Latest news with #WorkingFamilies
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Where top Democrats stand on meeting Mamdani — or endorsing him
New York's top Democrats are moving cautiously when it comes to newly-minted mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, slow-walking their interactions with the youthful progressive candidate and so far holding off on endorsing him. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Hochul, the party's three most powerful leaders in the state, appear to be following a shared playbook regarding Mamdani in the month since he trounced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary to become the party's standard bearer in the November general election. At a time in the campaign cycle when normally they would have already endorsed the winner of the Democratic primary, the trio are instead focusing on building their relationships with Mamdani and laying the foundation to potentially back him at some point in the future. None of the power threesome has said if or when they may formally declare their backing for the charismatic Queens assemblyman, who this week is on a family trip to Uganda, the country of his birth. Mamdani is the favorite in the November election, in which he will run on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. He'll face Republican Curtis Sliwa along with incumbent Eric Adams and Cuomo, both of whom are running as independents. Jeffries, the House minority leader, met with Mamdani last Friday at an office space in East New York. He said the meeting went well but dodged questions about a possible endorsement at a press conference Tuesday. 'At the meeting on Friday, we agreed to reconvene with other members of the delegation and high-level members of the community upon (Mamdani's) return to the country,' Jeffries told reporters. Schumer praised Mamdani in a post on X after his primary victory, calling his campaign a healthy jolt of energy to Democrats with its laser focus on affordability. He has spoken to Mamdani briefly by phone in what aides called an effort to lay the groundwork for a future face-to-face meeting in the city. A spokesman for Schumer said both leaders were targeting August for a meeting when the Senate is in recess and Mamdani will be back from Africa, and before Labor Day, which marks the start of the campaign's home stretch. The senior Democrat hasn't given any indication when he might make an endorsement decision. Both Schumer and Jeffries are strong supporters of Israel and have in the past denounced progressive critics of the Jewish state like Mamdani. They have both objected to the controversial phrase 'globalize the intifada,' which Mamdani has refused to denounce but has said he would encourage supporters to avoid. It's unclear how much Israel-Palestine politics may influence the heavyweights' endorsement calculus, if at all. As for Hochul, the pair have more of a history because Mamdani has often criticized the moderate governor during his three terms in Albany. But both camps have discussed burying the hatchet since the primary and stressed their shared commitment to lowering costs for everyday New Yorkers. Hochul and Mamdani have spoken several times since the primary and met once on the sidelines of the city's Pride march on June 29. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was forced to apologize to Mamdani after she seemed to agree with a caller on a radio show who accused him of being antisemitic. Gillibrand told Mamdani she was sorry for mischaracterizing his record and her 'tone.' Like Schumer, she also fired back at congressional Republicans who vilified him as a terrorist or supporter of Hamas. Like other leaders, she said they plan to meet in New York soon, but gave no details on an endorsement decision.
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The other winner in New York's mayoral contest: ranked-choice voting
The polls did not look good for New York progressives this winter when the Working Families party began making its endorsements for city elections. An early February poll from Emerson College showed Andrew Cuomo with a 23-point lead in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup. None of the four leading progressives even approached double-digit support – including the then unknown assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. He polled at 1%. In the days before ranked-choice voting, the Working Families party's endorsement process might have looked quite different. Like-minded candidates would have drawn sharp distinctions between each other. Party officials might have looked to nudge candidates toward the exits, behind closed doors. Before any votes had been cast in the primary, the party would consolidate behind just one choice. It would have been bloody and left a bitter taste for everyone. Instead, the opposite happened. Working Families, knowing that majorities rule and that no one can spoil a ranked-choice race, endorsed four candidates. Instead of a single endorsement that served as a kiss of death for other progressives, they backed a slate, allowing voters time to tune in and for candidates to make their pitches. Now Mamdani is the Democratic nominee and the overwhelming favorite to go from 1% all the way to Gracie Mansion. There are many reasons why this 33-year-old pulled off a seemingly unthinkable upset and soared from obscurity to the most talked about Democrat in the nation overnight. He energized young people, reached voters where they are on social media and built an unstoppable coalition. He and his volunteers talked to everyone, everywhere. Ranked-choice voting (RCV) encouraged and incentivized that joyous, barnstorming approach. And while Mamdani ultimately would have won a plurality contest or a ranked-choice one, his super-long-shot candidacy might have been squelched at the very beginning under the old system with its different electoral incentives. His victory shows how much more real power voters have under ranked-choice voting. To be clear: RCV is a party-neutral and candidate-neutral tool. Its job is to produce a majority winner with the widest and deepest support from any field of more than two candidates. It puts an end