11.10 Election Night Blues
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11.10 Election Night Blues
We came, we saw, we voted.
We knew Adams would win—after all Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 7 to 1—and we understood that our closed primaries were where most races were won or lost, but we still weren’t prepared for the 20% turnout and failure to pass the crucial voting access ballot measures. Despite this, the general election confirmed the first majority women, and most diverse city council in NYC history. This is something to celebrate!
Absentee ballots are still arriving and will not be counted until Nov 15th. There are a handful of close races where absentee ballots will play a factor, including the race for City Council district 43 where Dem incumbent Justin Brennan is trying to hang on so he can have a shot at Council Speaker. His opponent has some choice words.
More below»
TURNOUT
We can’t blame voters for the low turnout in the general election. Why go through the motions when everything was decided last June? In fact, we explicitly messaged this so people would show up to the primary—when we can actually make change. But still, we were a bit surprised by turnout that was slightly lower than the 2013 and 2017 city-wide general elections—two dreadfully low voter turnout years
An Initial Look at Voter Turnout in the 2021 New York City General Election << A thoughtful look at turnout from Gotham Gazette that shows that Eric Adams’ margin to victory was narrower than Bill de Blasio’s.
All this points to problems with our electoral system, where we are a one party controlled city and state with closed primaries. This system favors the party in power, which in our case is the Democrats, with a small and activated base. You’d think this was a good thing, but when power is all but assured, the Dems get, as we say, dusty, foregoing working for everyday NYers in favor of their top corporate donors.
Eric Adams Rakes in $7.7 Million, With Help From Wealthy Donors << “His donors ran the gamut, from billionaires to a plumber in the Bronx.” We wonder who he’ll listen to?
The good news is that NYS Assemblymember Robert Carroll recognizes our flawed system and is working on legislation for non-partisan, open primaries, in which the top two primary winners would face-off in the general election. This would allow for a diversity of candidates and parties to be competitive in NY elections, essentially making our elections more democratic. We’ll keep you all updated on the progress of this legislation.
BALLOT MEASURES
If it were up to NYC all 5 ballot measures would have passed with healthy majorities—which does, at the least, make us feel good knowing us city folk want fairer redistricting, same-day voter registration, and no-excuse absentee voting—however the ballot measures were voted upon state-wide and measures 1, 3, and 4 (measures backed by Democrats in the state) were handily rejected.
How could this be?
We thought NYS was a Dem majority state that likes voter rights and fair redistricting? Well, it ends up that the NYS Dem party spent NO MONEY on promotional efforts supporting the ballot measures while their Republican counterparts understood their assignment. WHAAAAAT???
NY Democratic Party did not spend any money on Props 1, 3 and 4 << NYS Dem head Jay Jacobs says no one asked him to support the ballot measures (they did) but this also comes on the heels of his outrageous statement likening India Walton, the Dem candidate for mayor of Buffalo, to David Duke, the former head of the KKK.
Ladies and gentlemen…NYS Democrats.
THE CITY COUNCIL
The 31 women to win their City Council races will more than double the number of women representing NYers in the City Council from the previous term and will transform the council to majority women Council Members for the first time in NYC history!
Additionally, the incoming freshmen Council Members will be incredibly diverse, including queer, gen Z, south Asian + more Council Members. This this also includes our first ever Muslim woman Council Member, Shahana Hanif, who will be serving Brooklyn’s 39th council district.
City Council Adds Historic Number of Women to Its Ranks as Republicans Gain << 31 of 51 council seats are represented by women, one of which is a Republican…
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS
On election day Eric Adams told 1010 wins his day 1 agenda included bringing back the plainclothes NYPD unit to target violent crime, guns in schools, open drug use and retail theft. This is very disconcerting as the plainclothes NYPD unit was disbanded in part because they were implicated in many shootings.
Other Adams’ plans for NYC:
Expanding, NOT eliminating, the storied lop-sided (racist?) gifted and talented program in NYC public schools
Making NYC the crypto-currency capital in the nation (*CRINGE*)
He celebrated his victory at the exclusive Zero Bond club in which he proclaimed to a crowd of celebrities and wealthy business elite:
“Year after year after year, we’re taking $97 billion and giving you an inferior product and we’re supposed to act like everything is all right? Damn it, it’s not all right,”
And we still don’t know where he lives, even after the stranger than you’d think stakeout from Curbed… definitely worth the read.
But we’ve got to say, while many electeds flocked to Puerto Rico for the annual SOMOS party, err conference, on the taxpayers dime, Adams paid his own way. Bravo.
Still, will the good Adams may accomplish outway the inevitable gaffs, wild soundbites, and conservative hyper capitalist policy he will probably implement?
From Dinkins to Adams: What progressives see in New York’s 2nd Black mayor << A very good look at Eric Adams by Char Adams
