Democrats’ blame game erupts over New York’s midterm losses

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The finger-pointing of Democrats in New York began after Republicans managed to score notable victories in the Blue Bastion.

Although the GOP failed to oust Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Republicans did manage to unseat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (DN.Y.), the chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, and overturned several other Democratic ballot races in the 3rd, 4th and 19th congressional districts.

The Democratic losses led to recriminations among some of the party’s most prominent figures, who pointed fingers at everything from redistricting to Hochul’s perceived weakness to mismanagement of the state party apparatus.

“A good night could have been a good night if the NY Dems hadn’t messed up the redistricting and ignored voters’ concerns about crime and disorder. Those mistakes cost the House Dems winnable seats and forced the Dems to squander millions of dollars that could have gone elsewhere. It’s time to correct course, ”tweeted Howard Wolfson, adviser to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D).

Meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) blamed “big money and old-school politics and calcified machinery” within the Party leadership. New York State Democrat and argued that “the overreliance and insistence on relying on Republican crime and safety narratives has hurt New York State Democrats.

It led to a bit of a back-and-forth between her and Maloney, who said in a separate interview with The Times that the congresswoman “had almost nothing to do” with the Democrats’ impressive performance at the Chamber and that it had only offered some financial support to the battlefield candidates.

Maloney himself didn’t seem sure why Democrats had performed so poorly in those few House districts, though he suggested in the Times interview that Republicans’ messages on crime may have resonated. with voters and that Zeldin’s candidacy for governor gave them reason to run.

For Republicans, New York was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise disappointing night. Republican George Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the state’s 3rd District while GOP nominee Anthony D’Esposito won against Democrat Laura Gillen in the 4th. According to Congressional New Lines, President Biden won these districts in 2020 by 8 points and nearly 15 points, respectively.

Maloney also took a hit and lost his seat to Republican Mike Lawler in the 17th District, capping roughly a decade in Congress after he made the controversial decision to run in that district instead of the one he currently represented; the move forced another House Democrat to run elsewhere. Meanwhile, in the 19th arrondissement, Republican Marc Molinaro rebuffed a challenge from Democrat Josh Riley.

Some Democrats have argued that the Republicans’ strategy to seize on crime concerns ultimately cost the party a few seats.

“New Yorkers…especially in the New York and Albany media markets for several months leading up to Election Day were blanketed in advertisements focused solely on crime, on safety. It was not a data-driven conversation, it was an emotional conversation based on the purpose of stoking fear, and that message was extremely well-funded and extremely cohesive,” said Jon Reinish, a former aide to the senator. Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.).

“I think it really rallied Republicans, voters in suburban Putnam County and Nassau County and Suffolk. Many of them are swing voters,” he added. “Yes, they tend to generally support Democrats. But I think they were persuaded by the consistency of that message, and it was hard to get over it.

But Basil Smikle, the former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, said the “redistricting chaos” in the state, in addition to Hochul’s perceived lack of tails for consistent candidates, complicated the efforts of the Democrats.

A Democratic gerrymander of congressional lines that the state legislature had approved was voted down earlier this year, and a court-appointed special master redrew the lines, pitting incumbents against each other and forcing lawmakers to reintroduce in new districts.

“It seemed like for a while it almost looked like the governor had no sides, and that’s a problem when the top of your ticket has no sides,” Smikle said. “And I’m not saying she didn’t, but what I’m saying is that the behavior suggests she didn’t.”

But Smikle noted there also appeared to be a missed opportunity to highlight other notable Democratic names on the ballot, such as State Attorney General Letitia James and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. , which could have helped boost the downside Democratic candidates.

“These are big names that even if you didn’t think the governor had tailcoats, all of these others have tailcoats… What’s the deal with the rest of the ticket kinda cling to each or any of these candidates?” said Smile. “So I think that’s the piece that people really hang on to, that there just didn’t seem to be a coordinated effort.”

Indeed, while Hochul still prevailed in her race against Republican Lee Zeldin, she won by less than 6 points. In downstate suburban counties, Zeldin led it by 17 points in Suffolk, 11 points in Nassau and 12 points in Rockland.

Thomas Doherty, who served as an aide to former Gov. George Pataki (R), noted that Hochul was still in a position to win his election more than a year after taking office following the former’s resignation Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) and as a relatively new face to New Yorkers.

“It’s a big deal,” said Doherty, who added that she had done an effective job using abortion as a campaign issue.

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Still, he said crime was a salient problem in the state and the quality of GOP candidates helped Republicans win key victories. He added that Republicans need to attract more candidates that reflect New York in order to maintain those wins going forward.

“I think the Republican Party needs to continue to field good candidates — candidates that are representative and look like New York. We must present Asian candidates. You must nominate African American candidates. You must win Hispanic applicants. It must be a party,” he said.

“And I think people will become more comfortable then and not think of the Republican Party as the national Republican Party, which in many cases tends to be very white.”

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