With crime rising statewide in the wake of disastrous criminal-justice reforms, President Joe Biden failing spectacularly and Donald Trump not on the ballot, New York Republicans had a good night Tuesday — but it was the left that really took a beating.
In Buffalo, incumbent Mayor Byron Brown pulled an unprecedented recovery after losing the Democratic primary to socialist India Walton, winning big purely with write-in votes. Walton’s defeat is a humiliation for all the New York pols who backed her, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and city Comptroller-elect Brad Lander, as well as Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who declined to endorse Walton, stand vindicated. More so for Long Island’s Rep. Tom Suozzi, who enthusiastically endorsed Brown.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams’ victory Tuesday, though a foregone conclusion, is another setback for the hard left, since he refuses to toe the progressive line on a host of issues.
Not to neglect the GOP’s victories. On Long Island, Republican pro-police and anti-crime candidates for Nassau and Suffolk county district attorney scored blowout wins over their Democratic rivals in a referendum on the no-bail law.
The fury also helped Bruce Blakeman become Nassau County executive, defeating Democratic incumbent Laura Curran, who won four years ago on an anti-corruption platform. Republican Elaine Phillips won the county comptroller race in a landslide.
This is powerful incentive for Democratic state senators on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley to insist on real reform of the no-bail law.
Even in the city, Republicans scored down-ballot victories, winning at least five City Council seats. Vickie Paladino won in an upset in Northeast Queens, while the GOP flipped at least one Democratic seat with Inna Vernikov’s win in South Brooklyn as Brian Fox may knock out Justin Brannan, who was a leading candidate for council speaker, in Bay Ridge-Bensonhurst.
The city’s COVID mandates and progressives’ obsessions with defunding the police and bashing Israel proved too much for those voters.
Democrats licking their wounds at the SOMOS confab in Puerto Rico were pointing fingers at the leftist ideologues looking to take the party over the cliff. Republicans, meanwhile, see cause for hope in next year’s gubernatorial, legislative and congressional contests.
A year ago, the left seemed poised to dominate New York state for the foreseeable future. Tuesday proved that the voters have other ideas.