This will affect real estate policy<\/a> because more moderate Democrats will support DSA\u2019s agenda \u2014 not because they agree with it, but to avoid being primaried by a DSA candidate.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery politician makes decisions based on the next election and nothing else,\u201d political strategist Bradley Tusk said in an interview.<\/p>\n The New York Apartment Association and Real Estate Board of New York will be playing defense for the next year and a half, not advancing their own agenda.<\/p>\n Socialists\u2019 agenda<\/p>\n DSA is all about freezing rents, social housing, taxing the rich and getting Israel\u2019s boot off the Palestinians\u2019 neck.<\/p>\n How are socialists winning elections in a city that gets richer every year<\/a> because of capitalism, has the highest taxes and spends far more than any city on social programs?<\/p>\n In a low-turnout, closed primary (meaning only Democrats could vote), DSA\u2019s relentless door-knocking and Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s support made a major difference for far-left candidates.<\/p>\n Elections rarely turn on a single issue, but the Netanyahu government\u2019s aggression since Hamas\u2019 on Oct. 7 atrocities have been a major motivator for DSA. So has Donald Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re able to capture that emotion and use it to win,\u201d Tusk said. \u201cMamdani did the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n It might seem crazy that Trump and Netanyahu could result in rent stabilization going statewide<\/a> in New York, but that\u2019s the way politics works. Remember how Trump\u2019s election in 2016 led to a progressive takeover of the state Senate in 2018 and radical rent reform in 2019?<\/p>\n The anti-Semitism factor<\/p>\n Many TRD readers don\u2019t want to hear this, but I believe blaming anti-Semitism for growing anti-Israel sentiment, and DSA\u2019s election wins, is a cop-out.<\/p>\n Tusk, who is Jewish<\/a> (like me) and a supporter of Israel, believes underlying anti-Semitism is a factor, but adds, \u201cThe pro-Israel advocates have totally failed to understand that sentiment has shifted among American Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n Tusk has said on his podcast<\/a> that Netanyahu has made it impossible for many Jews to defend his government. One of them, former city comptroller Brad Lander, absolutely crushed moderate incumbent Daniel Goldman in a congressional primary.<\/p>\n I grew up in that district, hanging out in a reform temple where congregants today are decidedly opposed to Netanyahu.<\/p>\n (Goldman has also been critical of Netanyahu, but Lander\u2019s support for the Palestinians was the major policy difference between them. Lander\u2019s win, however, had more to do with his long history in the district. Mamdani\u2019s endorsement also helped.)<\/p>\n Blaming anti-Semitism for anti-landlord sentiment is also shortsighted. It\u2019s more the case that anti-landlord sentiment causes anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n \u201cExtremely lazy\u201d strategy<\/p>\n When candidates backing radical or simplistic policies win, the kneejerk reaction is to throw up your hands and say \u201cthey just hate Jews\u201d or \u201cthey just want free stuff.\u201d The typical response is to fund opposing candidates<\/a>, a strategy that in New York has failed miserably for about a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real estate community and REBNY specifically are guilty of being extremely lazy, politically,\u201d Tusk charged. \u201cThey do the same thing over and over again, which is write checks.\u201d<\/p>\n The DSA and other groups, he said, \u201cwork really hard to build an organization, to recruit candidates, train candidates, do field [work], policy, build a bench.\u201d<\/p>\n Real estate interests, however, \u201cwait until there\u2019s an election, a crisis, and they jump in with money, but at that point the die has been cast.\u201d<\/p>\n One way to elect moderate, rational representatives is to adopt open primaries, as California did. New York City\u2019s charter revision commission decided against<\/a> putting that reform on last November\u2019s ballot, although DSA was open to it.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s own commission now has another chance<\/a>, but given his success under the current rules, and strong opposition to open primaries by the Democratic Party, NAACP and Working Families Party, don\u2019t count on it.<\/p>\n Tusk has been pushing to allow voting by smartphone, because right now only the most motivated people, who are more likely to be ideologues, vote in primaries. Turnout is generally 10 percent to 15 percent.<\/p>\n Tusk ran campaigns for mobile voting in five blue states this year, yet couldn\u2019t get a single law passed. Democrats\u2019 failure to embrace reform could come back to haunt them, as it has in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t keep telling people the same things, relying on the same donors, the same messages,\u201d said Tusk, \u201cand expect a different result.\u201d<\/p>\n \tRead more \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The primary winners poised to shake up real estate<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mamdani-backed candidates sweep NYC\u2019s Democratic primaries<\/p>\n
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