Edited by Jeff Coltin and Peter Sterne |
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Welcome to the latest issue of City & State’s exclusive newsletter Heard Around Town.
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition: DSA is not as white as you think, and TWU is preparing to spend big against Hochul. Plus: Jenifer Rajkumar gave ex-Mayor Eric Adams a birthday gift, but he left it in City Hall.
All that, and analysis of the latest state and federal campaign filings.
Keep an eye out for some of the bold-faced names in today’s newsletter: Jenifer Rajkumar, Eric Adams, Donovan Richards, Kathy Hochul, Bruce Blakeman, John Samuelsen, Sal Albanese, Benjamin Fang-Estrada, Jack Greenspan, Amanda Septimo and Marc Schneier And look out for these various super PACs, IEs and assorted political committees: Strong and Safe New York Inc., RGA New York PAC, The Conservative Caucus DBA Americans for Constitutional Liberty and Make Voters the Donors
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Mayor Eric Adams didn’t take everything with him when he moved out of City Hall – he left behind a personalized birthday gift from Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar.
A few months into the new administration, a Mamdani administration staffer – who prefers to remain anonymous – found a large frame featuring three photos of Rajkumar beside Adams. The border read “September 1st” – their shared birthday – and a cryptic message: “Everyone wants to be a beast / Until it’s time to do what real beasts do.”
Back in 2023 and 2024, Rajkumar was the mayor’s top sidekick, appearing by his side more than 150 times, often at events far from her district that she had no connection to. It raised her profile, but she seemed to make a bad bet – the Lady in Red ceased standing next to him after his federal indictment. She proceeded to get blown out 71% to 19% challenging Jumaane Williams’ reelection as public advocate, and then lost her own reelection last month 59% to 41% to DSA-backed David Orkin.
“Yes. I did give him that on his birthday,” Rajkumar told Heard Around Town. “This quote – I knew he would like it. And he laughed.”
“It sounds really great to want to be an elected leader, or say ‘I want to be a mayor, I want to be a governor,’” she said, explaining the “beast” quote. “But when it actually comes down to it, and you have to deal with the pressure and the heat, then what? It reflects that. An understanding that it takes a lot.”
Rajkumar boasted of the title before, telling City & State in a 2023 profile, “The highest compliment I have gotten from Eric Adams is that I am a beast.”
But does she keep up with the now-former mayor, HAT asked? “That’s something for another discussion. My friendship with Eric Adams is my friendship.” |
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| Diverse Socialists of America |
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DSA has come under fire for a relative lack of racial diversity, with Queens BP Donovan Richards even suggesting it’s a form of “white supremacy.”
There’s no question that DSA supports non-white politicians – 17 of the organization’s 23 elected officials and candidates in New York are Black or Latino – but critics of the socialist group have seized on a five-year-old membership survey showing that 85% of the national organization’s members identified as white.
That data is badly out of date, though. In the years since that 2021 membership survey was conducted, DSA shed about 30,000 members and then added another 70,000 or so members. All of those new members were offered an optional survey, which most of them filled out, and survey data shared with Heard Around Town shows that DSA is more racially diverse than in 2021.
Last year, about 53,000 members joined DSA – and 67% of the roughly 44,500 members who filled out the survey identified as white. That’s whiter than the Democratic Party as a whole, which was roughly 56% white per a 2023 Pew study, but more racially diverse than the 79% white GOP. DSA’s membership in New York City is even more diverse than DSA as a whole, with about half of NYC-DSA members identifying as non-white, according to data the group shared last week with WNYC. |
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| “Transport” her out of office |
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The Transport Workers Union won’t be satisfied with merely bashing Gov. Kathy Hochul in her reelection bid this fall. They’re preparing to put some cash behind their efforts too.
TWU opened a new independent expenditure committee yesterday called “Transport Workers Union VOICE” with the express purpose of opposing Hochul as she faces a challenge from Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in November.
The move is not necessarily surprising from the union, a frequent critic of Hochul, but marks an escalation in their opposition. The committee’s financials are not yet posted to the state Board of Elections website, but TWU International President John Samuelsen told HAT he expects there to be around $500,000 or $600,000 in the committee’s coffers, with the possibility of spending more.
