ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon has cited the exclusion of a black female legislative leader from state budget negotiations in Albany as an example of where the Democratic Party needs to improve when it comes to promoting women leaders.

During the “Sex and the City” star’s first national television interview aired Wednesday on “The Wendy Williams Show,” Nixon called black women the “cornerstone” and “backbone” of the Democratic Party.

But Nixon added that black women “are going to stop showing up for the Democratic Party if the Democratic Party doesn’t show up for them.”

Her comment came after she mentioned that Andrea Stewart-Cousins, leader of mainstream Democrats in the state Senate, wasn’t included in weeks of closed-door talks that led up to last Sunday’s passage of the budget.

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