Progressives take the democratic machine of New York

The Resistance is coming – for the New York Democrats.

The blue bastion, which names Democrats for the state office on Thursday, has a liberal reputation. In practice, however, his government is corrupt, undemocratic and beholden to a handful of rogue democrats who have effectively blocked progressive priorities, including the protection of undocumented immigrants known as the Dreamers, voting rules.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul and eight renegade Democratic State Senators all face Thursday major challenges. The left supports Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout in a fierce three-way battle with the Attorney General, and a new wave of local activists are competing for positions on influential but little-known Democratic Party committees.

The polls close in New York at 21h Thursday. Here is what is at stake.

The most prestigious Democratic primary in New York – the competition between Cuomo and actress Cynthia Nixon – will be the hardest for progressives.

There are few Democrats in American politics who elicit so much contempt of the left activist like Cuomo. For these critics, Cuomo uniquely embodies the kind of inauthentic and transactional, the big money The policy that allowed the Democratic Party to reach its lowest level of national strength since the 1920s.

Cuomo has drawn the wrath of many into the party's base for enable GOP control of the Senate of the State, first by approving his gerrymandering plan and then by would have blessed the formation of the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, a dissident faction of Democrats that handed power to Republicans. He is also hated to cut corporation tax and education expenses, to be at the height of corporate donors, employing close aides who have been convicted of Corruption, neglecting the New York subway and reveling in political tips.

In short, knocking out Cuomo would be by far the biggest progressive primary victory of this electoral cycle and put New York on the road to place among the most progressive state governments. Pushing back alone his financial advantage, he raised $ 35.6 million for the $ 2.5 million Nixon, which would have driven the Democrats across the country.

If we believe polls and experts, however, Nixon is unlikely to overthrow Cuomo on Thursday. Nixon drags the governor by 41 percentage points in the last public poll.

New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who is running for Nixon's vice-presidency, may have defeated Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, a moderate Democrat from northern Italy, more than once. As the New York Times noted in his Williams endorsementhe could bring much-needed control over Cuomo's power to what is usually a symbolic role.

Voters interested in lobbying Cuomo on the left can still consider voting for Nixon.

Cuomo, who is considering a presidential race in 2020, will have his eyes riveted on victory. If Nixon surpasses Teachout, who shocked the state by winning 34% of the votes against Cuomo in 2014, Cuomo can give serious thought to incremental incremental reforms.

Teachout's main challenge has already pushed Cuomo into a much more progressive direction. In his second term, Cuomo fracking prohibited, raised the minimum wage at $ 15, successfully paid family leave and created a college scholarship program this has nevertheless improved the status quo.

And since Nixon's entry into the race, Cuomo has restored the right to vote for felons released on parole, published a state study who reviewed the legalization of marijuana favorably and, perhaps more importantly, in April reached an agreement to end the IDC (even after the adoption of the state budget in March). The Nixon campaign nicknamed the change "Cynthia effect".

Regardless of the outcome, "Nixon has shown that you can resist bullies and make real policy changes," said Joe Dinkin, campaign manager for the Nixon Backing Workers' Families Party.

The prospects are more promising for the challenges against eight former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, the rogue democrat group that ensured the Republican control of the Senate from 2013 to 2018 in exchange for higher salary and other benefits. With Simcha Felder, another Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, the IDC has prevented many of the key progressive laws passed by the Democrat-controlled Assembly from being passed. The GOP's control over the state Senate has prevented New York from becoming a progressive leader in immigration, women's rights, climate change and single payer health care.

Although the IDC alliance persisted in the dark for many years after Donald TrumpPresidential in 2016, the activists started to wake up to the scandalous arrangement, and New York Congress delegation soon followed. State Sen. Michael Gianaris, today chair of the reunited Democratic Senate Conference in New York, has led efforts to recruit challengers for IDC members (even though they are not in favor). it has remained neutral since April as part of the agreement between Cuomo and IDC members). .

Punishing former members of the group is a priority for New Yorkers wishing to establish the state against AssetThe agenda and ensure that no future Democratic legislator will engage in a similar betrayal of their party.

"States can not be a laboratory of progressive ideals if you do not control the Senate," said a New York Democratic strategist who requested anonymity to speak freely.

The strategist also noted that the unified control of the state government allows Democrats to threaten at least the prospect of retaliation for Republican repurchase elsewhere in the country, thus offering the party a better chance of taking control of the House. US.

Candidates who challenge former IDC members are Alessandra Biaggi in the Bronx and Westchester (District 34 of the Senate); Jessica Ramos in northwestern Queens (13); Zellnor Myrie in the center of Brooklyn (20); Robert Jackson in Upper Manhattan (31); John Liu in northeastern Queens (11); Julie Goldberg in Rockland County and part of Westchester (38); Rachel May in Metropolitan Syracuse (53); and Jasmine Robinson at Staten Island (23).

