Dem 47
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GOP 53
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New York City Primary Is Tomorrow

The Democratic Party primary for the nomination for mayor of New York City is tomorrow. Many people are lamenting that the field of candidates is weak and the ranked-choice voting will be about finding the five least-bad candidates. The second- and third-choice of losing candidates could end up deciding who wins.

The Democrats nominated moderate suburban women to run for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, but no Mikie Sherrill or Abigail Spanberger is on the ballot tomorrow.

The weather could also play a role, since it is expected to be very hot tomorrow. And, as usual, turnout is always a big issue in June elections, with Andrew Cuomo's union supporters facing off against Zohran Mamdani's volunteers. It's a complicated, unpredictable race.

First, who are the main candidates? Here is the list:

As if ranked-choice voting weren't complicated enough, New York law makes it possible for Cuomo or Mamdani to get on the November ballot as the candidate of some third parties or even as independents, as Mayor Eric Adams is doing.

According to recent polling, it's between Cuomo, the mean a**hole, and Mamdani, the Palestinian activist who has no executive experience. It reminds some Democrats of the situation last July where the nominee was going to be either a kindly old man well beyond his best-by date or a Black woman few people knew much about. Is this the best the Democratic Party can do? Part of the problem is that the top elected officials in New York State, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), all despise Cuomo and probably are secretly praying that it isn't Mamdani, but didn't rally around an alternative (with Lander, the friendly, competent technocrat the obvious choice). Organized labor is partly for Cuomo (because he created a lot of jobs with all his infrastructure projects as governor) but partly also on the sidelines. The New York Times editorial page imitated a TACO. Some people are wishing that New York AG Letitia James had run, but she decided to stay in state politics and will undoubtedly run for governor eventually.

The dynamic of a youthful insurgent powered by young voters against a grizzled veteran, possibly with some baggage, is likely to play out many times within the Democratic Party in the years ahead. However, there is a difference between executive positions and legislative positions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is great at giving speeches and wowing crowds, but as a member of Congress she knows which way to vote and the rest is icing on the cake. For mayor or governor, you actually have to make difficult decisions every day, especially about where to spend scarce funds. How much to spend on education and how much on housing is definitely not a no-brainer. In the best of all possible worlds, the Democrats will pick grizzled veterans for executive positions and inspirational young people for legislative ones. In the worst of all possible worlds, it will be the reverse. (V)



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