The Battle for NY-10

Earlier this year, in one of the most outrageous acts of judicial activism in the State of New York, a judge appointed a Republican to re-draw the New York State congressional districts which, naturally, gives the GOP an unfair advantage in an overwhelmingly Democratic state.

I won't get into the recent history of this (it's blood boiling) but it's resulted in several of New York City's congressional districts being bizarrely drawn -- including an all-new District 10 that spans Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

This district is hugely Democratic so, it's assumed, the winner of the primary will easily win the November general election (although upsets have happened before). Up to 10 candidates are running in the primary scheduled for August 23rd. 

While the focus of the political media is mostly focused on the battles between Democrats and Republicans in competitive general elections -- in NYC and elsewhere -- most elections, as we know, are decided in party primaries. And in NYC, once people win a seat at any level of representative government (city, state, Federal), they generally keep it for term-after-term, sometimes for decades on end thereafter. Yes, occasionally incumbents lose to challengers (AOC beating Joe Crowley in 2018, most famously) but those are very, very, very rare. More incumbents have left office early via indictment than defeat. 

So, in NYC politics, winning a primary is almost akin to a papal election -- you serve (almost) for life. 

Thus it's assumed that the winner of the District 10 Democratic congressional primary will serve in this seat for years and years to come. In a primary like this, there are basically no policy differences between the candidates, it's all about personality and turf and identity.

This is the future of the American democracy being determined on the streets of NYC -- and whatever happens in next week's primary could reverberate in, and define, our city and county's future.