The Center Can Hold at New York City, Despite the Far Left’s Capture of the Democratic Party

New York’s primary elections, which end on Tuesday, are shaping up as a contest between yesterday’s Democrats and today’s Democratic Socialists of America. The far left’s ascendancy in the primary voting offers a warning, and a lesson, for New Yorkers aiming to advance a moderate, or even conservative, reform agenda.Consider the incumbent in Brooklyn’s 10th District, Congressman Dan Goldman. He was lead counsel for President Trump’s impeachment, joined a lawsuit demanding congressional access to ICE detention facilities, and is a card-carrying member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. None of it is enough. Mr. Goldman is facing the fight of his political life against the former city comptroller, Brad Lander, who carries the endorsement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.The chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Adriano Espaillat, is in nearly the same position — primaried by a DSA organizer, Darializa Avila Chevalier, in a district where Mr. Mamdani’s coalition turned out in force less than a year ago. Mr. Espaillat’s challenger attended anti-Israel rallies on October 8, 2023, is a prison abolitionist who opposes jail for murderers, and calls for revoking a rule that keeps violent criminals out of New York City public housing.Representative Ritchie Torres on Capitol Hill, July 17, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesOnce a darling of the Democratic establishment, Congressman Ritchie Torres faces multiple primary challengers from the left, each attacking him for his unapologetic support of Israel.Congressman Hakeem Jeffries narrowly escaped a primary challenge from DSA member Chi Ossé — but only because Mr. Ossé, wisely, refused to run without DSA machine support.The open seat left by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez’s retirement has become a direct test of whether a DSA-backed candidate can beat an established progressive Democrat, in this case, the Brooklyn borough president, Antonio Reynoso.The lesson should be clear by now: There is no version of “progressive enough” that satisfies the DSA. Its candidates thrive in the closed primary system where low turnout rewards ideological discipline and base mobilization over broad appeal. Mr. Mamdani didn’t win the mayoralty because most New Yorkers wanted democratic socialism. Zohran Mamdani speaks after winning the mayoral election. AP/Yuki IwamuraHe won because his campaign built a groundbreaking social media operation that turned out his voters in June — and because no credible opponent had prepared to mount a serious challenge in November. Anti-Mamdani Democrats, independents, and Republicans were quickly cobbled together for a last-minute Hail Mary pass that fell far short. Nevertheless, the general election is the only place where that coalition of voters can coalesce. So why is the opposition still fighting on the unfavorable terrain of the Democratic primary?The answer is a piece of conventional wisdom so old and so often repeated that it is now accepted as gospel: The Democratic primary decides the election in New York City. That maxim, once true, is now a trap — and it is the DSA’s single most valuable structural asset. As long as voters and donors believe it, money keeps flowing into Democratic primaries where moderate and progressive Democrats alike are vulnerable to DSA challenges, and where independents and Republicans cannot vote at all.At first blush, the registration math appears to support the conventional wisdom. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans at New York City by roughly six to one. That sounds like a fortress. Yet Democrats versus everyone else — independents, third-party registrants, Republicans — is closer to two to one. Mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall on January 29, 2013. Robert Miller-pool/Getty ImagesAnd within those Democratic registration numbers is a large, unmeasured population of voters who are disgusted with the party’s direction and reject this administration’s agenda; hundreds of thousands of whom voted against Mr. Mamdani, but who are still registered Democrats because they believe the primary is the only place their vote counts.The coalition that can actually defeat DSA candidates exists. It is made up of three groups: Non-DSA Democrats, many of whom are done being told that opposing democratic socialism makes them right-wing, independents who have no party home and no primary vote, and Republicans who represent a small but real share of the electorate. These three groups, voting in significant numbers in a November general election, represent the only real threat to a DSA primary winner. Yet that coalition can only be assembled in the general — which means, when the moment demands it, voting for a Republican. New Yorkers have done it before. Twice, they elected Michael Bloomberg in 2001 and 2005 when the lifelong Democrat ran as a Republican on a message of moderation and competence.The winning anti-DSA coalition cannot be built inside a Democratic primary. Every cycle spent trying to out-organize the DSA on their most favorable turf is a cycle wasted.The Democratic primary used to decide New York City elections because the Democratic Party used to represent the largest swath of voters of New York City. That version of the party is gone. The party is now the host for the DSA agenda. The sooner the opposition accepts that, the sooner it can build a strategy designed actually to win — in November’s general election with November’s voters.

The Center Can Hold at New York City, Despite the Far Left’s Capture of the Democratic Party

The Center Can Hold at New York City, Despite the Far Left’s Capture of the Democratic Party

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