The eight candidates are progressives who support the implementation of single payer health care at the state level and support stronger protections for tenants, ensuring that their election fundamentally changes the character of the legislative chamber . These positions and others have earned them the support of the Working Families Party, the New York-based group that also supports the Nixon governor's candidacy.

The IDC challengers are facing an easier task than Nixon's because they can, in addition to an ideological affair, present a simple partisan affair against former members of the IDC. ; IDC.

Biaggi, who faces the former IDC leader, Jeff Klein – the man that activists call the "snake head" and who has been accused of sexual misconduct by a former staff member – illustrates this phenomenon. Former Deputy Director of Operations for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, Biaggi later worked as a lawyer in the Cuomo office, where the reproductive rights legislation that Cuomo worked on could not be passed. he. (Biaggi did not support anyone in the governor's race, among the anti-IDC candidates, only Ramos, Jackson and May support Nixon.)

Unlike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the future Biaggi congressman who took care of her, Biaggi did not want to call herself a "socialist" ("did not Jeff Klein like that?" if I did it? "). She identifies herself as a "progressive" but is eager to point out to the voters at their door that, unlike Klein, she is a "true democrat".

Several of IDC's challengers, as they are known, have gained momentum in recent weeks, including an influx of volunteers and recommendations from unions and prominent elected officials.

Many New York observers are waiting for three or four IDC challengers to win. The most common names are Biaggi, Ramos, Jackson and Myrie, all of whom received the blessing of New York Times Editorial Board and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

Even if all eight win, Felder must return to the fold or another Republican senator must lose for the Democrats to resume the majority. (Felder is also challenged by lawyer Blake Morris, but he's a long shot in the race.)

But the mere fact that the seats are competitive is enough to shake New York's policy and perhaps keep up the pressure on Cuomo to launch new reforms.

"Traditionally, the New York state legislature has a slightly higher re-election rate than the Soviet politburo," said the Democratic strategist.

The Attorney General of New York holds one of the most powerful offices in the country, although his ability to use a lot against the business titans of the state. With so much of the world of business and the US financial world – including the Trump Organization – headquartered in New York, the Attorney General has jurisdiction over prosecutions for everything from Wall Street to the business books of the United States. President.

With Cuomo likely to survive his main challenge, the position of Open Attorney General is also the best hope of cleaning up the notorious corruption of New York politics. Teachout won a national audience on the US left for its anti-corruption work and received approval from the New York Times and the New York Daily News.

New York public spokesperson Letitia James has the support of virtually the entire political establishment of New York – an embrace that has often been a handicap in an election year dominated by enthusiasm and dissatisfaction on the part of foreigners.

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (DN.Y.) has no endorsement from James, but is supported by millions of dollars raised from real estate developers, Wall Street banks and law firms via a new structure campaign financing. it can be illegal.

The poll has always shown an open race: There are more undecided voters than supporters for a particular candidate.

When the Democratic Party of Queens County filled the ranks of its county committee with the names of people who had never agreed to run for office and applied technical rules to disqualify newcomers, that was normal.

But when the disqualified candidates fought with a lawsuit and exposed the scandal in The New York TimesIt's a sign that even in New York's most corrupt waters, change is on the move.

The Queens County Party Committee is a group of more than 1,000 local Democrats expected to serve as "block captains" councils, representing the needs of local Democrats to party leaders and beyond.

In practice, it has become a patronage body that established actors can use to appoint local judges – and sits on the council of municipal elections, which is of course the body that rejected the newsletters of newcomers.

The petitioners who were rejected were mostly members of the New Queens Democrats, a reform-oriented political club that wants the county committee to meet more frequently and be more transparent about its membership, goals, and meetings. One of them, Jesse Rose, a lawyer, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the petitioners, although the state election council eventually confirmed the rejection of the ballot papers. .

The trial has nonetheless attracted political attention for the petitioners who now have allies, such as New York City Councilor Costa Constantinides. The petitioners now have a chance to be nominated to the committee by the Democratic Party of Queens County, but they will not appear on the ballot.

"As someone who has always really invested in national politics, it has opened my eyes to the importance of getting involved locally and it does not matter where you live," he said. Deb Scher, one of the petitioners of New Queens Democrats.

It is therefore not surprising that, for progressive leaders, Thursday's elections are as much about democratizing a sclerotic and corrupt political system as about a particular policy.

"We are looking at the potential reversal of the Democratic Party in New York, which is a business that has been in New York for decades and decades, until Boss Tweed," said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities. for Change, a low-income advocacy group supporting the various progressive candidates.

"New York is one of the largest democratic states in the country," added Westin. Thursday's progressive victories "would have enormous effects on how Democrats stand up to Wall Street and real estate companies and interests and actually work on behalf of the people. That's what's at stake here. "