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james clyburn
As Dem Establishment Backs Cuomo, Calls Grow for NYC Mayor Race to Be 'Referendum' on Party's Direction
"Cuomo winning will not only legitimize the Islamophobia that has dominated this race... but would also prove that you really can just waltz in and buy an election," said one observer.
Jun 22, 2025
With two days to go until the last day of voting in New York City's mayoral primary, two last-minute endorsements for disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo from top Democratic establishment figures underscored how the election's impact could reach far beyond the city's borders.
"This NYC mayoral primary NEEDS to be a referendum on the direction of [the] Democratic Party itself, as well as a repudiation of the uninspiring dinosaurs who run it," said writer Ashley Reese in response to former President Bill Clinton's announcement of support for Cuomo.
In a move that was called "predictable" by several observers, Clinton said he would endorse the former governor—who resigned amid numerous allegations of sexual harassment—and record a robocall telling voters that Cuomo "knows how to get things done."
The announcement came two days after progressive state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan and met with voters across the borough, after biking through Brooklyn with city Comptroller Brad Lander, another mayoral candidate who recently cross-endorsed with Mamdani—calling on voters to rank them first and second on their ranked-choice voting ballots.
On Friday, the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way published a memo saying it was "deeply alarmed" by Mamdani's candidacy, which has gained national attention as the democratic socialist has surged in polls and released viral online videos promoting his plans to freeze rent for rent-stabilized tenants and to open government-run grocery stores to keep prices on essential goods low.
Third Way said it was concerned about Mamdani's affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and highlighted what they said were "extreme" policy proposals embraced by the DSA, including demands to:
- Guarantee publicly available water, energy, transit, food, and other necessities for all, free of charge;
- Provide free and democratic public college and, where viable, free private college for all;
- Establish public ownership and funding of our healthcare system; and
- Dramatically slash U.S. military spending to a level sufficient for a genuine national defense, not the projection of power outside the country.
"If a DSA member like Mamdani were to win the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor—or, worse, win the general election in November—it would be terrible for the city," reads the Third Way memo. "Do New Yorkers really want socialist city-run grocery stores?"
According to an April survey by the Climate & Community Institute and Data for Progress, they do. Two-thirds of New Yorkers said they support the creation of municipal grocery stores, five of which would be run alongside private stores under Mamdani's plan, including 72% of Democratic voters. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they were paying more for groceries than they were last year.
Cuomo, whose donors include billionaires who also supported President Donald Trump, has consistently been in first place in most polls ahead of the Democratic primary election, but Mamdani has gained momentum while relying largely on small-dollar donors and has doubled his support among some groups of voters, including Latinos.
Politico reporter Emily Ngo said the race has emerged as a "proxy battle" between Democratic centrists and progressives nationally, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urging New Yorkers to back Mamdani.
In the last days of the race, progressives have accused Cuomo of embracing Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani. The former governor said Mamdani's refusal to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," which includes the Arabic word for uprising and has been associated with the fight for Palestinian rights, could "fuel hate" and "murder." He also attacked Mamdani at a debate for saying Israel has a right to exist as a country "with equal rights."
"Cuomo winning will not only legitimize the Islamophobia that has dominated this race, or highlight the fact that the party doesn't care about women's safety, but would also prove that you really can just waltz in and buy an election," said Reese. "Cuomo must lose on principle."
Despite signs that voters are responding positively to Mamdani's call for "a city we can afford," Third Way executive vice president Matt Bennett insisted in an interview with Politico on Saturday that a Mamdani victory would allow Republicans to attach the Democratic Party "to ideas that are outside of the mainstream" on a national level.
The Third Way memo was released as another high-profile endorsement for Cuomo, from U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), was announced. The congressman said Cuomo—who recently suggested protests against the Trump administration's immigration raids at workplaces in Los Angeles were an "overreaction"—would "play an important role in the future of the national Democratic Party" and had the "character to not just serve New York, but help save the nation."
Progressive organizer Aaron Regunberg said Clyburn's endorsement was a display of "geriatric Democratic elites" pushing to "hold onto their power" at the expense of their voters.
"Since November, the party has been plagued by battles over whether it has moved too far to the left," wrote Mara Gay at The New York Times on Thursday. "But there are signs that Mr. Mamdani is gaining support not only among the far left but also among those who have long voted for establishment Democrats. One poll showed him eating into Mr. Lander's base in brownstone Brooklyn, an area of middle-class families, young professionals, and moneyed homeowners. It appears a growing number of Democrats don't see Mr. Mamdani’s vows to provide free buses and free child care and to increase taxes on the wealthy as threatening or outlandish. They see them as necessary."
Musician and journalist Jesse Brenneman allowed that establishment Democrats may have reason to worry about Mamdani's growing appeal to New Yorkers.
"If a popular, non-party-aligned left politician gets elected and tries to follow through on popular reforms it could lead to people thinking the same thing could happen elsewhere," said Brenneman, "the Democratic Party's worst nightmare."
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Entire House Democratic Leadership Backs Anti-Choice Cuellar in 2024 Run
"It's galling to see leadership muster behind Cuellar, of all people at all times," said one advocate.
Aug 03, 2023
With well over a year before the 2024 election, and as a pro-choice immigration rights attorney is reportedly weighing a primary run, all four of the top Democratic leaders in the U.S. House on Thursday announced their support for anti-abortion rights Rep. Henry Cuellar in his reelection bid.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), and Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) all announced their endorsements of the right-wing Democrat, who has represented Texas' 28th district since 2005.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) also voiced their support for Cuellar, who in addition to being the only anti-abortion rights Democrat in the House, has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association indicating his anti-gun control views.
