NY Democrats' conflict with progressives eases as key election nears

ALBANY — While progressive insurgents have racked up wins against party-backed Democrats in recent years, the tide has receded this year as both groups face a shared target in Republicans hoping to stage a conservative comeback.

The pattern is highlighted by several wins by party-backed, establishment candidates in this summer's Democratic primaries as well as a lack of new progressive candidates threatening to siphon votes from Democratic nominees on the November ballot. And it comes as Republican challengers threaten core Democratic values, including abortion rights and gun control, according to political analysts.

“There is a common enemy that drives Democrats back together,” said Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor emeritus of political science at SUNY New Paltz.

Beginning in 2018, progressive and socialist-backed members successfully challenged some Democratic incumbents who had been liberal lions in state politics for decades. They included activist Emily Gallagher’s 2020 win in Brooklyn over Assemb. Joe Lentol, who for 46 years was one of the chamber’s liberal leaders.

“The Democratic Party has always been periodically roiled by ideological or other differences. It’s a natural consequence of the devitalization of political competition between parties,” Benjamin said, referring to Democrats holding every statewide seat and controlling the State Legislature. The conflict “is driven inside the major party, until itself cracks.”

Those cracks included the historic 2018 upset by little-known Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a Bronx-Queens district when she beat powerful Rep. Joe Crowley, who had served in Congress since 1999.

Over the last two election cycles, at least seven progressive candidates upset more moderate, establishment liberals in state legislative primaries. Progressives and socialists also had some high-profile wins in New York's congressional primaries.

“The pure progressives or the woke left as they are sometimes called have grown as a factor in Democratic primaries,” said Bruce Gyory, a Democratic strategist who studies election results and trends. He said these wins helped progressives grow to 30% to 35% of a Democratic primary vote total.

Then came this year, an election year for every statewide office, including governor and every State Legislature seat.

In the June primaries, Gov. Kathy Hochul defeated by a 67% to 20% margin New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive leader who advocated for defunding the police. Williams’ running mate for the lieutenant governor’s nomination, activist Ana Maria Archila, lost to Hochul’s running mate, Rep. Antonio Delgado, 60% to 25%. In a heated congressional race in the Hudson Valley, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a leading Democrat in Congress, defeated state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a leading progressive leader in Albany, 70% to 29%.

“It’s clear that Democrats are coming home, and that Democrats are energized,” said state Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs.

Analysts said that if Democrats stick together, the party’s enrollment advantage of more than 2-1 over Republicans could be insurmountable in most legislative, congressional and statewide office races in November. But if the growing liberal wing is sufficiently upset by the party’s centrist turn, they could choose not to vote, as progressives did nationally in 2016.

That was when large swaths of young, liberal supporters of progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Black and Hispanic Democrats, and Democratic-leaning independents didn’t show up in force at the polls to vote for Hillary Clinton in her 2016 loss to Donald Trump, according to a SurveyMonkey.com exit poll cited by many political analysts.

“This isn’t 2016 when [progressives] assumed Clinton was going to win, so Sanders’ voters felt it was OK to wander off the farm,” said Lee Miringoff, political science professor at Marist College and director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “Progressive Democrats didn’t score big upsets in the primaries; pragmatism and electability are in vogue.”

Democrats say they are unified in part because of Republicans and their continued allegiance to former President Donald Trump, who is unpopular in New York.

“The Republicans have really painted themselves as far-right extremists,” said Jacobs, the state Democratic chairman. “Across the broad spectrum, Democrats this time see a particular threat. We don’t have the luxury of perfection. It’s more important that we elect Democrats, and they tend to be moderate progressives at this point and that’s what appeals to the electorate at large.”

In a well-financed ad campaign, Democrats are stressing that Trump appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court this summer overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had made abortion a right nationwide. Democrats also paint a dystopian picture of Republican rule with images of violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a widely distributed mailer from the state Democratic Party this month, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Shirley, the Republican candidate for governor, is described as an “extreme MAGA Republican” and an “extremist who wants to ban all abortions in New York.”

Republicans, however, are trying to use the progressive and socialist movements within the Democratic Party to paint the whole party as extreme.

“What is the moderation?” asked state Republican chairman Nick Langworthy. “We’ve been trying to fight socialism at all levels … the dangerousness of the policies is something that will be on full display.”

Polls show rising crime is a top issue for New Yorkers, often followed by the cost of living, and both are atop the GOP platform. Republicans argue that Hochul, who took office in August 2021 after then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment accusations, is too inexperienced but also is responsible for the failings of the Cuomo administration because she was lieutenant governor for seven years.

But a united Democratic force would be a formidable foe even if the GOP platform gains more traction among voters.

“It will be absolutely good for the Democrats in November,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political strategist. “This election has calmed everyone down because they don’t want Lee Zeldin.”

The new progressives are focusing on the 2023 legislative session and beyond, noting that even this year they protected their incumbents in the Legislature and two challengers won against “machine-backed Democrats” despite being greatly outspent.

“We’re headed into the next legislative session with more progressive champions than ever before,” said Sharon Cromwell, deputy director of the liberal Working Families Party.

For now, the center holds.

“Once it’s over, it’s back to the fight,” Sheinkopf said. “Ascending politicians have a great memory for vengeance.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.