At the 2022 Socialism Conference, a new generation of radical young organizers revivifies the US left.
In the past year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has gone from being a national media darling and fantasy presidential contender to a forlorn, scandal-plagued figure, walking the executive grounds enrobed in a blanket. Before the pandemic, most politically engaged New Yorkers knew Cuomo as a bully and a tyrant—traits…
A few days before May Day, Marcela Mitaynes, a Brooklyn tenant organizer who is running for the New York State Assembly, started getting calls from neighbors she hadn’t heard from in a while. Rent was due, and they were worried about paying. Many were already living paycheck to paycheck before…
Representative Carolyn Maloney was one of a record number of women elected to federal office in 1992 in the wake of Anita Hill’s testimony. She has remained popular, and won every race for reelection to date, in spite of primary challenges. Maloney was already up against three candidates in the…
New York’s Democratic voters sent a new class of true-blue legislators to Albany in 2018. With the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature firmly under Democratic control—and a raft of progressive bills rapidly signed into law—many hoped this would be the year New York finally enacted single-payer…
It’s a new day in Albany. Democrats finally have full control of the legislature; rising stars like Alessandra Biaggi and Julia Salazar are injecting the state capital with much-needed progressive energy; and the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group that for decades stymied progressive legislation by caucusing with the Republicans,…
In February, Albany held its first hearing on sexual harassment since 1992, after Anita Hill thrust the issue into the national spotlight. Many women in that pre-hashtag era were inspired by Hill’s testimony to share their own painful stories. One was then Assembly member Earlene H. Hill, who said publicly…
Two posters hang on the door of New York State Assembly member Richard Gottfried’s Albany office. One has a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., underneath a quote: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” The other says “Healthcare is…
In January, State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who represents Greenburgh, part of White Plains, part of New Rochelle, part of Yonkers, and Scarsdale in Westchester County, became the first woman—and the first black woman—to lead the New York State Senate in its 242-year history.
On June 26, few people outside New York’s 14th Congressional District knew who Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was. But by the next day, when news spread that she’d toppled her opponent, 10-term Representative Joseph Crowley, in the Democratic congressional primary, she was a national celebrity. She appeared on CNN, Meet the Press,…
The streets of Jackson Heights, Queens, bustle with residents wearing kurtas, shalwar kameez, headscarves, and abayas. Signs are in multiple languages; restaurants advertise cuisines from around the world. In the middle sits New York State Assembly candidate Catalina Cruz’s campaign office, in a building that also houses immigration lawyers and…
At a fundraiser held earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that Democrats “have achieved political clarity” by watching Republicans rule in Washington, DC: “Everything we are for, they are against,” Cuomo stated. “It’s that simple.” But politics—especially in Cuomo’s Albany—is never simple. For years, Cuomo enabled a…
On Monday evening, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer was scheduled to host a town-hall meeting at his reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE), a historic building on a tree-lined Brooklyn block. Ever since Donald Trump’s election, Schumer has faced growing anger from progressive Democrats infuriated by his stated willingness to…
Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three actions every Tuesday. In Colorado’s first congressional district, which includes the city and county of Denver and the suburbs of Glendale, Englewood, Sheridan, and Cherry Hills Village, two women are vying for the seat currently held by Representative Diana…
In the Democratic primary on June 26, voters in New York’s 14th Congressional District will choose between two candidates: insurgent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and incumbent Joseph Crowley. Though they nominally belong to the same party, Ocasio-Cortez represents an ascendant enthusiasm for economic justice that has helped make Senator Bernie Sanders the…