Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reaching out to moderate Republicans to try to win over their vote in next month’s elections, and his efforts have been bolstered by a new ad featuring Larry Rockefeller.
Rockefeller, the nephew of former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, says in the spot that GOP candidate Rob Astorino is too conservative for New York, and that he favors the mainstream Cuomo in the election.
“I’m a lifelong Republican," says Rockefeller in the ad. “But I cannot support the ultra-conservative Rob Astorino.”
Cuomo, who says he’s proud that Rockefeller agreed to make the ad, says he believes moderate Republicans agree with his mix of fiscal conservatism, like holding state spending growth and property taxes to two percent per year; and social liberalism, including marriage equality; and what the governor calls sensible gun control.
“I want to say to Republicans, ‘don’t be so quick, really look at my record,’” says Cuomo, who also says he worked with moderate Republicans in the Senate to achieve his agenda. “That’s how it happened."
Cuomo says the effort does not conflict with his promise to help the left-leaning Working Families Party engineer a Democratic takeover of the state Senate.
