to explain why she is qualified for the job, an issue that helped her lose the support of both The New York Times and comedian Amy Schumer. 
 
 “I wanted to vote Nixon, but sadly, i don’t believe she would know what the heck to do,” said Schumer on Instagram Tuesday. 
 
 At the public school in the Bronx on Wednesday, Nixon wore a gray pinstriped suit, blue loafers and an air of confidence. 
 
 “I am going to win tomorrow,” she said. “I think there is going to be a great surprise in Albany and across the state.” 
 
 Cuomo’s camp insisted otherwise. 
 
 “Cuomo wins by 35 points,” former Cuomo aide Steven Cohen, general counsel at Ron Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes, predicted." I think if it rains, that number goes down." 
 
 Hunter College political science professor Kenneth Sherrill — most definitely not a Cuomo supporter — also thinks Cuomo will win. 
 
 “As a homosexual and a Jew, my motto is vote for the homo not for Cuomo,” Sherrill said, inverting the “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo” slogan deployed by supporters of Mario Cuomo in his 1977 mayoral primary against Ed Koch. (The Cuomos claimed to have had nothing to do with the slogan.) 
 
 The question, Sherrill says, is the size of Cuomo’s win, and whether Nixon will outperform Fordham law professor and current state Attorney General candidate Zephyr Teachout, who won a third of the Democratic primary vote when she primaried Cuomo in 2014. 
 
 “If Cuomo doesn’t beat her more handily, I think that that weakens him in the state ... but it also weakens him in the nation,” Sherrill said. “If he is going to be running for president, he should be able to carry the primary in his home state handily.” 

 The slimy mailer that sought to link Cynthia Nixon to anti-Semitism was drafted and approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s closest advisers, including former top aide Larry Schwartz, sources told The Post Wednesday. 
 
 The revelations come five days since the mailer — paid by the state Democratic Party — hit 7,000 mailboxes in Jewish neighborhoods. 
 
 Cuomo has adamantly denied he had anything to do with the smear. 
 
 But sources said one of his longtime confidants was deeply involved. 
 
 “Schwartz was very involved with the mailer and signed off on it,” a Democratic source said, describing the aide as a “henchman” and “enforcer.” 
 
 The source added: “It obviously blew up.” 
 
 The Cuomo campaign released a statement largely confirming The Post’s reporting. 
 
 “Larry Schwartz who serves on our campaign in a volunteer capacity was reviewing mail pieces in an ad hoc fashion, but he only saw the positive section of the mailer and never saw the negative section,” said Cuomo campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith. 
 
 “Had he seen it, it would have never gone out.” 
 
 Schwartz and Cuomo go back decades. The pair worked together on Mario Cuomo’s failed bid to win a fourth term in 1994. 
 
 In 2011, Cuomo named Schwartz as secretary, a title that dramatically undersells the power invested in the position as the top aide in the executive office. 
 
 He also served in the same role for Cuomo’s predecessor, David Patterson. 
 
 Schwartz has remained closely tied to Cuomo since leaving the governor’s office in 2015. Cuomo appointed him to the board of the MTA, where he has served as the governor’s enforcer. 
 
 “We all know that Larry is the person closest to the governor and he doesn’t do anything without the Cuomo’s knowledge,” said a transit source. “It’s similar to a criminal cartel where they only communicate verbally to a handful of trusted people, of which Larry is one.” 
 
 Schwartz is also a top executive at OTG, a concessions company that has contracts with airlines that operate at city airports. 
 
 And, he has been a top adviser to Cuomo’s reelection campaign this year, to the point of distraction from his MTA duties. 
 
 “Schwartz has been much less involved with the MTA this summer as he’s shifted his focus to Cuomo’s campaign,” an agency source confirmed. “He was even in the room to help the incumbent prepare for his one debate against Nixon.” 
 
 see also Nixon demands Democratic Party denounce Cuomo after 'smear' job Cynthia Nixon demanded Wednesday that the national Democratic Party denounce... 
 
 The Cuomo campaign named a longtime staffer, David Lobl, as the actual author of the mailer. 
 
 However, Democratic sources told the Post that Lobl was tasked with digging into allegations that Nixon was anti-Semitic, but ultimately disproved them. 
 
 Lobl is the “fall guy,” said a source. “The real story is the campaign did this.” 
 
 Two other sources confirmed that Lobl — who spent nearly six years as a “Special Assistant to the Governor” — was formerly in charge of outreach to New York’s politically important Jewish communities. 
 
 While he left Cuomo’s office in May to join a lobbying firm, he remains linked to Cuomo-world. 
 
 “He’s still going to campaign meetings,” a well-placed Democrat confirmed. 
 
 Additional reporting by Danielle Furfaro 

 The mailer moves a bit closer to Cuomo, who still says he knew nothing about it. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images 
 
 When controversy erupted over a mailer sent by the New York Democratic Party on the eve of Rosh Hashanah that misrepresented Cynthia Nixon’s views on Israel and accused her of ignoring anti-Semitism, Governor Andrew Cuomo denied knowing anything about the false attack on his primary opponent, calling it “inappropriate” and a “mistake.” 
 
