Latest news with #DemocraticPrimary
Fox News
13 minutes ago
- Politics
- Fox News
'Culture of shame': NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for 'pipe dream'
EXCLUSIVE - BROOKLYN, NY: NYC Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov revealed the popularity of socialist mayoral candidate Zohan Mamdani is driven by his supporters falling for the "pipe dream" that socialism and communism have to offer. Vernikov, who was born in Soviet Ukraine, told Fox News Digital that she remembers standing in milk and bread lines with her grandfather, adding that Mamdani's policies are an "experiment that has been done before." "When you look at the Soviet Union, this is exactly what they did," Vernikov said. "They promised the people, everything, and at the end, who got rich? Only the government. And I think that's what's happening here." When asked what is behind Mamdani's surge in popularity that skyrocketed him to the top of the national conversation when he won the Democratic primary for the largest city in the United States, Vernikov suggested many of his voters are motivated by "guilt." "This is my opinion, is that we're living in a culture of shame that started during the George Floyd riots, when people who were White and who were rich were shamed into being White and rich and now we see who voted for Mamdani," Vernikov said. "It's not the Black community, it's not the Hispanic community, not the brown community, it's really not even the Jewish community, right? It's, really, the White and the privileged who voted for Mamdani and I think they were shamed into voting for him, and it's kind of a small price for them to pay to be accepted socially." Vernikov explained that another part of the equation is that many young Mamdani voters who have never experienced communism and socialism and "grew up privileged" have been tricked into thinking "this pipe dream could actually be a reality." "In reality, these things can never happen," Vernikov said. "What could happen is chaos. What could happen is bread lines, what could happen is us seeing the police flee, and this will not be New York City anymore as we know it. This will not be our country, and we cannot be proud of what it's about to become." Vernikov acknowledged that part of Mamdani's rise can be attributed to his being "extremely charismatic" and "charming," which has led to an "effective" campaign and that Republicans could learn from some of his campaign strategies. "I think the promises he's making combined with the guilt, with the shame, combined with him being extremely charismatic and charming, he's having a very, very effective campaign," Vernikov said. However, ultimately, Vernikov said his platform is filled with unkeepable promises and that he is "absolutely" a communist. "His ideas, he might say he's a socialist, but I don't really draw the line," Vernikov said. "I think it's the same concepts, the same ideas in terms of the economy, in terms of these policies. I think that it's very, very dangerous and it's counter to the idea of capitalism and the cornerstone of our democracy." Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.
Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Meet the Gen Z Democrat funding an insurgent takeover
When Zohran Mamdani triumphed in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York, the political establishment was in shock. Senior Democrats and donors had rallied behind Andrew Cuomo, the former governor and the favourite in early polling. For some in the party, however, a left-wing outsider becoming the presumptive mayor of America's biggest city did not come as a surprise. Instead it fit into a wider insurgency movement that, if successful, could change the Democrats for decades to come. Its leader is David Hogg, a 25-year-old gun control activist and former vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). On seeing Mamdani's victory, Hogg tweeted: 'It's going to be a fun next couple years.' The reason? 'We're going to shake things up,' he tells The Times, predicting a generational shift in the party. To make that happen, Hogg's grassroots outfit, Leaders We Deserve, is putting money behind select candidates, including Mamdani. 'We spent $300,000 to support him. I believe we were his biggest contributor,' Hogg says. 'We knew that he was being outspent pretty massively by his opponents and we wanted to do everything we could to get behind him when the political establishment was writing him off.' Hogg is hoping to use Mamdani's success as a blueprint to propel younger candidates into seats occupied by the old guard. • Hot Girls for Mamdani: 'What makes you hot is the fact you're voting for him' This month Barack Obama urged the Democratic Party to 'toughen up … stop looking for the quick fix … stop looking for the messiah' and back the 'great candidates running races right now'. However, newly free from his role on the DNC, Hogg is imagining something a little more transformative. He sees parallels between the end of the Soviet Union and the Democratic Party in its present form. 'If you look at the end of the Soviet Union you have leader after leader after leader dying because they all just kept waiting for that next person to move on. 'So it's obviously not as extreme as that but there is some element of that because the boomer population [Americans born from 1946 to 1964] is so big that they have been waiting to come into power for a long time and they stayed there for a long time. 