to spoilers and to the impossible, wish-and-a-prayer calculation that voters otherwise have to make when faced with multiple candidates, some of whom they really like and some of whom they do not. Liberals, conservatives, independents and moderates have run and won under RCV, from coast to coast. But while RCV might be strictly non-partisan, it is decidedly pro-voter – and almost always produces a more positive, issue-focused campaign that looks to drive up turnout and appeal to as many people as possible. A ranked-choice campaign rewards engagement and encourages coalitions; it's a race where instead of tearing down opponents, candidates point out areas of agreement and ask to be a voter's second choice. Voters love RCV and find it easy to use. According to a new SurveyUSA poll of New York voters, 96% said their ballot was easy to fill out. More than three-quarters of voters want to keep or expand RCV. And 82% said they had taken advantage of RCV and ranked at least two candidates. (These numbers are similar across RCV elections, and a powerful rejoinder to critics who insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that it's too confusing.) A remarkable number of New Yorkers saw first-hand how RCV makes our votes more powerful – they had the freedom to express themselves and rank a long-shot first, but still had their vote count for either Mamdani or Cuomo in the ranked choice tally. Perhaps the high marks are of little surprise: voters received a campaign unlike most any other. The tone remained positive and issue-based. Instead of cutting each other down, candidates lifted each other up: Mamdani and Brad Lander cross-endorsed each other, cutting joint ads, riding bicycles together to shared events, sharing the couch on Stephen Colbert, and even sharing a stage at Mamdani's victory party. Jessica Ramos and Whitney Tilson endorsed Cuomo and said that they would rank him second. Mamdani helped Adrienne Adams with fundraising. Sign up to Fighting Back Big thinkers on what we can do to protect civil liberties and fundamental freedoms in a Trump presidency. From our opinion desk. after newsletter promotion Voters always say that they want more choice at the polls, candidates who engage with them, and a genuine, issue-based campaign. They got exactly that in New York City because of ranked choice. And the historic turnout levels – more than 1 million New Yorkers cast ballots, the highest number since the 1980s – shows that when voters get that kind of elevated, engaging campaign, they show up and get involved. When voters have the opportunity to consider new candidates campaigning in creative new ways, the frontrunner with the early name recognition and largest donors can be eclipsed by a newcomer who started at 1%. And instead of going scorched-earth on each other before the general election, even some of the 'losers' seem to have had their status elevated: Lander finished third, and instead of being an asterisk, he has now expanded his base and likability for a future campaign. The majority winner in this race was Zohran Mamdani. But it's also easy to suggest the real winner might be ranked-choice voting. In a moment when so many of our elections are fraught and polarized, all of us looking for a more unified and hopeful path forward – the 'politics of the future', as Mamdani called it when he declared victory – should take a close look at what just happened in New York as proof that stronger elections are truly possible. Outside of Washington, cities and states are becoming laboratories of democracy once again. New York's adoption of ranked-choice voting led to just the kind of campaign our politics so desperately needs: a giant field of candidates presenting their vision of the future, building coalitions, without any time squandered on 'spoilers' or anyone pushed to drop out and consolidate early. In Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, voters modernized government and moved to proportional representation to elect the city council, broadening representation to groups and neighborhoods that have never before had a seat at the table. When voters make these changes, they like them, defend them, and expand them, as we have seen in New York, Maine and Alaska. And it won't take long for people to ask why they can't have ranked choice and proportionality in all their elections. David Daley is the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections as well as Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Pritzker announces Christian Mitchell as pick for Lieutenant Governor
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Governor JB Pritzker has announced his pick for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. According to Pritzker's office, experienced government leader Christian Mitchell will join the ticket. The announcement was made Tuesday morning in a video posted to YouTube. Mitchell is a former three-term state representative and current First Lieutenant in the Illinois Air National Guard. He also served as Deputy Governor for over four years. 'Christian Mitchell is a proven leader with deep experience, steady judgment, and an unshakable commitment to the working families of Illinois,' said Governor JB Pritzker. 'Whether it's transforming our clean energy future, rebuilding our infrastructure, or keeping our communities safe, Christian has been a force behind so much of our progress. I couldn't ask for a better partner to continue delivering results for the people of Illinois.' Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton announces bid for U.S. Senate According to the release, Mitchell began his career as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, before going on to serve as a state representative and the first African American executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois. 'There is no one who fights harder for working families than Governor JB Pritzker and I am deeply honored to be his choice for Lieutenant Governor,' said Christian Mitchell. 