 “I didn’t know about the mailer; I heard about the mailer, I haven’t seen the mailer,” Cuomo said at a press conference on Sunday. 
 
 On Tuesday the New York Post cast doubt on Cuomo’s claimed ignorance, revealing that one of his top campaign aides was shopping a story about Nixon’s Nixon’s alleged support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement just a day before the mailer went out to 7,000 households. 
 
 Now the New York Times reports that the flier was drafted and approved by two men with close ties to Cuomo. David Lobl, a former special assistant to Cuomo who is now a campaign volunteer, sent the language to two campaign aides, who created the mailer. The paper obtained an email from Lobl dated September 1 that had wording which appeared almost verbatim in the finished product. Per the Times: 
 
 It reads: 
 
 “CN doesn’t want to fund yeshivas 
 
 CN is pro-BDS 
 
 CN has been silent on anti-Semetisim” 
 
 Mr. Lobl, who acted as a liaison to the Jewish community when he worked for Mr. Cuomo, declined to comment. 
 
 It is common for such liaisons to draft talking points and other material for campaigns. In the emails, Mr. Lobl went on to suggest that the flier include a photograph of the governor with President Reuven Rivlin of Israel, which appeared on the front side of the flier. The email also includes mentions of the governor’s accomplishments on Jewish causes, which were also detailed on the flier. 
 
 Why is the New York State Democratic Party paying for a mailer that falsely accuses Cynthia Nixon of supporting BDS? This is a shameful smear, @nydems. pic.twitter.com/mvOpIg4cNI — Abe Silberstein (@abesilbe) September 8, 2018 
 
 The flier was then approved by Larry Schwartz, another campaign volunteer who was formerly Cuomo’s top lieutenant. 
 
 Cuomo campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith confirmed Lobl and Schwartz’s involvement in the creation of the mailer, but said Schwartz only noticed the remarks about Cuomo’s record on Jewish issues, not the false Nixon attacks on the other side. 
 
 “Larry Schwartz, who serves on our campaign in a volunteer capacity, was reviewing mail pieces in an ad hoc fashion, but he only saw the positive section of the mailer and never saw the negative section,” Smith said. “Had he seen it, it would have never gone out. We have said all along that the mailer was inappropriate and a mistake and have worked with the state party to change the approval process going forward to ensure this never happens again.” 
 
 Schwartz, who is Jewish, told the paper that he was very upset by the flier. 
 
 “I would have never approved that mailer to go out had I seen it in its totality,” he said. “It was totally inappropriate.” 
 
 While a state Democratic Party official said earlier in the week that it would let Nixon send out a mailer of her choosing to the same population, her campaign manager, Rebecca Katz, told Gothamist, “there’s been no formal offer,” and they received no response to their request for a robocall denouncing the flier’s incorrect claims. 
 
 On Wednesday, the eve of New York’s primary, Cuomo seemed to be avoiding the media, failing to alert the press to rallies in Westchester, the Bronx and Manhattan (they finally got a heads up about an evening rally in Brooklyn). Nixon mocked Cuomo’s attempt to maintain a low profile as she campaigned with progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 
 
 “The fact that he seems to be in hiding the day before the election — yeah, I think he’s running scared,” Nixon said in the Bronx. “He’s made some really bad mistakes in the last few days.” 
 
 While it certainly seems that Nixon has Cuomo rattled, it appears he has little to worry about in Thursday’s vote. The latest poll has him beating Nixon by 41 points.
– One of the most high-profile primary races in the nation will be decided by voters in New York on Thursday: Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon's long-shot bid to prevent Andrew Cuomo from winning a third term as governor. As Politico notes, Nixon is hoping to pull off an upset like that of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow New Yorker who stunned the political world with her congressional primary victory. But the AP reports that polls show Cuomo with a comfortable lead, including one out of Siena College putting him up 40 points in the final week. Nixon's camp, however, is buoyed by two new perceived missteps by the Cuomo campaign, involving a controversial mailer and the opening of a new bridge, and she said Wednesday that Cuomo is "running scared" and largely avoiding the media as a result. The controversial mailer from the Democratic Party went out to Jewish neighborhoods, misrepresenting Nixon's views on Israel and accusing her of being "silent" on anti-Semitism, reports New York. The party has since called it a mistake, and while Cuomo has disavowed any knowledge, the New York Post reports that a close ally drafted it. On the bridge, Cuomo has been accused of pressuring officials to finish a replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge ahead of the primary. The new span, named for his father, opened this week after the Cuomo administration offered "sweeteners," reports the New York Times. The opening, however, had to be delayed a few days at the last minute because of safety concerns. One sour note for Nixon: A fellow celeb bailed on her: "I wanted to vote Nixon, but sadly, i don’t believe she would know what the heck to do," wrote Amy Schumer.