By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large
\u201cIf we just come out to vote, like we come out to party, we could never lose,\u201d community activist, Daniel Goodine, told Our Time Press, days after digesting the June 23rd primary results, a low voter turnout, which saw Central Brooklyn losing one incumbent, keeping one, and gaining a new Democratic Socialist Candidate.<\/p>\n
Saying that they are \u201ccapitalists, not socialists,\u201d some Democrats are responding to Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s new perceived kingmaker status, as three of his anti-ICE, \u2018tax the rich\u2019 picks for Congress won their primaries.
Mamdani asked Queens DSA Assemblywoman Claire Valdez to challenge Rep. Nydia Velazquez-endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in his run for Congress; she did and won by 20 percentage points.<\/p>\n
Progressive activist Darializa Avia Cheveliar is set to oust Harlem\u2019s Congressman Adriano Espaillat come November. His other pick for Congress, former City Comptroller Brad Lander beat incumbent Dan Goldman.
On primary election day Mamdani said, \u201cIt\u2019s not just a question of electing more Democrats. It\u2019s a question of electing better Democrats.
\u201cWhen I look at these candidacies, I see in them a willingness to also put working people back at the heart of our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
A week after the primary elections, as Mamdani and the City Council shook hands on the $125 billion budget, navigating the new post-primary political landscape is also on the agenda. Central Brooklyn got a wakeup call, now the analysis begins.<\/p>\n
State Senator Jabari Brisport took almost 79% of the vote, against Marlon Rice in the Bed-Stuy\/Fort Greene 25th District. Eon Huntley garnered 58% of the vote, against incumbent Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman in the Bed-Stuy\/Crown Heights 56th District.<\/p>\n
Activist Goodine, the co-founder of Brownsville\u2019s Men Elevating Leadership continued, \u201cWe don\u2019t know what we are about to experience with this new shift with the DSA, but we know that whatever is happening, we have to protect all the advancements and resources that established residents have worked for decades to attain in communities like Bed Stuy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodine noted, \u201cSome people got up at 2 in the morning just to have a front row to see the Knicks parade. They could have woken up and done the same for those elected officials they wanted. We don\u2019t have 53 years to get this right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cautioning the Tuesday primary election results as \u201cthe political seismic shockwaves that went across New York City and New York State, and across the nation because of the victory of the Democratic Socialists of America \u2013 DSA, and Mayor Zohran Mamadani,\u201d former Assemblyman and City Councilmember Charles Barron told Our Time Press that DSA \u201cpolitics are rooted in rugged individualism, and not in the liberation of the people. <\/p>\n
They are controlled by developers and Wall Street. The Democrats and DSA complained about gentrification, but they are responsible for gentrification coming to their neighborhood. So, we\u2019re stuck between a rock and a hard place.\u201d<\/p>\n
These wins in November will have DSA with four out of the 63 state Senate seats, and 10 of the 150 Assembly seats. Already catapulted to the national watercooler conversations after President Donald Trump\u2019s variety of comments over the last few months, last week\u2019s wins certainly has the Democratic Party paying attention.<\/p>\n
With the progressive candidates poised for some Democratic seats, the result is seen as worrisome for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is reported to be poised to become the speaker should his fellow Democrats take over the chamber in November.<\/p>\n
Through his Operation P.O.W.E.R., Barron said, \u201cThe DSA victories do not mean victories for the nearly 2 million Black people in New York City. We do not want to change political plantation masters from the Democratic Party to the Democratic Socialists of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
He slammed Mamdani\u2019s city budget and current policies as \u201cnot socialist, but are similar to the capitalist Democratic Party\u2019s bad budget and policies. Just as the Franklin Delano Roosevelt New Deal was no real deal for Black people in the 1930s, neither are DSA victories real victories for Black people here in New York in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n
Political strategist Jeff Leb told NY Focus that \u201cZohran is the catalyst\u2026His win woke people up.\u201d
Speaking on ABC \u2018This Week,\u2019 on Sunday, Mamdani declared, \u201cI think democratic socialism at the heart is pragmatic, because if we cannot deliver for working people, then what is this for?\u201d
Self-titled \u201cDemocratic socialist retail worker and three-term PTA president,\u201d
Eon Huntley said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been told socialists don\u2019t represent the Black community, that socialism couldn\u2019t win here, and what we\u2019ve proven instead is that the Black socialists are the future. Democratic socialism is about the Good Life for all, and that is what has won tonight, and that is what is going to win in November, in 2028 and on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huntley\u2019s running mate, Senator Brisport, said, \u201cWe did this for Bed-Stuy and each other. \u201cWe assembled an unprecedented working-class coalition to fight against the over half a million dollars in billionaire spending that poured into Bed-Stuy. This is just the beginning of a Democratic Socialist
political revolution sweeping not just Brooklyn, but the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she \u201ccongratulated all of the winners,\u201d Attorney General Tish James told Our Time Press that \u201cCreative tension\u2026 is a catalyst for a movement. A movement focusing on affordability, a movement focusing on 2028, focusing on November, a movement which recognizes that we should not have masked agents running around in New York state, a movement which focuses on the need to address poverty, to address income disparity, to focus on the cost of housing in the state of New York. <\/p>\n
All throughout the history of the Democratic Party, there has been tension. But it resulted in a table that includes women, people of color, immigrants, and others who, unfortunately, feel that their lives are not being addressed. And so, as we continue to sit down and talk with those who won, it\u2019s going to do nothing but broaden our tent. And it will do nothing but result in a victory in 2028 and in November.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Stefani L. Zinerman-Tokponwe was reflective as the count came in, \u201cMy heart is full\u2026I am a daughter of Bedford-Stuyvesant\u2026Serving as your Assemblymember\u2014together, we secured millions of dollars in investments for our community, protected homeowners from deed theft, supported small businesses, expanded opportunities for young people, advanced healthcare initiatives, strengthened nonprofit organizations, and helped ensure that Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights continued to have a strong voice in Albany\u2026<\/p>\n
To the next generation of leaders\u2014especially the young Black women watching and men\u2014know that your voice matters, your service matters, and your leadership is needed. Never allow anyone else to define your worth or limit your vision for what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Nayaba ArindeEditor at Large\u201cIf we just come out to vote, like we come out to party, we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-286600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}