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Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Inside House Dems' most "vicious" internal fight in decades
House Democrats are looking on in agony as Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) appear destined to duke it out for a single congressional district. Why it matters: It would be a fight for the ages, pitting progressives' 36-year-old rising star leader against a well-liked, 78-year-old stalwart of the left at a time when age is already one of Democrats' biggest headaches. "They are going to be vicious," one senior House Democrat told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer candid thoughts on a sensitive internal battle. The lawmaker predicted it will be Democrats' most brutal member vs. member primary since California Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman faced off in 2012, or when Michigan Reps. John Dingell and Lynn Rivers fought over a seat in 2002. Between the lines: There is an unusual amount of contentious public back-and-forth for a primary that isn't even officially happening yet, and it has the Progressive Caucus on edge. Axios reached out to over a dozen Progressive Caucus members for this story. Most said nothing or declined to comment, even on the condition of anonymity. Doggett and Casar have had a close political alliance, with Casar still touting Doggett's endorsement on his campaign website as of Wednesday. What we're hearing: "Most of us are TRYING to stay out," a senior House progressive wrote in a text to Axios. "It's way too early [to] dish on this for me," said another lawmaker. Zoom in: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has a policy of endorsing his incumbents when they face insurgent primary challengers, is unlikely to pick sides in this member vs. member race, sources told Axios. A Democratic leadership aide said there is a zero-percent chance he weighs in on the race. It's "dangerous to get involved," the senior House Democrat said. State of play: Casar and Doggett would share a single Austin-based district under the new congressional map that Republican state legislators in Texas are proposing. The rare mid-decade redistricting effort comes as President Trump has urged Republican lawmakers to try to create additional GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. Doggett, who has been repeatedly targeted by Republicans in redistricting during his over 30 years in Congress, currently represents much of Austin and its suburbs. Casar, a former Austin city councilman first elected to Congress in 2022, represents parts of southern and eastern Austin in a district that snakes down to San Antonio. Under the new map, the Austin portions of his district would be merged with Doggett's. What they're saying: Both lawmakers are angling to run in the new 37th district, which would be heavily Democratic and centered in Austin. Doggett, in a campaign email on Sunday, wrote that "over 2/3 of my current constituents will remain in the Trump configured CD37" and that his "seniority is an asset, not a liability." He urged Casar to "not abandon his reconfigured CD35, in which he is the only incumbent," noting that it would be majority Hispanic and arguing that Casar could "use his organizing skills and populist message to win over the disaffected, particularly disaffected Hispanic voters." The other side: Casar is ruling out a run in the new 35th district, a San Antonio-area seat that voted for Trump by 10 percentage points and contains just a tenth of his current constituency. Casar's chief of staff Stephanie Trinh wrote in a campaign email on Tuesday that Doggett sent out his email "without discussing it with Greg or his team" and said it contained "incorrect information." "Other than the fact that Republicans arbitrarily assigned this seat the same number as Greg's current one, there's no reason it would make sense for Greg to run in that district," she wrote. The 37th district, she added, "would include all of Greg's old city council district and nearly 250,000 of the people he currently represents." The intrigue: A pair of progressives who spoke to Axios anonymously last week, noting that Doggett was the first House Democrat to call for then-President Biden to drop out of the 2024 election over concerns about his age, said the 78-year-old should take his own advice. But the senior House progressive, who spoke to Axios on Wednesday, said it is "sad to see the back door spin on age. Lloyd is anything but the problem." "Really hard to push out someone if indeed 2/3 [of the district] is Lloyd's," the lawmaker added, though they said Casar "has — rightfully — ambition. That has to come in play too." The bottom line: "Nobody wants to see a primary between two progressive members," another House progressive told Axios. "This is the kind of thing Trump wants."
Time Out
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Time Out
New York drivers are about to lose 300,000 parking spots throughout the city
Brace yourselves: Parking in New York City might be about to get even harder. A new bill, Intro. 1138, pushed by the City Council's Progressive Caucus aims to ban vehicles from parking within 20 feet of crosswalks at all intersections, a practice known as 'daylighting.' Supporters say the move will save lives by improving visibility for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Critics say it's a costly overreach that will gut 10-percent of the city's free parking supply. Sponsored by Queens Council Member Julie Won, the so-called 'Universal Daylighting' bill would bring the city in line with a long-ignored state law already on the books. It would also require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to install physical barriers like planters or bike racks at 1,000 intersections per year to ensure drivers don't sneak back into the cleared space. That added infrastructure, however, comes at a price. The DOT estimates full-scale implementation could top $3 billion, and not everyone is convinced it's money well spent. 'If this unhardened daylighting were implemented citywide, we think we could expect an increase of up to 15,000 injuries in a year,' DOT deputy commissioner Eric Beaton said (per amNewYork), pointing to internal studies that show minimal benefit from simply removing cars without 'hardening' the corners. Still, advocates say the bill is long overdue. In a 2023 op-ed, Open Plans co-director Sara Lind noted that over half of pedestrian deaths and injuries occur at intersections. The numbers are sobering: In 2024, NYC saw 119 pedestrian deaths—a sharp 18-percent increase over the year before. Tragedies like the deaths of 7-year-old Dolma Naadhun and 16-year-old Jael Zhinin in Won's district helped catalyze support for the legislation. But opposition is mounting, especially in car-reliant areas like Staten Island, where Borough President Vito Fossella slammed the proposal as a '$3 billion parking ticket.' The bill has a majority of Council sponsors, and the Progressive Caucus has made it a year-end priority. Still, it remains unclear if Speaker Adrienne Adams will bring it to a vote. Until then, New Yorkers can only wait—and circle the block.
