Your recent Democratic primary endorsements in Congressional districts NY-10, NY-12 and NY-17 are a depressing example of why it’s so challenging for women and people of color to break through the structural barriers to power in this country. After interviewing 11 candidates for these three seats, the Times managed to pluck out the white man in each race as the best choice, despite each race featuring at least one female candidate who has represented large swaths of the district in question for years. It is particularly unconscionable, given the current moment we are in as a country, where the right to bodily autonomy is being systematically stripped in state after state after the fall of Roe.
The experience of service and a proven track record in each community was cast aside as an afterthought in the consideration of NY-10, with Assemblymembers Yuh-Line Niou and Jo Anne Simon and Councilmember Carlina Rivera, three sitting legislators that represent large parts of the district, not even meriting a name check in that race. Instead, a multimillionaire heir to a family fortune is better positioned, according to the Times, to serve the district due to his legal work to prosecute Trump. Even if we set aside his lack of familiarity with reproductive justice and his investments in gun manufacturers and for-profit prisons (and we shouldn’t), that work is a far cry from the bread-and-butter local issues on the ground. These are matters in which the current representatives are fluent, a focus on which might vastly improve the ability of Congress to actually pass legislation. A final insult is the offhand suggestion that lower- and middle-income residents of the district will need to be “convinced” of the priorities of their new representative, the most deeply cynical nod to which voters’ voices the Editorial Board believes matter that we can remember.
Another sitting legislator, Rep. Carolyn Maloney in NY-12, saw her record reduced to several decades-old votes and a quote that didn’t age well. Meanwhile, her tireless, years-long crusade to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed got zero coverage; in this particular moment, when women across the country have fewer rights today than they did half a century ago, that effort should have received consideration. The fact that she *also* chairs a powerful House Committee (Oversight & Reform) went unmentioned, too.
But the race for NY-17 is perhaps the most bald-faced example of capitulating to the established DC power player inertia. While it’s true that Rep Sean Patrick Maloney’s home was technically within the redrawn district’s boundaries, his decision to run for what was overwhelmingly Rep Mondaire Jones’ current district was a selfish, craven power grab and evidence of his own uncertainty, (as the chair of the DCCC no less!) that seats that had voted for Biden by 8 points could be held by an incumbent. Maloney’s intention to support a power plant in a predominantly Black community in the district (which Jones had pledged to oppose) is merely one example of, yet again, prioritizing white, wealthy voters above all others, a trend the Times seems eager to endorse. Giving Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a legislator of relentless integrity and grit, a condescending pat on the head (while essentially acknowledging that she’s exactly the sort of member Congress needs) is further evidence of the deeply misogynistic thread running through these endorsements. And that move of the DCCC’s that gave the Board “pause”, of supporting a far right candidate in Michigan? The PACs aligned with Maloney must have appreciated the practice to hone their fear-mongering tactics in advance of slinging hundreds of thousands of dollars of mud Biaggi’s way via a truly vile mail campaign.
Overall, suffice it to say, we are disappointed, disgusted and yet not surprised by this announcement. It’s been an excruciatingly difficult process to get a seat at the table for female candidates and candidates of color in this country. All of the candidates that the Times snubbed know this firsthand; shame on the Editorial Board for ignoring what it takes to have a truly representative democracy.
