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Hawkins encouraged by strong showing in poll

Ryan Delaney
/
WRVO
Howie Hawkins, rights, registers voters Tuesday in downtown Syracuse. He's the Green Party candidate for governor.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for governor, has about six weeks left to get his state-wide support up to levels where it is in Syracuse.

Hawkins, a Syracuse resident, has won over a quarter of voters in the city, according to a recent poll. Hawkins says he would earn even more support if voters considered just the issues.

"I think if you took my platform and put it up against Cuomo and Astorino’s platforms and took away the names and party labels, my platform would win in a landslide," he said.

Hawkins spent time Tuesday registering voters near the downtown farmers market. It was national voter registration day.

Hawkins, a repeat Green Party candidate for governor, has support from a quarter of Syracuse voters and 15 percent in parts of central New York in a recent poll. He's not surprised to be doing so well in his home base.

"I’m in double-digits in the last three polls upstate for different congressional districts, which I think shows our message is resonating," he said. "And I think we can only go up."

If polling numbers hold true, Hawkins will do better than the single-digit vote total he earned when he ran for governor four years ago. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed some weakness in the Democratic primary from a progressive challenger Zephyr Teachout and Hawkins is hoping to capitalize on that.