New York Primaries

Zephyr and Bernie

The polls close in New York at 9 tomorrow... so there's nothing left to do but vote if you can-- and to sit back and watch the returns come in. I'll update this post as they do. Remember, these are state races, not federal primaries, which already happened.

The big ones tomorrow night are the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial races, the AG race and the state Senate races. The first two are very clear. The villains are Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul. He's corrupt beyond reason-- basically a conservative-- and she's basically a Republican with a "D" next to her name. Progressives Cynthia Nixon and New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams are running on full-bore progressive planks. The whole panoply of garbage status quo politicians has come out to back Cuomo, from Schumer, Gillibrand and Biden to Hillary and DNC chair Tom Perez. Bernie didn't endorse in that race but he did endorse Jumaane. The NY Times, the Working Families Party, Our Revolution, and all the state reform organizations endorsed him as well. Everyone in politics for corruption endorsed Hochul.

Who endorsed Nixon? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Working Familes Party, DFA, Justice Democrats, PCCC, The Nation and all the reform groups. Don't expect any miracles tomorrow-- or it would actually take a miracle. The last poll I saw had Cuomo beating her 63-22%; probably not accurate. Maybe voters think he's his father. Cuomo has blanketed the sate with close to $10 million in TV ads-- in just the final 3 weeks.

The race where Blue America attempted to concentrate our efforts was for Attorney General, where progressive champion Zephyr Teachout-- also endorsed by Bernie-- is running against a couple of worthless status quo galoots, conservaDem Sean Patrick Maloney and Cuomo candidate (Cuomo doesn't want to be investigated by Teachout) Letitia James. Besides Cuomo she is being backed by the wretched EMILY's List and a gaggle of establishment politicians, including Crowley and outright crooks like Greg Meeks. Zephyr was endorsed by both the NY Times and the Daily News, Alexandria, Cynthia Nixon, Shaun King, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick, Our Revolution, The Nation, and the Buffalo News-- but by no one who fears the wrath of Cuomo.

No one endorsed Maloney-- not a single one of his congressional colleagues... just one national gay organization, a gay version of EMILY's List.

And then there's the state Senate and the progressive hopes of ousting right-wing IDC creeps who caucus with the Republicans and prevent progressive legislation from moving forward. There are 9 key challenges tomorrow. These (incumbent villains first, good guys afterwards):

• 11th (Queens)- Tony Avella, John Liu
• 13th (Queens)- José Peralta, Jessica Ramos
• 17th (Brooklyn)- Simcha Felder, Blake Morris
• 20th (Brooklyn)- Jesse Hamilton, Zellnor Myrie
• 23rd (north State Island, Brooklyn)- Diane Savino, Jasmine Robinson
• 31st (Manhattan- West Side)- Marisol Alcantara, Robert Jackson
• 34th (Bronx)- Jeff Klein, Alessandra Biaggi
• 38th (Rockland Co)- David Carlucci, Julie Goldberg
• 53rd (Syracuse)- David Valesky, Rachel May

I bolded the candidates endorsed by Blue America. Below is a last minute plea from Alexandria to her New York supporters:

We already knew that New York machine politics were toxic-- every day, they prevent working class folks from participating in our democratic system, stifle public input, and dash people’s faith in the power of our democracy to answer their concerns.

But their toxicity and divisiveness has reached new levels, just days before the New York State Primary.

'Here’s the situation: Just a few days ago, the New York State Democratic Party sent out a mailer for Andrew Cuomo-- a mailer that claimed Cynthia Nixon was anti-semitic based on policy positions she does not hold.

A public outcry ensued. Party leaders claimed that no one had authorized the mailer, and still refuse to tell voters who authored the mailer, or explain why they received it in the first place. But that doesn’t matter, because the damage is done-- it doesn't matter how blatantly false they are, those attacks are going to be the last thing in many voters minds as they head to the polls on Thursday.

...Instead of using these party resources to help register new voters, or hosting events to engage the community, the resources of the New York State Democratic Party went towards helping one Democrat attack another Democrat in a contested primary. Does that sound right to you?

All of this just goes to show that despite our incredible primary win, the corrupt New York political machine is still alive and kicking. That’s why we need to continue to fight, and help elect progressive champions that buck establishment politics, and focus on running grassroots, people-powered campaigns.

...A future where machine politics are gone for good is possible-- but no one is going to hand it to us. If we want a progressive future where candidates stand for the interests of working class communities, then we have to build it ourselves.

I’m ready.

Are you?

Pa'lante,
Alexandria