'The Governor has led with courage and compassion, and together we've built a foundation that's moving Illinois forward. I'm ready to build on that progress—lowering costs, expanding opportunity, and making sure every community has the resources and opportunities they deserve. This is about delivering real results for the people of Illinois, and I'm excited to get to work.' Pritzker selected Mitchell after his current Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton announced she is running for US Senate. On Monday, and as he contemplates a future run for the presidency, Pritzker said his top priority for picking a running mate was someone who would be able to take over as governor if needed. He's apparently found that in Mitchell. 'I think Governor Pritzker would be a fantastic president, which is why I'm so happy that he's running for reelection as governor because it speaks to his qualities as a leader of this state,' Mitchell said Tuesday. 'Governor Pritzker says the number one qualification is to be ready to step in if something happens and I will be ready to do that.' To run for lieutenant governor, Mitchell said he'll leave the University of Chicago where he oversees government relations. From 2013 to 2019, Mitchell represented parts of the South Side in the state legislature distinguishing himself as a policy wonk. He later served as deputy governor, playing a key role in the Pritzker administration's response to COVID-19. 'He tasked me and others in the office to be in charge of effectively our medical supply chain and to make sure that we had all of the PPE, the gloves, the masks, the ventilators we needed to make sure that our frontline health care heroes could keep doing their work,' Mitchell explained. The Illinois constitution does not assign specific responsibilities to the lieutenant governor, but given the speculation about Pritzker's future, the job has added importance. 'I've dedicated my life to public service. I really care about this state. We've got the best, hardest working people, not just in Chicago but in Carbondale and Macomb, downstate in Cairo, and so I'm really honored to have a chance to represent folks,' Mitchell said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pritzker makes it official: He's running for a third term as Illinois governor
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker made it official Thursday that he is running for reelection to a third term as Illinois' chief executive. In a nearly two-minute video released on Thursday morning - in conjunction with the governor's planned two-day statewide tour that kicks off at 10 a.m. this morning in Chicago — Pritzker vowed to 'keep Illinois moving forward' while presenting himself as a bulwark against President Donald Trump's efforts to reshape America. 'These days, Illinois is standing at the center of the fight: The fight to make life more affordable, the fight to protect our freedoms, the fight for common sense,' Pritzker said in the video, which focuses on Trump before pivoting to what Pritzker describes as his successes as governor since he first took office in 2019, including balanced budgets, state credit upgrades and hiking the minimum wage. 'We don't just talk about problems. In Illinois, we solve them,' Pritzker continued. 'Because we know government ought to stand up for working families and be a force for good, not a weapon of revenge. Donald Trump's made clear, he'll stop at nothing to get his way. I'm not about to stand by and let him tear down all we're building in Illinois.' Later Thursday, Pritzker was formally set to kick off his reelection campaign with a rally at the Grand Crossing Park Field House — the place where he launched his initial bid for chief executive in April 2017 where, like now, he attacked Trump. 'Everything we care about is under siege by Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner,' he said then, also citing the one-term Republican governor who he would go on to handily defeat in the 2018 general election. Pritzker's focus on Trump will likely spur speculation about whether the governor will vow to serve out a full third term or run for president in 2028. Should he run for president and win the presidency, the lieutenant governor would take over for the final two years and Pritzker has yet to announce who his running mate will be. Current Lieutenant Gov. Julianna Stratton is running next year for U.S. Senate to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. Still, Pritzker's announcement put him in a position to be in rarefied air in the world of Illinois politics. If Pritzker wins a third term, he'd become the first Democratic governor in state history to be elected to more than two terms in office and the first governor since Republican James R. Thompson served 14 years from 1977 to 1991. Illinois has no term limits on its constitutional offices. First elected in 2018, Pritzker, a 60-year-old entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, is one of the nation's wealthiest politicians, with a net worth of $3.7 billion, according to Forbes. President Donald Trump is estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.5 billion. In addition to balanced budgets and credit upgrades, Pritzker - who has repeatedly described himself as a 'pragmatic progressive' — also highlighted in the video that he's increased protections for abortion access for women, signed bans on assault weapons and added jobs to the state's economy. 'I'm running for reelection to protect our progress and continue solving the problems we face,' Pritzker said in the video. 'I'm ready for the fight ahead.' The South Side rally Thursday morning was part of a six-stop, two-day statewide announcement tour that included Rockford, Peoria and Springfield on Thursday and Belleville and West Frankfort on Friday. Pritzker is a prohibitive favorite to reclaim the Democratic nomination for governor in the March 17, 2026, primary. No major Republican candidate has yet to surface. The biggest GOP name so far is DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick - and while Pritzker's intention to seek reelection became public on Tuesday, the moribund Illinois GOP waited two days to issue a statement. State GOP Chair Kathy Salvi accused Pritzker of having 'used and abused the fine people of Illinois, allowing heavy handed government to meddle in the lives and safety of ordinary Illinoisans.'
