ALBANY — Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the city wing of the Democratic Socialists of America, did not mince words after his slate swept a series of primary races against incumbent Democrats. “She knows we’re coming for her,” he said of Governor Kathy Hochul. Osman Chaudhary, who runs the DSA political team, went further.
He claimed the results amount to “a Democratic Socialist mandate in New York City.” The numbers back the bravado. The DSA emerged undefeated in a select group of congressional and legislative primaries.
Turnout was abysmally low in most areas. But the DSA was superbly organized. Come November, a new wave of radicals is headed for Congress and the state Legislature.
This is not about one election night. It is about what comes next.
The political battleground in New York is being reshaped. The fight is no longer left versus right. It is left versus far left.
And Hochul is the target. State Attorney General Letitia James was caught off guard. She cheered when Eric Adams won the mayoralty.
Tuesday’s results left her seething. She told CNN that “some of the candidates that he supported are individuals who do not understand the politics of New York City, the cultural differences from district to district, who have not been part of the history.” The governor has only herself to blame, critics say.
She ignored warnings not to feed the alligators. Instead, she gave Mayor Adams and his crew billions of taxpayer dollars for their Socialist agenda. That only whetted the alligators’ appetite for more.
Now the governor is on the menu. Consider the math.
Zero. That is the chance a Republican wins in the districts where the DSA candidates just won their primaries. The general election will be a formality.
The real contest was Tuesday. And the DSA won it. What is at stake is not just Hochul’s agenda.
It is the Democratic Party’s direction in New York. The DSA is not a fringe group operating on the margins.
It is now a force that defeated sitting Democrats in their own primaries. It has a mandate, as Chaudhary put it. And it has a target.
Hochul faces a choice. She can change course.
She can stop feeding the alligators. Or she can continue appeasing the far left while satisfying nobody. The DSA is coming for her regardless.
The question is whether she will fight back or keep handing out taxpayer dollars. The governor’s position is precarious. She is caught between a party establishment that wants moderation and a radical flank that wants revolution.
The establishment lost on Tuesday. The radical flank won.
Hochul now has to decide whose side she is on. James’s anger suggests the establishment knows it is in trouble. She cheered Adams on.
She supported his agenda. Now she is watching his acolytes lose to DSA candidates.
The political ground is shifting under her feet too. But the immediate threat is to Hochul. The DSA is organized.
It is disciplined. It turned out its voters in a low-turnout election. That is how you win primaries.
That is how you take over a party. That is what the DSA just did.
The governor has time. November is months away. But the new wave is coming.
The DSA candidates will take their seats. They will push their agenda.
They will demand more money, more power, more concessions. And Hochul will have to decide whether to give it to them or face their wrath. Zero.
That is the number that matters. Zero chance a Republican wins those districts. Zero chance the DSA loses its momentum.
Zero chance Hochul can ignore what just happened. The alligators are fed.
And they are hungry for more.
