An amazing analysis, thank you Michael! I love its narrative quality, as I used to edit the journal Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping. And I know what it means to miss both New Orleans and New York City.
The DSA is hijacking seats the Democrat machine spent a generation making noncompetitive. That is the punchline. Regular Democrats built safe districts, strangled opposition, marginalized Republicans and independents, then woke up to find themselves outnumbered and marginalized by their own radicals. In those districts, normal voters have no November recourse because the general election is a coronation. Primary Day is the whole ballgame. But America is not Williamsburg, Astoria, Morningside Heights, Denver, Seattle, or the activist blocks of Brooklyn. In the rest of the country, regular Democrats still have somewhere to run, and voters still have somewhere to punish the crazy. If the DNC tries to nationalize the DSA model — open borders, police abolition, Gaza obsession, rent control, tax-the-rich fantasies, socialist medicine, and sneering contempt for working families — there will be no DNC left. I hope to hell they try. Let them explain “The Commie Corridor” in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina. Let them sell Brooklyn Marxism to parents with mortgages, churches, cops, kids, and bills. America will answer.
most of the “crazy” is a generation trying to form a non fascist response to the worsening global problems it faces. eg, open borders aka freedom of movement is simply the logical alternative to the militarized border, and democrats are increasingly realizing that clinton/obama/biden “secure the border” concessions will always lose to trump, gleeful evil beats hand-wringing evil. either an alternative to hope for will grow and strengthen, or the democrats will not survive anyway.
Interesting you describe the Reynoso and Valdez platforms and indistinguishable, as if Reynoso would ever have the courage to call for the closure of US military bases abroad.
Excellent piece Michael. Thanks for all of the work you put in this cycle!
I was wondering if you've thought of re-visiting/updating the "Seven Factions of New York City Politics" piece you wrote a few years ago?
The recap is fun, but your roadmap for the future is the real must-read. Awesome!
An amazing analysis, thank you Michael! I love its narrative quality, as I used to edit the journal Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping. And I know what it means to miss both New Orleans and New York City.
I've discontinued my own erstwhile Electoral Analysis Beat, based on 800 articles read since fall 2024, as I have other work to do, but I've included all your recent work in my database. I've been a subsciber but have been missing your work! A DSA friend brought it to my attention. See: https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/2024-election-analysis and the database at https://tinyurl.com/ElectoralAnalysis. I would love to chat by email or phone and can be reached at michaelalandover@gmail.com
Is Mamdani the Huey Long of our era? Mobilizing the forgotten?
While the DSA candidates swept primaries in blue districts can the model triumph in red/blue competitive districts?
Will Ds sweep congressional elections in November or will an anti DSA backlash prevail?
Post coidal depression?
The DSA is hijacking seats the Democrat machine spent a generation making noncompetitive. That is the punchline. Regular Democrats built safe districts, strangled opposition, marginalized Republicans and independents, then woke up to find themselves outnumbered and marginalized by their own radicals. In those districts, normal voters have no November recourse because the general election is a coronation. Primary Day is the whole ballgame. But America is not Williamsburg, Astoria, Morningside Heights, Denver, Seattle, or the activist blocks of Brooklyn. In the rest of the country, regular Democrats still have somewhere to run, and voters still have somewhere to punish the crazy. If the DNC tries to nationalize the DSA model — open borders, police abolition, Gaza obsession, rent control, tax-the-rich fantasies, socialist medicine, and sneering contempt for working families — there will be no DNC left. I hope to hell they try. Let them explain “The Commie Corridor” in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina. Let them sell Brooklyn Marxism to parents with mortgages, churches, cops, kids, and bills. America will answer.
Bingo.
most of the “crazy” is a generation trying to form a non fascist response to the worsening global problems it faces. eg, open borders aka freedom of movement is simply the logical alternative to the militarized border, and democrats are increasingly realizing that clinton/obama/biden “secure the border” concessions will always lose to trump, gleeful evil beats hand-wringing evil. either an alternative to hope for will grow and strengthen, or the democrats will not survive anyway.
How much to enciurage your readers to vote Democrat even if the more progressive candidate does not win
Interesting you describe the Reynoso and Valdez platforms and indistinguishable, as if Reynoso would ever have the courage to call for the closure of US military bases abroad.