Wondering why the influential top Democrats are focusing on Cuellar's district at this point, advocate and political strategist Jen Bluestein called the leaders' move "galling" considering the ongoing Republican attacks on abortion rights across the country.
"If Cuellar's seen the light on women's freedom, he should say so," said Bluestein. "Loud enough for Texas women to hear."
The Texas Tribune noted that Jessica Cisneros, a staunchly pro-choice progressive who came within 300 votes of Cuellar in the 2022 House primary and also challenged him in 2020, has not ruled out another primary run next year.
Last year's primary runoff between the two candidates came shortly after a draft opinion was leaked from the U.S. Supreme Court, indicating that the right-wing majority would soon overturn Roe v. Wade, as it did in June 2022.
Clyburn angered abortion rights advocates by stumping for Cuellar two days after the leak, telling reporters that as a "big-tent party," Democrats should welcome the congressman despite his views running counter to the party's agenda. He denounced progressives' objection to the Democrats' support for Cuellar as "sophomoric."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who was among the progressives who strongly supported Cisneros last year, said at the time that in the "extremely close race," Democratic leaders' decision to back Cuellar would "be the reason why" he won.
On Thursday, writer and Ventura County, California political candidate Heather Christena Schmidt tweeted that the Democrats' endorsement of Cuellar runs counter to the party's claim that it will fight for reproductive rights.
Politics1.com tweeted that the Democrats' announcement was "clearly designed to head off a third consecutive tough primary challenge from the left" before one is even announced.
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As House GOP Aims to Kill Biden Pistol Brace Rule, Dems Renew Longshot Gun Control Push
Congresswoman Lucy McBath, whose son was killed by gun violence, said she filed a discharge petition for an assault weapons ban "because we have been sent to Congress to use every tool to help save American lives."
Jun 13, 2023
As most U.S. House Republicans and two Democrats on Tuesday voted to block the Biden administration's regulation of pistols with stabilizing braces, several other Democratic lawmakers renewed a fight for gun control policies unlikely to pass the GOP-controlled chamber.
Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Mary Peltola (Alaska) joined with all Republicans present except Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Thomas Kean (N.J.) to pass a resolution disapproving of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) rule, which was finalized in January.
Under the federal bureau's rule, gun owners who install stabilizing braces on their pistols so the firearms can be used one-handed must register the weapons as short-barreled rifles. Alternatively, they can permanently remove and dispose of the accessory, turn in the firearm at an ATF office, or destroy the gun.
The gun accessories have gained national attention after being used by the perpetrators of mass shootings such as a 2021 rampage at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado as well as a massacre at a Nashville, Tennessee school earlier this year.
"Gun violence is the challenge of our lifetime and the issue of our era."
"The regulation has become a sticking point among conservatives, and gun rights groups like the Gun of Owners of America have urged Congress to pass the disapproval resolution," Roll Call noted Tuesday. "The rule would have gone into effect June 1, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit temporarily stayed the rule while a challenge plays out in the courts."
Even if the House GOP's measure also passes the Democrat-controlled Senate, President Joe Biden would veto it, the White House said Monday, stressing that "this administration has no higher priority than keeping the American people safe, which is jeopardized with a vote in support of a resolution that makes it easier for mass shooters to obtain these deadly weapons."
While Republican lawmakers—and a handful of Democrats—battle the pistol brace policy, Democratic Reps. James Clyburn (S.C.), Lucy McBath, (Ga.), and Mike Thompson (Calif.) are hoping to force votes on gun control legislation with discharge petitions, which allow legislators to bypass GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and bring bills to the floor with simple majority support.
\u201cWe've experienced more mass shootings this year than there have been days. Gun violence is the challenge of our lifetime and the issue of our era.\n\nWe have filed today\u2019s discharge petition because we have been sent to Congress to use every tool to help save American lives.\u201d— Rep. Lucy McBath (@Rep. Lucy McBath) 1686672952
The trio filed discharge petitions Tuesday related to an assault weapons ban and background check legislation. However, actually holding votes on those bills would require winning over not only most—if not all—Democrats but also a handful of Republicans.
As The Washington Post detailed Tuesday:
Of all three bills, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which Thompson first introduced after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, has previously received the most support from across the aisle. The bill, which would require background checks on those looking to transfer or buy a gun, is sponsored by... Fitzpatrick... and received eight Republican votes in 2021.
The proposal from Clyburn would require background checks to be completed 10 days after someone buys a firearm, increasing the current review period by seven days. It would close the "Charleston loophole," a reference to how Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, was able to obtain a firearm in 2015 after the three-day review period expired but before the background check was completed. He went on to murder nine Black worshippers in South Carolina at a church in Charleston.
[...]
Taking on the herculean pursuit of enacting an assault weapons ban into law is personal for McBath. Her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was killed after being confronted by Michael Dunn for playing loud music in a parked car at a Jacksonville, Florida, gas station in 2012.
Various other Democrats announced that they had signed the discharge petitions on Tuesday. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)—who was previously the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, formed after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida—said that he was "proud to have been one of the first to sign all three this morning."
\u201cWe are so grateful to @RepJamesClyburn, @RepLucyMcBath, and @RepThompson for heeding the calls of the vast majority of Americans who want continued action on gun safety from Congress.\u201d— Moms Demand Action (@Moms Demand Action) 1686687535
Specifically signaling her support for the assault weapons ban, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) tweeted: "Gun violence is an epidemic touching every community. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in America. This is unacceptable."
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