Chicago Tribune
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Mayor Brandon Johnson warns NYC mayoral nominee Mamdani ‘The movement doesn't always show up'
Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday delivered a pointed warning to fellow progressive Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. Speaking on WBEZ Reset, Johnson answered a question on what advice he would give Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and democratic socialist, by alluding to the leftist coalition in Chicago souring on him after his 2023 election. 'I'm just gonna be very candid here. What has happened historically, particularly for candidates like myself or even Mamdani, when we win, sometimes the movement doesn't always show up after the win, right?' Johnson said. Mamdani's stunning June upset in the Democratic primary against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was one of the most seismic victories of the party's left wing in recent years, reinvigorating the argument that progressivism can be a winning message in U.S. cities. But in Chicago, Johnson's tenure as the city's most progressive mayor in decades has seen mixed results — and some of the backlash to his leadership has come from his own political tribe. That has included criticism from the City Council's Progressive Caucus over his handling of public transit, the schools and Police Department budgets and the migrant crisis. As a result, an ongoing internal split within Chicago's progressive movement has left open the question of whom the Service Employees International Union — Johnson's second closest labor ally, after the Chicago Teachers Union — will back in the 2027 mayoral race. At the same time, Johnson's defenders have pointed out the transition from activist to running the nation's third-largest city is bound to be bumpy, as Chicago's grassroots movement is now clamoring for its decades of unfulfilled demands to be heard. The mayor has argued that he inherited a host of problems, fiscal and beyond, and has been held to an impossible standard at times. In his WBEZ appearance, Johnson also compared himself to former President Barack Obama and said after moving into the White House, his Organizing for America political organization became a 'third rail' and could not keep up the momentum to stave off the rise of President Donald Trump. 'So we just have to stay committed as progressives to our values, and even when it gets bumpy a little bit, it doesn't mean that we're doing everything wrong. In fact, you don't have to be perfect in order for things to work,' Johnson said. 'There will be moments where you have perfected certain aspects of a relationship or governance, and then there are things that you have to continue to work on. I've been in office for just over two years.' Johnson praised Mamdani's campaign platform for centering on affordability and suggested he do a segment on 'Ask the mayor' to engage with the public early. The New York assemblyman will again face Cuomo along with Mayor Eric Adams, both running as independents, in the November general election. 'That's one of the things that I reflected on in my two years, that I took it for granted that people would just know the what and the why,' Johnson said. 'The organizing that's necessary to win a campaign, you have to remain committed to that organizing.' Meanwhile, The New York Times reported this week that Mamdani himself was lukewarm on Johnson compared to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, another progressive, during a private meeting. Asked whom he was more aligned with, Mamdani reportedly 'leaned into his admiration for Ms. Wu,' the outlet reported.
