Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon announces candidacy for governor of New York

Cynthia Nixon, star of hit series Sex and the City, has announced that she is running for governor of New York.

Ending months of speculation, the actress and activist said on Twitter: "I love New York, and today I'm announcing my candidacy for governor."

Ms Nixon, 51, faces a tough six-month battle in the Democratic primary against the two-term incumbent, Andrew Cuomo, whose father Mario was a three-term governor before him.

She launched her campaign with a video showing her son Max, who was born in 2011 to her wife Christine Marinoni, a former education adviser to Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York.

Ms Nixon and Ms Marinoni married in 2012. Prior to that she was in a relationship with schoolteacher Danny Mozes, with whom she has two children.

In the video, she states: "New York is my home. I've never lived anywhere else. I'm a proud public school graduate, and a prouder public school parent."

She then lays out the foundations of her campaign, noting that New York is the "most unequal state in the country, with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty" and promising to prioritise healthcare, ending mass incarceration, and fixing New York City's "broken" subway.

"Half the kids in upstate New York live below the poverty line. How did we let this happen?" she asked.

"We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than us."

"I love New York. I've never wanted to live anywhere else. But something has to change."

If Ms Nixon is elected, she will be the first female governor of the state, and the first openly gay ruler.

Mr Cuomo, who has accumulated more than $30 million in campaign funds and is frequently talked about as a possible presidential candidate, said he was relaxed about the challenge.

“I’m not nervous about whoever runs,” he said last week. “That’s called elections and that’s fine.”