Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
Read the pedestal: “My name is Jonathan Cervas, Special Master. Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Yes, after the court appointed redistricting expert redrew the state Senate and Congressional maps, would you be surprised if New York turned to dust and ruin? How is this state supposed to manage with so many competitive seats? No incumbent is safe!
Linda Rosenthal & Jess Schafroth -
It’s passed the state Senate twice now without a single legislator voting against it – and now the Assembly has finally indicated that it will approve the Adult Survivors Act too. Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal can finally celebrate her bill’s passage after seeing her colleagues in the upper chamber pass it without issue. What’s been the hold up? Who can say (other than the Assembly speaker). But now his spokesperson says “it appears” the bill has enough votes to pass. A win is a win, and Rosenthal and activists like Jess Schafroth (among so many others) will surely take it. Just… with a little caution. This is Albany after all, where one’s word doesn’t mean much until the ink has dried.
Bill de Blasio -
The former New York City mayor finally got some positive feedback on a possible run for political office, for now anyway. The perpetual candidate launched an exploratory committee to run for the newly proposed 10th congressional district, which covers his home neighborhood of Park Slope. Compared to reactions to his presidential campaign and gubernatorial inquiry, the announcement was well-received, but not without caveats. De Blasio would have a hard time winning over the Orthodox Jewish community in Borough Park, where he’s widely blamed for hamstringing businesses with COVID-19 lockdowns, one local insider told City & State. And citywide “many primary voters pin the blame squarely on de Blasio’s shoulders” for an increase in crime, pollster Bradley Honan said.
Frank Carone -
Folks following Eric Adams’ financial advice aren’t always so lucky. Cryptocurrency prices cratered not long after Hizzoner converted his first paycheck to Bitcoin. But the mayor’s chief of staff was, uh, “reasonably successful,” making nearly half a million bucks on a BolaWrap investment – which he doubled up on after the then-Brooklyn Beep endorsed the crime-fighting product. The mayor and his chief of staff didn’t work together at the time, so even though Carone has been relentlessly scrutinized, Teflon Frank hasn’t been canceled (yet).
Elise Stefanik -
The man accused of killing 10 people in a racist attack in Buffalo last weekend cited the conspiracy known as “great replacement theory,” which asserts that people of color are replacing the political power of white Americans. A number of figures on the right who have echoed or espoused that same theory denied doing so after they were called out for it following the attack in Buffalo, including Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik. Party colleagues defended Stefanik against assertions that she has echoed that racist conspiracy. But her past campaign ads warning that Democrats planned a “permanent election insurrection” by granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants tell a different story.
Sean Patrick Maloney & Mondaire Jones -
Redistricting changes have made a mess out of the Democratic congressional delegation’s election plans. And Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney only chose to make things messier by committing to running in a redrawn district mostly made up of Rep. Mondaire Jones’ current one. Unsurprisingly, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee abandoning his purple seat in a tough midterm year to nab a slightly safer seat held by a well-liked Black freshman legislator did not go over well. Rep. Ritchie Torres called the decision “thinly veiled racism” and now some members from swing districts are even talking about ousting Maloney from serving as chair of the DCCC. The whole snafu leaves Jones in an unenviable position. Does he take on a tough run against Maloney or instead challenge fellow progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman in his district? No easy answers here, and no winners either.
Carolyn Maloney & Jerry Nadler -
Who doesn’t love a face-off between longtime powerful allies turned rivals, a classic Batman vs. Superman tale? Well not Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, who are being shoved into such a battle thanks to Lex Luthor – sorry, the special master – who drafted a new district pitting them against each other. And assuming the maps stay in place, the only option for avoiding a showdown between the two influential incumbents is if one opts for an early retirement. Only question is, who would it even be?