New York Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Mamdani's worst threat: Unleashing City Council radicals' wildest, wokest dreams
Love him or hate him, Mayor Eric Adams is New York's City Council firewall. Over the last three years, his veto threats have prevented some of the body's most disastrous proposals from seeing the light of day, and forced moderate concessions on several bills that became law. That could all change after November's mayoral election. Advertisement Absent Adams — or Curtis Sliwa or Andrew Cuomo — in Gracie Mansion, the next City Council stands ready to realize its unchecked radical dreams, if one of the most left-wing legislative bodies in the country gains an ally in a Mayor Zohran Mamdani. If he ever joins this collectivist keg party brewing at City Hall, Mamdani will egg on the wokesters like an Oneonta pledge master with a beer-bong full of Bolshevism. Advertisement In another era, we might hope that the council would elect a moderate as its speaker. But given the radical wave powering Mamdani's rise, it's hard to have much optimism that center-of-the-road members have the political will to form a viable coalition. Just like congressional Democrats Hakeem Jeffries, Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler, none of the council's non-socialist Dems will want to rile up the Marxist Mamdani-backers and threaten them in whatever future race they fancy. Even if a moderate does pull it together, a City Council speaker's power isn't absolute — and legislative leaders are more often driven by their conference than drive it. Advertisement With the council's 18-member Progressive Caucus as the largest bloc in the chamber, they'll be the ones with their hands on the steering wheel. And nothing will stand in their way if the expression 'mayoral veto' evaporates from our parlance in January, disappearing like the words 'haberdasher' or 'dungarees.' To envision what a council without any counterweight could do, we need only look as far as the Progressive Caucus' existing proposals. Advertisement A quick glance at the group's website reveals a series of ruinous policies buried in a towering heap of woke euphemisms. The caucus demands an 'environmentally just city,' funded by a 'more inclusive budget.' Its members want schools that focus on 'human development rather than punishment or criminalization.' After they 'reduce the size and scope of the NYPD and Department of Corrections,' they will implement a 'holistic, multi-strategy approach' to law and order while funding an 'alternative safety infrastructure.' What does any of this actually mean? In practice, Progressive Caucus members have wasted their time on senseless yet seemingly innocuous bills — like the time Councilman Lincoln Restler tried to ban Mr. Softee unless he shows up in a solar-powered ice cream truck. Yet the caucus has also attacked our democratic rights, spearheading legislation that allowed non-citizens to vote (struck down, thankfully, by New York's top court). Advertisement Worse, the caucus has led the council on policies that are devastating the very communities they claim to serve. Lefty council members stood arm-in-arm with Mayor Bill de Blasio to open the nation's first 'safe injection sites.' Today, many of those same officials are simply stunned that their voters object to the 'fentanyl fold' addicts nodding off on their sidewalks all day. Still, they see this as a program worth expanding — and Mamdani, a sitting assemblyman, is a sponsor of such a bill in Albany. Advertisement Progressive Caucus housing proposals would cripple new residential development and stymie renovations of vacant rent-stabilized units. Albany leftists successfully pressured Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the construction-killing Good Cause Eviction law in the state budget — so don't expect Mamdani to put up even token opposition to the Community Land Act, the next item on the progressive punch list. It would abolish tax liens, requisition public land for housing and prevent desperate landlords from selling their underwater buildings until tenants and community groups have a chance to buy them out. When Mamdani & Co. use Marxist terms like 'seizing the means of production,' laws like the Community Land Act are the tools of their revolution. Advertisement The rest of their agenda includes rollbacks on public safety — eliminating the NYPD's successful gang database, for example — and an outright freebie free-for-all, from free daycare for all to unlimited housing for the homeless. Needless to say a Progressive Caucus-dominated City Council won't seek to tap the brakes on Mamdani's own $10 billion government giveaway plan. Instead, they'll keep trying to turn the city into an open bazaar of street vendors and sex-trafficking (aka Councilmember Tiffany Caban's 'sex worker opportunity program'). Advertisement For all their talk of a brave new world, these radical ideas scare the daylights out of me. Whatever challenges we now face, unrestrained leftist control of City Hall won't do anything but make matters worse. Perhaps Adams, for all his faults, deserves more credit for standing in the breach. Joe Borelli is a managing director at Chartwell Strategy Group and the former minority leader of the New York City Council.
The Hill
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Stephen Miller takes shot at NYC after Mamdani upset
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into the city of New York on Wednesday after Zohran Mamdani pulled off a major upset in its Democratic mayoral primary, emerging with a commanding lead over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who conceded late Tuesday. Mamdani, a 33-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was seen as the progressive outsider in the race. Cuomo was considered the establishment candidate and was the favorite since he announced his candidacy in March. In a series of posts on X, Miller, a staunch immigration hawk, attributed the expected outcome of the primary to 'unchecked migration.' 'The commentary about NYC Democrats nominating an anarchist-socialist for Mayor omits one point: how unchecked migration fundamentally remade the NYC electorate. Democrats change politics by changing voters. That's how you turn a city that defined US dominance into what it is now,' Miller said in a post on the social platform X early Wednesday. 'To understand the pace and scope of migration to America in past years, one-third of NYC is foreign-born and almost two-thirds of NYC children live in a foreign-born household,' he added in another post. Mamdani, a member of the state assembly since 2021, would be the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7 years old. 'NYC is the clearest warning yet of what happens to a society when it fails to control migration,' Miller said in another post, which generated some pushback among more liberal X users. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), former co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, used an expletive in a post responding to Miller directly. 'Racist f—. Go back to 1930's Germany,' Pocan wrote in his X post, responding to Miller. Former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, who also served as national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders's 2020 campaign for president, also blasted Miller for his statement. 'Absolutely vile comment from someone who holds power in the Trump White House,' Turner wrote on X. Miller, who doubles as President Trump's homeland security adviser, has been a leading force in the president's immigration crackdown and is often a public face of the administration's most divisive deportation actions. Some Republicans publicly backed Miller's post. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) shared Miller's post and responded, 'Yup.' Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) responded to the same Miller post, writing, 'We're praying for the City of New York. As we say in the Lowcountry, Bless your hearts.'
