Cuomo's Candidacy Is a Symptom of a Bigger Democratic Problem -- Your Thoughts? [View all]

Back in the campaign year when I lived in Chicago, and the DNC did not fully support Barack Obama, I stopped donating to the DNC and became a direct full donor to Obama. We who lived in his neighborhood put him in the Illinois legislature for a reason; he gave the historical keynote address to the convention for that same reason.
I & other Chicagoans & fellow Illinoisans were appalled that the DNC would balk at such a great candidate.

Today, the (allegedly cash strapped) DNC and the rest of us would do well to see the New York mayoral election with clearer eyes -- especially the voter turnout -- and plan for 2026 & 2028 accordingly, realizing that New York isn't battleground country, but learning from it and using it as a possible metric for GOTV with new (and lost) voter demographics. Because if we keep losing Democratic votes in solid blue states, we'll lose battlegrounds and allow fascism to permanently entrench in this country. Amen to what Nancy has said, "We do it for the children."

New Yorker Mara Gay, an MSNBC analyst/contributor, has enough life experience in New York to give credible help with that.

https://archive.ph/MMnDz


"... the mentality that led some party leaders in the 2000s to tell Barack Obama, the last Democrat to electrify the entire party, to wait his turn... “This is the dinosaur wing of the Democratic Party,” Lis Smith, a veteran Democratic strategist who once worked for Mr. Cuomo, told me... Mr. Cuomo is winning big among Black voters and white moderates. It’s a similar coalition to the one that propelled Mr. Biden to the Democratic nomination in 2020. The political reality is that it is difficult for any Democrat, nationally or in New York City, to win without significant support from Black voters, something no progressive in the race, including Mr. Mamdani, has been able to accomplish...

Despite this, Mr. Mamdani’s surging campaign is a sign that a sizable part of the Democratic base may have had enough with politicians like Mr. Cuomo. They are fed up with high rents and stagnant wages, leaders who won’t break up with corporate interests, who run for office past their prime, and who haven’t shown enough fight against Donald Trump...These frustrated voters are no longer looking to a consensus-builder like Mr. Lander, Mr. Myrie or Ms. Adams. They are turning to Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist.

If the Democratic Party wants to build a coalition that can win, the rebellion unfolding in New York City cannot be ignored... there are signs that Mr. Mamdani is gaining support not only among the far left, but also among voters who have long voted for establishment Democrats. One poll showed him eating into Mr. Lander’s base in brownstone Brooklyn, an area of middle-class families, young professionals and moneyed homeowners. It appears a growing number of Democrats don’t see Mr. Mamdani’s vows to provide free buses and free child care and to increase taxes on the wealthy as threatening or outlandish. They see them as necessary.

Mr. Cuomo may be elected mayor anyway. Even if he is, the Democrats have to realize that becoming the serious opposition party the country needs requires them to embrace competition, and let the best talent rise to govern cities and states in a way that works for a majority of their constituents. The dinosaur wing doesn’t have the answers. It’s in the way."