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dutchess County 2025 Primary Election Results: Here's who will be on the ballot in November
On June 24, the polls closed for the 2025 Primary Election in Dutchess County at 9 p.m., and the unofficial results from the county's Board of Elections are in. Seven local municipalities held primaries including the City of Poughkeepsie, Town of Beekman, Town of Lagrange, Town of Pawling, Town of Red Hook, Town of Rhinebeck and Town of Union Vale. This year, Conservative, Democrat, Republican and Working Families primary elections took place in Dutchess County. Only registered voters enrolled in a party were eligible to vote in that party's election. Here are the candidates that will be on the ballot in the 2025 General Election on Nov. 5. More: Chick-fil-A in Dutchess, Orange counties. Where new restaurants are planned Results (included Town of Red Hook Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5 and Town of Rhinebeck District 1): Kristofer Munn: 552 votes; 55.31% Troy Haley: 446 votes; 44.69% Results (included all Town of Beekman Districts and Town of Union Vale Districts 1 and 2): Joseph Tresca: 480 votes; 55.11% Faye B. Garito: 391 votes; 44.89% Results for Ward 1 Councilmember, Districts 1 and 2: Ernest J. Henry: 41 votes; 68.33% Warren G. Jones: 19 votes; 31.67% Results for Ward 8 Councilmember, Districts 1 and 2: Daniel L. Atonna: 332 votes; 83.21% Sakima AG. McClinton: 67 votes; 16.79% Results: Laureen Abbatantuono: 591 votes; 75.67% Stella Maria Slattery: 190 votes; 24.33% Results: Anthony Coviello: 585 votes; 74.71% Brian Green: 198 votes; 25.29% Results (voting for two): Gina Ragusa: 547 votes; 36.61% Kate Blake: 499 votes; 33.40% Ezio Battaglini: 235 votes; 15.73% Frank M. Lemak V: 210 votes; 14.06% Write-in: 3 votes; 0.2% Results: Anthony Marinaro: 49 votes; 94.23% Steven McKenna: 2 votes; 3.85% Write-in: 1 vote; 1.92% Results (voting for two): Susan Condon: 35 votes; 52.24% Alfred P. Rabasco: 16 votes; 23.88% William Bedford: 15 votes; 22.39% Write-in: 1 vote; 1.49% Results: Anthony Marinaro: 582 votes; 88.58% David Anthony Mashiah: 75 votes; 11.42% Results (voting for two): Franco Giangrasso: 548 votes; 49.19% Susan Condon: 467 votes; 41.92% Daniel Mosquera: 97 votes; 8.71% Write-in: 2 votes; 0.18% Results: Write-in: 6 votes; 100.00% Rovin Persaud: 0 votes; 0% Suzette Persaud: 0 votes; 0% Results (voting for two): Allyson Persaud: 4 votes; 40.00% Reese Persaud: 4 votes; 40.00% Luis Rodriguez: 2 votes; 20.00% Results: Catherine Giordano: 321 votes; 54.50% James Schmitt: 268 votes; 45.50% Results (District 4): Louis Musella: 104 votes; 60.82% Lauri Taylor: 67 votes; 39.18% Results: Steven Frazier: 216 votes; 62.07% Charles Richwine: 131 votes; 37.64% Write-in: 1 vote; 0.29% This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Dutchess County 2025 Primary Election: See results
