Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has announced she is launching a bid for New York governor in the upcoming Democratic primary.
Cynthia Nixon Photo: AFP
The actress and liberal activist said in her campaign launch video: "I love New York. I've never wanted to live anywhere else, but something has to change."
The video, which shows Nixon, 51, at home with her wife, Christine Marinoni, and their young son Max, also addresses income inequality.
"Our leaders are letting us down," Ms Nixon says in the video. "We are the most unequal state in the entire country, with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty."
She has long championed access to quality education in New York, and said she would also campaign on on healthcare, ending mass incarceration and fixing New York's broken subway.
Her campaign sets up a battle for the 13 September primary between a celebrity on the left of the Democratic Party and a moderate governor who is often mentioned as a possible presidential hopeful in 2020.
Mr Cuomo, 60, the son of late New York Governor Mario Cuomo, is seeking his third term. The general election takes place on 6 November. If successful in both the primary and general elections, Ms Nixon would become New York's first female and first openly gay governor.
Ms Marinoni, an LGBTQ advocate, worked for Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio until she resigned a month ago.
The couple both contributed financially to his mayoral race.
Ms Nixon is aligned with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat who is politically to the left of Mr Cuomo. The two men have feuded over issues such as public transit and housing in the nation's largest city.
Mr Cuomo has dismissed concerns about potential challengers in the Democratic primary this September. I'm not nervous about whoever runs," the governor said last week. "There'll be people who run. That's called elections, and that's fine."
A survey conducted by New York's Siena College before Ms Nixon's public announcement shows Mr Cuomo leading Democrats by 66 percent to Ms Nixon's 19 percent. Word of a potential Nixon campaign was first reported by NY1 television on 6 March.
Ms Nixon starred in the HBO television series from 1998 to 2004 about four women in New York City, playing the part of attorney Miranda Hobbes. The show later led to two feature films. She is also a Tony Award-winning stage actress.
- BBC / Reuters