In her speech Saturday, Cynthia Nixon called on the Democratic Party nationally to pay more attention to income inequality and abandon “the big money interests that fund its campaigns,” before bringing the focus back to New York. | Flickr Cynthia Nixon, potential Cuomo challenger, calls for 'better Democrats' to run in 2018

Actor and activist Cynthia Nixon urged Democrats on Saturday to carve out an identity apart from just opposition to the president and run “bluer Democrats” in 2018, as she herself mulls a primary challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“We have to be more than the anti-Trump party,” she said at the annual Human Rights Campaign Greater New York gala, where she was given the Visibility Award. “In 2018, we don't just need to elect more Democrats, we also need better Democrats.”


Cuomo himself and other New York elected officials also spoke at the prominent LGBTQ group’s event, which was strewn with talk of the Trump administration’s record on LGBTQ issues and the need for Democrats to mobilize in the midterm elections this year.

The HRC endorsed Cuomo’s reelection bid last week, calling him a “national champion” for the LGBTQ community. Nixon, who has not confirmed whether she plans to run against him, has been vocal on gay rights issues as well as education funding, chastising the governor last year for public school spending inequality in New York state.

In her speech Saturday, she called on the Democratic Party nationally to pay more attention to income inequality and abandon “the big money interests that fund its campaigns,” before bringing the focus back to New York.

“If we had bluer Democrats, New York wouldn't have the worst inequality in the country,” she said. “For all the pride that we take here in being such a blue state, New York has the single worst income inequality of any state in the country — how can we know this fact and let it stand without actively working to change it?”

The comments will likely feed speculation that Nixon is challenging Cuomo. They echoed the rhetoric of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has chided Cuomo and the state Senate's Independent Democratic Conference for more or less allowing Republicans to maintain control of the Senate.

Cuomo and other elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), spoke on the urgency of the moment when it comes to LGBTQ issues, and on the undoing of progress made under the Obama administration, particularly when it comes to transgender rights.

"We need to move forward on our equality agenda more aggressively than ever before," Cuomo said. “I will fight, as governor, every action they take to limit individual rights or roll back our progress.”

He cited changes made in New York during his governorship including extending non-discrimination protections to transgender people and making progress toward ending the AIDS epidemic.

He also emphasized the state’s ability to fight back against federal rulings, citing as an example the federal government's decision to rescind an order requiring public schools to respect the gender identities of transgender students.

“The state cannot supersede a federal ruling, but we're not powerless either,” Cuomo said. “And I can tell you that any school that refuses to protect transgender students will not receive a penny of state money.”

Gillibrand, who played an important role in the effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, spoke on new threats under the Trump administration to the ability of transgender people to serve in the military.

"Brace yourselves for the battle ahead. Think about all the overt cases of discrimination that we have seen in this year alone, coming from the federal government and enabled or directed by this White House,” she said.

But she expressed optimism for the midterms and beyond.

"Even with [Trump] in the Oval Office, we can make progress, because with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, we can create the momentum that we need for a new president," she said.