Post by trueblue on Aug 14, 2022 5:15:45 GMT
On the first day of early voting ahead of New York’s August 23 Democratic primaries for the House, the New York Times editorial board made its long-anticipated endorsements. For Jerry Nadler, Sean Patrick Maloney, and Dan Goldman, it was the endorsement they likely craved most. For those who lost out — and there were many — it was a serious blow, one they will have to battle to overcome in the next ten days.
All of this is obvious and not particularly new. The Times’ backing in high-profile local contests has always mattered. The national Democratic electorate is not merely comprised of the college-educated and those who routinely consume flowery news copy. In New York City and its surrounding suburbs, though, a Times endorsement can often be decisive. The publication’s most loyal readers, densely packed into Manhattan and the affluent quarters of Brooklyn, eagerly await the paper’s word. And in a diminished media environment where the tabloids, hit by budget cuts, can’t pack the same punch, the Times looms even larger.
With the exception of Nadler, who was basically forced into running against his colleague, Carolyn Maloney, the choices were surprising. The newspaper often prizes identity and gender when choosing candidates. Its co-endorsement of Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar in the 2020 Democratic primary was about electing the first female president. In 2021, the Times backed Kathryn Garcia, who was seeking to become the first female mayor of New York. Like other elite institutions in the past few years, the Times has striven to diversify its own ranks and embrace at least some of the precepts popularized by the likes of Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo. Yet in choosing three white men for Congress, the newspaper’s editorial board seems to be, implicitly at least, pivoting in a different direction.
What is just as notable is the Times’ growing disdain for the progressive left. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has long warred with Democrats in his own district and aligned himself with the party’s centrist wing. When Andrew Cuomo was governor, Maloney was one of his closest allies, and the two unabashedly fundraised from the same real estate and corporate interests. In 2018, Maloney ran for state attorney general in a bid that was interpreted by many to be chiefly focused on kneecapping the rising progressive — and fierce Cuomo critic — Zephyr Teachout. Maloney did not win, but neither did Teachout. These days, the Police Benevolent Association is spending more than $400,000 to attack Maloney’s opponent on the left, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi. Two years ago, the PBA backed Donald Trump’s re-election. (Maloney, who is openly gay, has denounced Trump plenty.)