958: Scrambled Storylines
NYC lacks a centrist narrative
We are in a summer of scrambled ideology, with haters tagging pragmatists with a range of their pejoratives. “Abundance” has joined the old standbys of centrist, moderate, corporate, establishment, etc. Nowhere is that more clear than the NYC mayoral race.
Here are a few examples:
Andrew Cuomo is widely regarded as the “centrist” backed by the “establishment”. How did the “establishment” rally around him and make him the de facto moderate candidate? Unions!
Let’s go back to April, months before the late endorsements from President Clinton and former Mayor Bloomberg. Here’s POLITICO:
New York City’s largest private sector union endorsed Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid Friday, adding to the list of politically influential labor organizations backing the scandal-scarred former governor.
The union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, cited the Democrat’s “record of delivering for health care workers” and his work securing a $15 minimum wage, expanding paid family leave, winning marriage equality and defending immigrant rights.
1199 SEIU (200k members) joined 32BJ SEIU (90k members) and many other unions. In the last mayoral election, in 2021, they joined AOC in endorsing Maya Wiley. The election before that, in 2017, they endorsed progressive Bill de Blasio the time before that.
The establishment is … progressive?
One thing Andrew Cuomo is not? The “Abundance” candidate.
Here’s
writing in Slow Boring in a piece titled simply “New York City can do better than Andrew Cuomo”:Andrew Cuomo's policies epitomize the stagnant governance of the past and are representative of the very politics the abundance movement seeks to leave behind.
But who is talking “Abundance” a lot? The socialist!
Zohran Mamdani made waves recently for talking about Abundance on Pod Save America, and went into more detail with Abundance co-author Derek Thompson:
As someone who is very passionate about public goods, I think that we on the left have to be equally passionate about public excellence. One of the most compelling things that I think abundance has brought into the larger conversation is how we can make government more effective, how we can actually deliver on the very ideas that we are so passionate about. Any example of public inefficiency is an opportunity for the argument to be made against the very existence of the public sector. And so to truly make the case time and time again that local government has a role in providing that which is necessary to live a dignified life, you have to ensure that every example of government's attempt to do so is one that is actually successful. That's what speaks to me about abundance.
Now, will Mamdani’s policies actually do that?
has a good piece on why they (mostly) won’t, because “progressive ideas still try to defy economic realities.” One example:Zohran's "government grocery store" idea is nuts. If it succeeded in underselling private stores (which it wouldn't), it would just put a bunch of independent minority-owned and immigrant-owned stores out of business. Insanity.
High turnout is bad for progressives. This has been true for a while, but of particular note today since Mamdani needs low turnout from constituencies, like Black voters, who support Cuomo heavily and are more likely to vote on Election Day. Which, as
notes, creates the situation where progressives are cheering the unhealthily hot day driving down turnout:We’re now in the timeline where liberals are spiking the football at dangerously hot conditions suppressing the vote among vulnerable and marginalized populations.
So who will win in NYC?
: “The Zohran hype feels like hopium. Every poll but two has Cuomo winning, most by double digits!”Lakshya Jain says it is a coin flip, at 55% Cuomo. “Regardless of who wins tomorrow, my takeaway is simple: Left-wing candidates who focus relentlessly on the cost of living have a much bigger lane than those who focus on identity politics. And toxic candidates with scandals will generally underperform fundamentals.”
That would be a good segue to the most interesting ideological scramble of the day: the new
piece on the “Bernie to Blue Dog pipeline”. But we’ll get to that another day.For now, happy Election Day. 958 days until we say that for the presidential primary!