We’ve been covering Cynthia Nixon’s long-shot bid to unseat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo all summer and she certainly made things entertaining. But in the end, the polls were (mostly) correct and the race ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Partly true to her prediction, Nixon actually outperformed the pollsters’ estimates. She was down by 41 in the last Siena survey, but in the end, she only lost by 32. With 99% of precincts reporting, Cuomo held a 64-32 margin, more than doubling Nixon’s support.

So what’s next for these two warriors? At least for Nixon, that remains unclear. As we discussed yesterday, we’ll need to wait and see if she makes good on her promise to clear off of the Working Families Party (WFP) line on the general election ballot, avoiding the prospect of bleeding votes away from Cuomo in his battle with Republican Marc Molinaro. Even if she’s willing to bow out gracefully, the WFP still has a convoluted chore ahead of them, removing a placeholder candidate in the 66th state Assembly District and nominating Nixon for that race instead.

As for Cuomo, assuming the WFP contingency plan goes through, he should easily be able to win a third term as governor. But what then? Our friend Liz Mair has a new piece at the Daily Beast where she speculates that he’s still going to take a run at the 2020 presidential primary. And if he does, he’s one of roughly 300 New Yorkers with plans along those lines. (Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration.)

It took all of half an hour after the polls closed for the AP to call the race, in a result that centrist Democrats and liberals who prioritize experience will find a relief. But it is also a loss for America as a whole, because with Cuomo’s nomination comes his virtually certain re-election, which in turn gives him a platform to run for President in 2020—about the last thing the country needs right now…

Approaching two years into Donald Trump’s presidency, with Hillary Clinton (a converted New Yorker), Rudy Giuliani, the whole Trump clan, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, new Congressional star even before arriving in office Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York born-and-bred Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, New York Sens Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer all prominently on the scene, the country is at risk of New York burnout.

In some ways, I tend to agree with Liz. Cuomo has had his eye on a presidential run for a long time, likely at least in part as some sort of revenge for the way he feels his father was robbed of the opportunity back in the day. But as Mair points out in her article, Cuomo swore off a POTUS run in 2020 during his one debate a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t even use the tired old line about “focusing on his reelection” or the standard “not planning on it at this time.” He did the equivalent of placing his hand over his heart and said, “my only caveat is if God strikes me dead. Otherwise, I will serve four years as governor of the state of New York.”

Is he really going to go back on an oath like that? Particularly in a period when most of the party has moved far to his left and have no interest in another elderly white man as a candidate? That would be one heck of a lie.

Speaking of liars, you probably caught at least some of our coverage of New York state senate candidate Julia Salazar. She was discovered to have fabricated essentially her entire life story as she prepared to run for office. Basically, nothing she told the public of her family, her upbringing, her place of birth, her religion or anything else was true. She made the entire thing up. So she was sunk, right? Don’t be silly. This is New York City we’re talking about. She won it in a walk. (AP)

Democratic socialist Julia Salazar has overcome scrutiny of her personal life and questions about truthfulness to win the Democratic primary for a state Senate seat in Brooklyn.

The 27-year-old first-time candidate defeated state Sen. Martin Dilan on Thursday in New York’s 18th Senate District.

Salazar joins the ranks of hard-left candidates who have ousted mainstream Democrats.

Salazar’s grassroots campaign targeted Dilan for failing to do enough to help the poor or stop gentrification in Brooklyn.

The most hilarious coverage of Salazar’s victory by far came from the Huffington Post, where they were celebrating her victory and describing the jaw-dropping series of lies she told by saying, “While these fibs made headlines, Salazar’s policy platform earned her the enthusiastic grassroots support of the Democratic Socialists of America.”

These fibs? She flatly lied about her entire life. And what was the sin of her opponent? HuffPo described him as a “tainted Incumbent” in the headline, but the 16 year state senator has no scandals or even questionable votes they can point to. Only that he was “too cozy with the real estate lobby.” (Translation: he accepted some campaign contributions from real estate lobbyists.) So the Democrats in Brooklyn showed up in droves to elect a proven liar and self-avowed socialist to represent them.

New York, New York. So nice they say it twice. You really can’t make this stuff up.