Democrats!

Grrr . . .

Zohran is taking up all the oxygen these days, so you all should pay some attention to this photogenic dude too.

He is Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh, and he ought to become mayor of the great city of Minneapolis.

Used to be, when anyone leftish complained about an annointed Democratic Party nominee, we were scolded for helping the other side. Sadly, that principle does not apply conversely. Now when a progressive wins a nomination, fair and square, the party establishment goes for sabotage. It would rather lose elections than lose party control.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in New York State, and the campaign of Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City is not the only example. We previously observed Governor Andrew Cuomo blocking progressive Democratic Party majorities in the state legislature. Then there was his craven betrayal of the Working Families Party with the creation of a fake “Women’s Equality Party.” Progressive incumbents are not immune either, witness the party’s defenestration of Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

Now of course there is Cuomo’s move to steal the mayoralty from the official Democratic nominee, Mamdani, aided by abstention from NY Democratic Hack #1, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Hack #2, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn. We previously had what should have been infamous, the abandonment of India Walton in Buffalo, another Democratic primary victor who was blocked from an otherwise likely ascent to office.

It should not be surprising that among state party machines, the New York crew is the worst. Dedicated to blocking any competing electoral efforts by fair means or foul, failing to exploit its formidable electoral base for the sake of liberal causes. How else could a slug like Eric Adams become a mayoral Democratic standard-bearer. The sclerosis is incredible.

I was not among those who complained about the party bigs’ gang-up on Bernie, spear-headed by Barack Obama, King Bamboozle, in 2020. They stole the nomination but followed the rules. The New York episodes are something different.

My policy on electoral efforts is that for state or local races, everything is fair game for any sort of project, including third parties. There is only limited damage that one can do at that level. Maine survived Governor Paul LePage. You can’t get much lower.

Congress and the presidency are different. The potential damage is unlimited, as we have already seen. So when it comes to national elections, I reluctantly support following the party to whatever doom it is determined to lead us to. But I have a few exceptions.

One is that in a district where progressive prospects are good, vigorous primary campaigns ought to be waged. I do not accept the premise that such campaigns weaken the eventual victor for the general election. My reasoning is two-fold. One, such a campaign could strengthen the victor, by generating buzz and subjecting the winner to battle-testing. Two is, so what. Just do it. You can’t lie on your back forever.

Another case pertains to bright-red jurisdictions where the Democrats’ prospects are so hopeless the party itself can barely bring itself to mount a campaign. There it is worth seeking to arouse a possible populist, rural, working class core with a kick-ass lefty platform. You never know who will come out of the woodwork. At the least your organization gets some juice.

In general you go for the best you can get. Here in Virginia, that ain’t much, but it beats the hell out of the alternative. For instance, Virginia is the last state from the Confederacy where reproductive rights endure, if tentatively. Our knife-edge state legislative majority commends risk aversion, but as I said above, you can’t be risk averse all the time. We do have a scatter of localities where a real lefty could get to the lower house of the state legislature and make good trouble. It’s already happened. Nobody is stepping forward now, so we’re not quite ready, but the opportunities are here for an ambitious, energetic progressive.

A political constraint is that where progressives are popular enough to win elections outright — the big cities — local governments have the least power. I’ve speculated that since New York City is where so many voters are, it ought to be able to influence the state legislature to afford Mayor Mamdani some policy accomplishments. Unfortunately, it will depend on a Cuomo crony, the uninspiring Governor Kathy Hochul. By then, hopefully Andrew Cuomo will be where he belongs, the newest Florida Man.