Cuomo Defeats Teachout, Liberal Rival, in the Democratic Primary

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York claimed the Democratic nomination for a second term on Tuesday, but at a considerable price: A liberal challenger with little money or name recognition, Zephyr Teachout, was on track to receive about a third of the vote, a signal of the potent dissatisfaction with Mr. Cuomo in his party’s left wing.

Mr. Cuomo avoided what could have been a more damaging blow to his prestige, as his choice for lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, a former congresswoman from Buffalo, soundly defeated Ms. Teachout’s running mate, Tim Wu.

In a statement on Tuesday night, the governor congratulated Ms. Teachout and Mr. Wu, who are both law professors, “on running a spirited campaign, engaging in the democratic process and having the courage to make their voices heard.”

Mr. Cuomo now heads into the November general election in a strong position, facing a little-known conservative opponent in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one.

“New York is on its way to reclaiming its place as a model for the nation and the world,” Mr. Cuomo said in his statement. “We must not turn back now.”

With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Cuomo had 60.7 percent of the vote, compared with 35.5 percent for Ms. Teachout.

Though she ran her campaign on a shoestring and with scarcely any organizational support, Ms. Teachout was on pace to record the strongest challenge to an incumbent governor since primaries for the office were established in New York in 1970.

There have been only two other major-party primaries against governors seeking re-election since then, and both failed: In 1994, Lenora B. Fulani received 20.5 percent against Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. And in 1978, Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak received 33.7 percent in a challenge to Gov. Hugh L. Carey.

Ms. Teachout carried counties in large portions of New York, from the Canadian border to New York City’s northern suburbs. She and Mr. Wu, who were endorsed by one of the major unions of state workers, also ran away with the race in Albany County and much of the capital region.

Sounding jubilant, Ms. Teachout gave what sounded like a victory speech. “I will not be your next governor, but the Democrats of this state have been heard,” she told supporters jammed into a nightclub in Manhattan.

In a show of confidence heading into the campaign season, Mr. Cuomo largely avoided doing the things that candidates do — debating, pressing the flesh and pointing out his opponent’s flaws. But that strategy may have misfired. The strong performance by Ms. Teachout, a legal scholar of political corruption who had never run for office, was an embarrassing rebuke to Mr. Cuomo, and it could put a dent in any national aspirations he may hold.

Her support was driven in part by frustration among Democrats with Mr. Cuomo’s carefully calibrated way of governing. While he has been lauded by liberals in the state and nationally for bold action on topics like same-sex marriage and gun control, his posture on nuts-and-bolts issues like budgets and taxes has leaned more toward the right.

Mr. Cuomo, 56, has raised more than $40 million since taking office at the start of 2011. He retains the backing of the state’s Democratic establishment as well as most of its most politically potent labor unions, valuable allies in getting voters to the polls.

In some ways, his road to re-election gets less complicated ahead of the general election, when Mr. Cuomo will face Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive.

Mr. Astorino, 47, shares several of Ms. Teachout’s disadvantages, including a vast gap in campaign fund-raising and lesser name recognition around the state. Yet he has none of her advantages, such as appealing to women, and he faces the huge disadvantage in party registration.

Indeed, polls have shown Mr. Cuomo with a wide lead over Mr. Astorino, whom the governor’s campaign plans to attack as an “ultraconservative” over his opposition to abortion rights, strict gun control laws and same-sex marriage.

In keeping with his approach of scarcely acknowledging the primary, Mr. Cuomo skipped the tradition of holding a party on election night. His only public appearance on Tuesday came when he arrived at a church near his home in New Castle, in Westchester, to cast his ballot, along with his girlfriend, the Food Network host Sandra Lee.

Mr. Cuomo, who was greeted by a small group of hydrofracking protesters, defended his absence from the campaign trail, explaining that he was focused on his job and that voters should judge him by his performance. “Look at what I’ve done,” he said, adding, “Four years ago, I took office, the state was considered a joke.”

In the run-up to the primary, Ms. Teachout’s supporters were vocal on social media and elsewhere, while Mr. Cuomo’s supporters were comparatively hard to find. He brushed off her suggestion that the governor’s supporters lacked passion for him.

“I’m a passionate guy,” he said after voting on Tuesday. “I think my supporters have a lot of passion.” He added: “You know, they may not come out and protest, but you want to see passion? You talk to an angry taxpayer who’s living in Westchester and is paying the highest property taxes not only in the state, but in the nation.”

Mr. Cuomo also warned against reading too much from the primary results, maintaining that all that mattered to him was receiving 51 percent.

“Who comes out to vote, who doesn’t vote — the turnout can be very determinative,” he said. “And sometimes it’s not representative.”

Ms. Teachout, 42, who grew up in Vermont and worked on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, was recruited by the Working Families Party, a group of unions and liberal activists that was considering withholding its backing from Mr. Cuomo.

The party ultimately agreed to stick with the governor, but Ms. Teachout, a professor at Fordham Law School, pressed on. She faced an uphill climb, collecting $100 donations from supporters and urging them to spread the word about her candidacy via social media.

She tried to appeal to liberals and other Democrats who have soured on Mr. Cuomo, such as environmental activists concerned that he will not take a position on fracking, and teachers and parents upset that he has not spent more money on public education.

Ms. Teachout, who has studied corruption, also assailed Mr. Cuomo over his office’s meddling into the work of the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Mr. Cuomo created last year but then abruptly shut down, a matter that is now being investigated by federal prosecutors.

Mr. Cuomo picked Ms. Hochul to be his running mate after the current lieutenant governor, Robert J. Duffy, decided not to seek re-election. But she was not well known outside of western New York, and some Democrats were unsettled by her past positions on issues like gun control — when in Congress, she earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association — and immigration.

She faced Mr. Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School who is known in technology circles for having popularized the term “net neutrality.”

Mr. Cuomo spent considerable time and energy promoting Ms. Hochul’s candidacy in recent days, flying to the Buffalo area on the eve of the primary to rally for her. He enlisted some of the leading names in Democratic politics to vouch for her, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, who hailed her as a “true progressive.”

On a day with low turnout, many voters who did show up at the polls said they had been moved to express their feelings about Mr. Cuomo.

John Shea, 65, a retired editor who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said he voted for Ms. Teachout, explaining that he liked Mr. Cuomo but was disappointed with his decision to shut down the Moreland Commission.

“This is a message,” Mr. Shea said. “He’s going to win anyway, but I want to teach him a lesson.”

Another voter in Williamsburg, Sandra Glading, 37, who works in communications, said she had some reservations about Mr. Cuomo’s prolific fund-raising. But she said she approved of much of his work as governor, pointing to his success at pushing through the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“He is, for better or for worse, someone who can get stuff done,” she said.