There's no question that Zephyr Teachout exceeded expectations by holding Governor Andrew Cuomo to ~60% of the vote in the New York State Democratic Primary, by getting around 35% of the vote and 24 counties. It was pointed out that if every registered Democrat had turned out in Albany county and voted for her, she would have won the primary.
While that would of course reflect the small size of the overall turnout, it still shows that primaries are where progressives need to show up to make a difference, both by running and turning out to vote. There have been those who disparaged the effort as ultimately futile, saying that only winning counts, and since Cuomo won, he'll conclude he can ignore the base while he cruises on to the General Election in November.
Or maybe not.
An email Teachout sent out to supporters to thank them included the following points:
• This week, for the first time ever--in a campaign stop--Governor Cuomo talked about income inequality and why it is a critical issue.
• Because of this campaign, Andrew Cuomo has promised to back Democrats for the State Senate and pass a comprehensive public campaign finance system. We can continue to use our voices to hold him to that promise.
• Andrew Cuomo was boasting in campaign literature that he had increased school funding.
• Tuesday, at the polling booth, after years of silence, Andrew Cuomo promised to visit a Pennsylvania fracking site. We can continue to use our voices to hold him to that promise.
• We made cable mergers and monopolization a campaign issue.
• Because of our campaign, Governor Cuomo is now actively campaigning on the Dream Act and has said he will put his full weight behind it. This commitment would not have happened without our campaign.
• We held the line that we will not compromise on a woman’s right to choose. Governor Cuomo has followed our lead and committed to actually fight to win the full 10 point plan. We can continue to use our voices to hold him to that promise.
• We took an unequivocal stance in support of marijuana decriminalization. In response to our campaign, Governor Cuomo has committed that he too will support marijuana decriminalization.
Will Cuomo remember after November? His past behavior shows he is not above breaking promises, but he's on record and perhaps more important, these issues are out there in a way not shaped entirely by him. It wouldn't have happened without the campaign by Teachout and Wu. And, the final vote was even more impressive considering Cuomo is an incumbent with high name recognition and a huge war chest. By normal reckoning, Teachout should have been total road kill.
Maybe it's not a win - but it's certainly a start.