In Defeat, Teachout and Wu Say 'We Made History'

At the end of the night, the 2014 gubernatorial Democratic primary did not bring many surprises.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his running mate Kathy Hochul won in the primary over Democratic gubernatorial challenger Zephyr Teachout and her running mate Tim Wu, as was expected.

Teachout conceded the race, but still declared her campaign a larger victory for the Democratic Party and the state. The Fordham University professor had a fraction of the campaign war chest Cuomo sports and entered the race with almost no name recognition.

While Cuomo held a comfortable lead in the gubernatorial race with 61.9 percent of the vote, Teachout still received 34.4 percent of Democratic votes, with 98 percent of precincts reporting. Even more interesting, Teachout beat Cuomo in 30 counties and most of them were in rural upstate areas.

Wu had a closer race with Hochul, having received 40.2 percent of the vote against her 59.8 percent of the vote, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

“We have made history. What we have done here is incredible,” Teachout told the crowd of supporters at her after-election party in Manhattan. “This campaign demonstrates the rise of a new force in New York politics and American politics. It’s a fearless force.”

Certainly, Teachout and Wu’s campaign results may demonstrate the discontent of many liberals in the state feel about Cuomo, but it was not enough to unseat the governor.

Teachout’s name was proposed by the Working Families Party as a more liberal alternative when the organization debated whether they would endorse Cuomo in the gubernatorial election. Many members were unhappy with Cuomo and what they considered his failure to push a more progressive agenda. After making several concessions, Cuomo in the end received the party’s endorsement, but Teachout decided to challenge the governor on her own.

Teachout boasted her campaign forced Cuomo to help orchestrate the breakup of the Independent Democratic Conference so the Democrats can take control of the state Senate, to create the Women’s Equality Party and led to his announcement that he will visit a Pennsylvania hydraulic fracturing site.

 “This campaign is only the beginning of a campaign about fighting back,” Teachout said. “We have to be very clear with our elected officials in Albany—including the governor, the senators, the members of the Assembly—that we are not going away. Our agenda is not going away. We’re not just voting, we are organizing, we are grassroots lobbying and we are holding our elected officials’ feet to the fire.”

After her speech, Teachout dodged questions about whether she would run again, but her and Wu’s message is clear that they will not quietly fade from the limelight.

“[These primary election results are] nothing,” Wu joked. “Just think of what we can do when we really start to get our act together and get organized.”