By Robert Hornak
The Democratic Primary for Mayor of NYC is here, and the outcome could determine what direction both NYC goes in as well as the Democratic Party. The two leading contenders, former Governor Andrew Cuomo and socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, are both deeply flawed characters.
Cuomo is ethically flawed, having been accused of corruption in pay to play schemes that brought down his closest advisor and of inappropriate behavior with female subordinates that forced him to resign. Cuomo, however, is the most centrist candidate in the race representing the old school mainstream Democratic Party.
Mamdani is ideologically flawed as an advocate for Jewish hate and a supporter of authoritarian and destructive socialism which he disguises with a laundry list of giveaways meant to entice people who have a sweet tooth for government treats. Mamdani represents the AOC wing of the party that appeals mostly to young, affluent, white voters, also known to many New Yorkers as hipsters.
The mess this election has created is so bad that the New York Times, the paper of record for many democrats, has shockingly decided not to endorse any candidate for mayor, while laying out the challenges the city faces and has faced for many years. In other words, they say without saying it that past democrat policies have failed to fix the myriad of problems NYC is dealing with.
The Times Editorial Board laments that, “The quality of life has deteriorated over the past decade.” And they point out “Subway trips can have a chaotic or even menacing quality. Nearly half of bus riders board without paying their fares. The number of felony assaults has jumped more than 40 percent over the past decade.” They also state that “The city’s fourth graders… have fallen back in math and reading. Housing has become even less affordable, and homelessness has risen.”
They lay many of these problems at the feet of former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wing of the party which includes Mamdami and his fellow socialists, saying that de Blasio “bears significant responsibility for the city’s problems. He did not take disorder seriously enough, and he set back the city’s K-12 school system. His main legacy is to have contributed to the city’s recent decline.”
While this illustrates the deep divide that currently exists in the Democratic Party, it ignores the basic truth that when it comes to policy, democrats have only offered different degrees of failure.
There is no wing of the Democratic Party advocating for a radically different approach to NYC’s problems. There is nobody calling for a return to broken windows policing or adding thousands more cops to the streets. Instead, they debate whether to defund the police, to replace police with social workers or “community safety officers,” or make no significant changes at all.
On housing, all they offer is more of the same failed policies that have helped to create the current crisis. Force landlords to build “affordable” housing and making every proposed new building a battle over whether they will be 20%, 30%, 40% or more affordable, with the rest of the units ostensibly unaffordable and above where the natural market would otherwise be. And every time they win one of these protracted fights, they claim victory, where no real victory exists in a system that remains obstinately broken.
There is no “Build Baby Build” wing of the party that understands that you can’t affect the law of supply and demand without aggressively creating supply. Instead, they always make the same pledge, to build thousands of “affordable” units that never materialize and never will.
No matter the issue, the Democrats offer more of the same failed policies that they’ve been pushing for decades. They refuse to ask the basic but necessary question – what have we been doing wrong all this time that things are worse, not better?
Rather than take a serious look at new ideas the Democrats are about to engage in an internal crusade over whether to embrace full out socialism or a kinder, gentler version that’s not so in your face and controversial.
So now it’s up to the voters to decide if they want the same, warmed over, recycled policies they have been given for years only with bright new wrapping paper and bows, or will they ask the necessary tough questions, why haven’t any of these “solutions” made the city better and what are our alternatives?
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @RobertHornak on X.