Never one to mince words on his feelings about Hochul, Samuelsen accused the governor of “scabbing” or trying to break labor strikes earlier this year, including the New York State Nurses Association strike and the Long Island Rail Road workers’ strike. “A Democratic governor cannot, in our view, lay claim to being a supporter of workers and trade unions when she’s a scab,” Samuelsen said. Samuelsen acknowledged that Hochul is endorsed by other labor groups, including the state AFL-CIO, even though he urged them not to endorse.
Hochul has the labor advantage in the race, backed by more than a dozen unions, including other major players like 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council. “Governor Hochul has always stood up for workers, created good-paying union jobs, and fought for better pay and working conditions – she’s proud to have earned the support of unions and union members across New York, who can’t trust ‘100% MAGA’ Blakeman to protect their rights, safeguard their healthcare, or bring down their costs,” Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said.
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Nobody would really think the Mamdani merch stand in Union Square was affiliated with the campaign. But this ZohranForNY.us website looks pretty legit, right?
But the site doesn’t send money to the mayor’s reelection campaign. And that’s just one of a series of 36 websites attached to the same email address selling knockoff political merchandise. There’s GrahamforMaine.us (which is probably getting less traffic lately), SteveHiltonMerch.us for the California gubernatorial candidate and KenPaxton.us for the Texan Senate hopeful.
Selling knockoff merch (Zerch?) $22.95 at a time isn’t a big deal – but the sites bring the scam to the next level by asking for a “tip” at checkout. It mirrors the way legit campaign sites ask for an extra donation, but in this case, it’s just going to whoever operates the anonymous store. The scam was flagged by domain lookup app WhoIsXML API. Mamdani adviser Andrew Bard Epstein said he was unaware of the site, “though not necessarily surprised.” |
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Compiled by Sophie Krichevsky |
Strong and Safe New York Inc., a super PAC supporting Blakeman for governor, paid Atlas Group $186,500 for consulting. (July 24)
RGA New York PAC, which appears to be affiliated with the Republican Governors Association, was just registered. Look out for future contributions to Blakeman. (July 27) |
The Conservative Caucus DBA Americans for Constitutional Liberty, an IE affiliated with the eponymous group, spent a total $32,100 on services related to mailers opposing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. (July 21) |
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NYC-Council-Member-turned-Twitter-gadfly Sal Albanese is now chief political strategist of Make Voters the Donors, a nonpartisan org advocating against big money in politics. So HAT asked what the Mamdani booster thought about the mayor opting out of the public matching funds program for his reelection cycle. “The Mayor is a unique politician who can generate tons of donors from across the country. So, politically, I get his decision but from a good government perspective I think he's making a mistake by foregoing the matching fund program,” he said. “Matching funds helped him become Mayor without depending on large conflicted cash, so this sends a bad message.”
Benjamin Fang-Estrada, who was a top Adrienne Adams comms staffer, stuck around in Julie Menin speaker’s office for six months, but has now decamped for the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs to work under former council colleague Faiza Ali. Jack Greenspan has been promoted to deputy campaign manager for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s general reelection campaign. |
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| We’re Hearing Whispers That: |
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… Assembly Member Amanda Septimo is ambitious and making plans again, launching a statewide tour on funding Latino orgs and getting press for silencing Blakeman at the Dominican parade – months after she abandoned a primary challenge to Rep. Ritchie Torres earlier this year, citing health issues.
… While Rabbi Marc Schneier is basking in the PR glow, some congregants are grumbling that Gov. Kathy Hochul rescheduled her plan for a big Sunday morning event at the Hampton Synagogue and did a smaller Friday night kibitz instead.
… The New York City Department of Probation could face another wrongful termination lawsuit soon, with an ex-probationary employee submitting paperwork to sue in Manhattan Supreme Court this week. “The Department is committed to serving New Yorkers with fairness, integrity, and professionalism. The City will review the case when served,” a spokesperson told HAT.
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