'A lot of them are either about to retire or may not, unfortunately, live much longer.' This year Hogg announced a plan to use $20 million of funding for Leaders We Deserve to back primary challenges against Democratic candidates who are 'asleep at the wheel'. This led to a backlash. Hillary Scholten, a congresswoman from a swing district in Michigan, said: 'I can think of a million better things to do with $20 million right now.' Hogg has since left his role on the committee. While he left on a technicality — fresh elections were called on the grounds it needed more women in senior positions — he says he was given an ultimatum that he could stay only if he agreed to drop his activities with Leaders We Deserve. He chose freedom. Having entered activism initially on gun crime as a survivor of the Parkland school shooting in 2018, he is looking to fund insurgent candidates that will shake up the status quo. Not every candidate backed by the group has been as successful as Mamdani. Hogg backed Irene Shin in the special Democratic primary for Virginia's 11th congressional district and the Generation Z influencer Deja Foxx in Arizona's 7th. Neither made it, though Foxx won more than 20 per cent of the vote after coming essentially from nowhere. 'With our organisation we want to have a very select number of people that we invest in that we believe are truly the best of our generation and that we massively invest in spending several hundred of thousands of dollars, sometimes a million-plus dollars, to support them and get them across the finish line,' he says. How will they find the leaders of tomorrow? It comes down to a 'combination of methods', Hogg says. 'Sometimes people will go to our website and fill out our run for office form to let us know that they're running for office. Other times it's our recruitment director who directly reaches out to people and says, 'hey, there's this seat that's opening up' or 'there's a race that we think you'd be good to run in, would you be interested?' 'Sometimes they're already running for office, like Deja, like Zohran, and we see a really great campaign with real movement in the polls where we feel like we could make a difference.' The support includes day-to-day help on polling, their field campaign and securing local endorsements. There is also an intangible factor tying all of his group's candidates together. 'Charisma cannot be bought. Giving a shit cannot be bought. There is no amount of money that can force that,' he says. 'I think with Zohran what we saw was the use of a new platform to express what was already there and just highlight that … It's not enough just to post a clip if you're boring or you don't really believe in what you're saying because people can tell.' Is he ready for the backlash from old-school Democrats who see his group's work as a destructive path that could harm the party's reputation in the long term? 'Ultimately I am more than happy to take that fight on because the reality is people in DC — for the most part, their biggest weakness is the one that they don't even realise is a weakness, because they've been so brainwashed by this town. Their philosophy has become what raises them the most money and what pisses off the fewest people in the political establishment. 'If you're running for office or your incumbency is being challenged because you don't really stand for anything, it's going to be really easy to shine a light on how you flip-flop on everything by running a younger candidate who has the values that they stick to and don't compromise on.' If Hogg gets his way, Mamdani is only the beginning.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CT council member in garbage business pledges $500K of his own money on congressional run
Jack Perry admits that he does not have the normal pedigree for a member of Congress. After spending a career in the garbage hauling business, Perry said that he is running as a Democrat against 77-year-old U.S. Rep. John B. Larson in a potential multi-candidate primary in 2026. Perry, 35, also gained attention by pledging to spend $500,000 of his own money against Larson, using part of the proceeds from selling his family-owned garbage business that he started in 2008. 'I'm not a typical politician. I mean, seriously, how many can drive a garbage truck?' Perry asked. 'I'm a working-class guy who is unafraid to take on big challenges and stand up for people. I'm not trying to climb a political ladder for myself. I want to make sure everyone has ladders to climb and can afford to live and retire comfortably in Connecticut. I'll fight for the people, not the powerful.' As a Democratic member of Southington's Republican-controlled town council, Perry is not well known statewide. But he gained additional name recognition in his hometown when running for state Senate in 2020 against conservative firebrand Rob Sampson of Wolcott. Sampson won by 54% to 46% in the year that incumbent President Donald Trump ran strongly in the district despite losing in Connecticut and nationwide to Democrat Joe Biden. CT US congressman in seat for decades might have a Democratic challenger Perry spent 16 years in the family business, HQ Dumpsters and Recycling, before it was sold last year to trash hauler CWPM in Plainville. While no longer the owner, he still oversees the daily operations for the new owner, the Manafort family, in a position he says is far less stressful. As a relative political newcomer, Perry understands it will be difficult running against veteran Democrats with high name recognition like Larson and former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who is seriously considering joining the race. 'It's a heavy lift, and that's where I'm trying to make it viable and showing people how passionate I am,' Perry told The Courant in an interview. 