Driving the news: On Wednesday, many Democratic lawmakers and officials either denounced Mamdani or notably declined to rally around him. Republicans — including President Trump — crowed about Democrats embracing a democratic socialist who has called for reduced police funding and sided with Palestinians in the Gaza war.
The top two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both New Yorkers, declined to endorse Mamdani even as they applauded his victory.
New York Rep. Laura Gillen, from Nassau County, called Mamdani the “absolute wrong choice for New York.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi, also from Nassau County, said he had “serious concerns.”
Major Democratic donors — who poured tens of millions into a Super PAC for Cuomo — were having private discussions Wednesday about whether to back an independent run by Cuomo in November’s general election, or rally behind unpopular incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who’s also running as an independent.
You misunderstand. I’m saying people don’t want big money candidates, right? We want new, progressive, people like us. Those candidates run often, but they don’t have the money to reach you. If we did our job of researching and voting for all of the candidates in every primary we are eligible to vote in, we wouldn’t have a government full of career incumbents.
Mamdani had grown a network of 50k people canvassing NYC for him. That’s hardly possible in Texas districts without a big fuel budget. We need to do our job of actively looking for our representation in every primary, rather than rewarding the wealthy ones that can afford to show up in our living rooms.