Cynthia Nixon is doing about as well tonight in the Democratic Primary as Zephyr Teachout did against Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 Primary. Nixon is getting 34% of the vote according to NBC with over 99% of precincts reporting. Many on the left despise Cuomo for good reason as he is no friend of public education. He wins but that is a significant number in his own party that despise him.
Tish James is doing much better than polls said and has won the primary for Attorney General. Teachout finished a strong second in that race but this one isn't that close as James has a 10 point lead. UFT backed James.
Lieutenant Governor sadly hasKathy Hochul with a win against Jumaane Williams but only by 6 points. Not a hirrible showing for the challenger.
It doesn't look bad for the Democratic establishment however the real story of the evening is the losses for five rogue NYC Democrats from the Independent Democratic Conference. The IDC is having a a very rough night.
Nothing is more pleasing tonight than watching Robert Jackson, a true friend of public education, easily defeating UFT backed charter school friendly Marisol Alcantara by 16 points with 95% of precincts reporting. IDC leader Jeff Klein losing to Allassandra Biaggi is a big win for real Democrats also. Jose Peralta, Jesse Hamilton and Tony Avella all losing too makes this a disaster for the IDC.
I am going to sleep now. I stayed up late for these results. I sometimes expect the worst on election night and avoid the news until the morning.
Update: Part of statement from Working Families Party:
Minutes ago, Working Families Party candidates Alessandra Biaggi, Jessica Ramos, Rachel May, Zellnor Myrie, John Liu, AND Robert Jackson won their races for state senate in New York, virtually SWEEPING the turncoat IDC caucus.
New York was never that great.
ReplyDeleteTish James won because of the corrupt bargain between Cuomo, Maloney, James, REBNY and the hedge fundies who backed Maloney to get Maloney in the race and take votes away from Teachout:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1040423169658703872
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1040426999339089921
https://twitter.com/rachbarnhart/status/1040423279922765824
James has done little as public advocate, she will do little as AG. She is a transactional politician, she sold out to the Cuomo Machine, she allied with the IDC, her victory is a victory for Wall Street, hedge fundies and real estate criminals.
BTW, James also is allied with pro-charter Ruben Diaz Jr. Her victory as AG is supposed to give Diaz Jr a leg up in a run for mayor. Just one more reason to despise James and rue her "victory."
https://twitter.com/TweetBenMax/status/1040438271841652736
James has worked with Leonie Haimson and the parents groups to sue DOE. They really support her. I trust Leonie. We have all been right on a few and wrong on plenty of others. James has been a pretty good Public Advocate. We will see if this turns into the nightmare you predict RBE.
ReplyDeleteI have video of James at PEP meetings being very strong on closing schools and charter co-locos. but that was then and this is now. We can't look to the long past for future behavior.
ReplyDeleteLeonie's KidsPac supports James now based on her record and how she answered education questions in her candidate questionnaire. She had much better answers in education than Nixon who Leonie did not support. James wants to end mayoral control for example. That is a 2018 position.
ReplyDeleteEducation activists can be tunnel visioned and endorse based solely on education issues.
ReplyDeleteAlas, it's holding the Wall Street criminals, banking industry and real estate industry accountable that I am thinking about when it comes to the AG office.
There was a reason those interests wanted Spitzer destroyed while they propped up Cuomo with millions of dollars in campaign donations (via LLC's, the Committee To Save New York, etc.)
It's because Spitzer went after them, Cuomo gave them impunity to steal at will.
There's also reason why Wall Street, REBNY and LLC money ended up in James' coffers and it's not because she is some independent sheriff who is going to hold them accountable.
Same for the money that ended up propping up Maloney so he could take upstate votes away from Teachout.
Wall Street and the real estate industry were scared what Teachout would do to hold them accountable.
James as AG? They just paid for her to win - they're happy she's there because they know they can continue to steal with impunity, just like under Cuomo as AG.
Ironically, its REBNY, the hedge fundies and the LLC trusts that do the most damage to public education, so electing Tish James, Wall Street shill, as AG not only doesn't hold those criminals accountable, it will continue to help the charter industry and ed deformers get what they want, since deformer money comes from those Wall Street, banking and real estate interests.
Too bad some of the education activists who backed James couldn't see beyond the education issue to understand that by helping elect Tish James, they continue to give the hedge fundies, the Wall Street interests and the real estate industry the power and money to destroy public schools while electing Teachout would have hampered their ability to harm public education by clamping down on their power and influence.
Too bad you weren't BLOGGING this until the day of the election. It is very good but too late.
ReplyDeleteTish James: There is a lot of cynicism out there. I am hearing it from people who want to gin up this notion that the Democratic Party is split 50,000 different ways. But I fought and clawed and scratched my way to the table, and now all of a sudden people want to question my independence. It’s never been questioned before! And it won’t be in the future, I guarantee you that.”
ReplyDeleteWe shall see.
ReplyDeleteI see on the DOE website that it says the September Open School is 4:30 PM until 8:00 PM. Don't you think that is a little, or a lot, ridiculous? We get there well before 8 AM, we work straight through until 3 PM or later, we have a few minutes to sit down, or prepare for the evening, and then we have 3 and a half hours straight? Really, this is the brainchild of whom? Where is the union on this? For all we know it could be 97 degrees that day, my school has very little AC...A 13-14 hour day?
ReplyDeleteAt the local level, there is change.
ReplyDeleteWhen the voters see the same old same old at the state/national level, we'll see progress.
Vote!
To 5:25 PM: I have been TWEETING this for over two years, ever since Tish James backed IDC member Alcantara for state Senate, signaling an alliance with pro-charter, pro-Wall Street forces that aim to destroy public education.
ReplyDeleteOne of those tweets even made it into a Ross Barkan article in the Village Voice about the IDC.
Try the Twitter, 5:25 PM. It's replaced my blog.
RBE, It is much more difficult to keep up with what you say on twitter than following a blog. We miss your blogging. Twitter is so crowded. I get something in my email from you from Twitter usually every day and I had no idea about your views on Tish James. You follow this inside stuff closer than me and I respect your view. We shall see what happens.
ReplyDelete