'Anyone that knows me knows that when my heart's in it, I will work endless hours, and that's just who I am as a person. Passion is everything. That's how I was able to build a successful garbage business. I started in 2008 during the Great Recession. It was passion, determination and work ethic. Nothing I've gotten in life has been easy, but it's very rewarding.' Perry added, 'I'm looking to be a fresh voice with new energy and advocate for the working class, the middle class, and those that are retiring that can't afford to stay in our state because of the cost. It goes back to inflation, grocery bills, electric costs, housing — all those things. It's hard.' With a mother who was an immigrant from Poland and a biological father who was absent from his life, Perry was raised with the help of his stepfather. He started working in the family's landscaping business at the age of 13, and has continued working ever since. Through the years, he has watched housing costs skyrocket, along with food and many other items. 'I was reading the other day in the paper that the average age for a first-time homebuyer is 38 years old,' Perry said. 'I'm 35. I bought my first home at 25 on a single income. It was hard for me, and it was a fixer-upper. But you can't do that in Southington on a single income of $60,000. It's just not doable. In 2015, it was.' He added, 'Inflation is hurting people, and they're now picking and choosing what they can afford to buy. Over the years, I've seen employees struggle. As an employer, I was able to help my employees. I remember an employee couldn't afford his insulin. This was before they made insulin affordable. We got him a different plan and coverage to be able to afford his insulin. I'm the type that, when I see issues, I stand up, regardless of how big the fight may be and regardless of what the obstacles are to get there.' Larson's campaign spokesman, Charles Perosino, said that democracy ensures that anyone seeking to run can do so, adding that the voters will make the final decision on their representative. 'John is proud to have secured billions in federal funding for the First District, including over $34 million for the town of Southington, and remains focused on taking on the Trump Administration as they raise the cost of living for working families by attacking access to health care, imposing cost-raising tariffs, and threatening Americans' hard-earned benefits,' Perosino said. 'When Democrats take the majority in 2026, John will serve as chair of the Social Security committee, and has been recognized as a national leader to protect and expand benefits, so that all Americans can retire — as FDR intended — with dignity.' Perry's entrance into the race comes as the political dam has broken in the battle against Larson. As more opponents step forward, there is little downside in challenging an established incumbent because others have already jumped into the race. The first official opponent was Hartford school board member and attorney Ruth R. Fortune, who filed official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run against Larson. After emigrating to the United States at age 12 from Haiti, Fortune grew up in the Nassau County town of Westbury on Long Island. She graduated from Baruch College in Manhattan and later received a law degree from the University of Connecticut. A Hartford resident since 2012, she has two children attending the Hartford public schools and a younger sibling starting pre-K this year. A former financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, she now works at the law firm of Wiggin and Dana in the trust and estates department. The best-known opponent is Bronin, who is seriously considering running and has been talking to fellow Democrats about the possibility. Larson, who turned 77 on Tuesday, personally told Bronin during an hour-long, face-to-face meeting that he is running again. Bronin would be the highest profile challenger in years for Larson, who has won 14 consecutive elections. As a graduate of Yale Law School, a Rhodes Scholar and a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer in Afghanistan, Bronin has a wide range of contacts and has shown his fundraising prowess when he won the Democratic primary for mayor in Hartford by unseating incumbent Pedro Segarra. State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, a West Hartford Democrat, told The Courant on Tuesday that she is considering running but does not have a timeframe on when her final decision will be made. 'I think I would be great holding that seat in Congress,' said Gilchrest, who serves as co-chair of the state legislature's human services committee. 'While the sitting Congressman is still in the race, there's a sense that some respect should go his way, but with more and more people getting in, it's hard not to want to be a part of it if you think you're qualified to do the job.' Among the top issues in the race, she said, are wages, public education, access to health care, and concerns about the environment, among others. 'For Democrats, they're looking for voices who will be speaking about the issues that impact them and not waiting to feel out how best to say something,' Gilchrest said. 'They want to hear from leaders who are direct and listen to them and then speak on the issues of importance that impact their daily lives.' Larson's family, which has supported him in all races since even before he won a key primary for Congress in 1998, is already gearing up for another race. Arianna Larson, a Manchester resident who is one of Larson's nieces, sent an email to multiple supporters to rally support for the incumbent. 'I'm writing to say one thing loud and clear: it's game on,' she wrote in the email obtained by The Courant. 'This is not a fundraising email. It's a rallying cry. A call to action. A moment to get off the sidelines and get behind our candidate. For the first time in a long time, my Uncle John may be facing a more competitive primary challenge. And while I respect the value of new voices and fresh ideas — believe me, I'm part of the next generation of Democrats eager to make change — I also know that this is not the moment to be testing the bench.' She added, 'This election is happening in the second half of a Trump presidency. The stakes are enormous. We don't need a reset — we need results. And no one delivers like John Larson. He's a lifelong public servant who knows this district, knows how to lead, and never forgets who he's fighting for. He doesn't seek the spotlight — he just gets to work and gets things done. … My Uncle John is ready. The campaign is ready. The family is ready. And today, as he celebrates his birthday, and another year of life dedicated to public service, I can't think of a better way to honor that than by showing up for him – just like he's always shown up for us!' Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@ Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Washoe County Democrat challenging Ford in 2026 governor's race
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Washoe County Democrat has confirmed she is running for governor, according to a Northern Nevada newspaper. Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill told the Reno Gazette-Journal she would challenge Aaron Ford for the Democratic nomination. Her official announcement is expected before the end of August. Ford, currently serving as Nevada attorney general, was previously the only Democrat in the race, although former Gov. Steve Sisolak and others are considering a run. The Democratic primary winner is likely to face Gov. Joe Lombardo, who faces Republican challenger Irina Hansen of Las Vegas. Hill was elected to her commission seat in 2020, and won re-election in 2024. Both victories were by wide margins. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll Position: Mamdani's the frontrunner, but isn't running away with NYC mayoral race just yet
The winner of the New York City Democratic primary for mayor is traditionally considered the overwhelming frontrunner in the general election. That's because Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly six-to-one in the nation's most populous city. However, that's not the case this year, one month after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born, state assemblyman from Queens, stunned the political world by topping former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in a come-from-behind primary victory to capture the nomination. President Donald Trump believes that Cuomo, who last week officially announced he would continue his mayoral bid as an independent candidate, has a solid chance of defeating Mamdani, whom the president has repeatedly claimed is a "communist." "I would think that he would have a good shot at winning," the president told reporters at the White House last week, a day after Cuomo's announcement. Mamdani On Extended Africa Trip Amid Nyc Mayoral Campaign Read On The Fox News App A handful of polls conducted this month in New York City suggest that Mamdani is the frontrunner, but that he is far from running away with the race. The surveys indicate Mamdani ahead of Cuomo anywhere from around 15 points to as few as three points. Trailing Mamdani and Cuomo in the surveys are Mayor Eric Adams, the embattled incumbent who announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election as an independent candidate, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee. Cuomo Quips 'Even I Will Move To Florida' If Mamdani Wins Nyc Mayoral Bid Also on the ballot in the general election is Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent. Walden has proposed that an independent survey be conducted in September to determine which candidate would have the best shot of defeating Mamdani, with the other candidates agreeing to drop out. Cuomo has embraced the idea, with Adams and Sliwa not signing on board. Having the former governor, who resigned in 2021 amid multiple scandals, and Adams, who has faced a slew of controversies since winning election as mayor four years ago, both agreeing that such a scenario seems remote, both have urged the other to exit the race. "We have to put our political ambitions in the backseat to the interests of New Yorkers," Walden said this past weekend in an interview with Fox News' Bryan Llenas. Potus The Pundit: Trump Says Cuomo's Got A 'Good Shot' Of Beating Mamdani He charged that the other candidates "right now, they're putting their own political ambitions above New Yorkers." Since his Democratic Party nomination victory, some of the unions and elected officials that supported Cuomo in the primary are now backing Mamdani. Mamdani, who was backed by progressive champions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores. Republicans have targeted Mamdani and tried to turn him into the new face of the Democratic Party. They aim to anchor him to vulnerable Democrats across the country running in elections this year and next year. Republicans have spotlighted recent news items regarding Mamdani that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recent comments in a cable news interview that "I have many critiques of capitalism." "I don't think that race is over yet. We do have a couple of people running. There are things coming out about him," Trump said last week, as he referred to article source: Poll Position: Mamdani's the frontrunner, but isn't running away with NYC mayoral race just yet
