The only real question after the Democratic mayoral primary in New York: Is this the start of a conversation about democratic socialism or the end of one? Zohran Mamdani’s win was big, and the culmination of about a decade of democratic socialist activism since the movement was brought back to mainstream politics by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Are we still wondering if this is real?
In New York, mainstream figures like Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries all said versions of OK, I finally hear you Wednesday. Though not every Andrew Cuomo-backing House Democrat was ready to jump on the Mamdani train.
“The next step is to see what happens next,” Rep. George Latimer told NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak. Indeed.
Nationally, Mamdani has caused a reckoning: “We are a party of bed wetters,” one Democratic strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about internal party discussions, told NOTUS’ Alex Roarty. “So, yes, people are bed-wetting.”
Many prominent Democrats refrained from singling out the specifics of Mamdani’s viral policy proposals and instead shouted out his endless supply of rizz as the lesson from the primary. But trying to be more hip is maybe not the takeaway here: “Those strategies don’t work without being grounded in the popular substantive policies,” Stephanie Taylor, Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder, told Alex.
Centrists say there’s really nothing to discuss: “Incumbents without baggage in normal districts have been fine since 2018, and that won’t change now,” Welcome PAC co-founder Liam Kerr said.
Open Tabs: Cuomo Accusers Celebrate ‘Poetic Justice’ of His Primary Defeat (The City); Wall Street Panics Over Prospect of a Socialist Running New York City (WSJ); Kennedy’s New Advisers Promise Closer Scrutiny of Childhood Vaccines (NYT); Jill Biden’s top aide bails on House investigation in Biden fitness (Axios)
From the Hill
Sparing the SALT: The Senate GOP doesn’t look like it’ll match the SALT cap increase in the House version of the reconciliation bill, NOTUS’ Ursula Perano reports. That puts them at odds with blue-state House Republicans, many of whom contend the $40K cap in the House bill was the absolute least they’d take. Those House Republicans are needed to pass the final bill, which means this SALTy drama continues.
From the White House
Another assessment-assessment: Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and “military representatives” will hold a press conference at the Pentagon this morning to again discredit a classified assessment that reportedly said some Iranian nuclear facilities were not destroyed by U.S. bombs, as Trump has repeatedly said.
THE BIG ONE
Money Still Talks at HHS: “I haven’t noticed anything different at all,” an industry lobbyist looking to make sure corporate America has its say inside Health and Human Services tells NOTUS’ Margaret Manto of that gig before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and after.
This is something of a surprise. RFK Jr. promised to take on the “corporate capture” of health agencies as part of his effort to remake health care infrastructure around MAHA tenets. But Margaret reports that lobbyists mostly see these efforts as grand gestures. A plan to ban certain synthetic food dyes is completely voluntary rather than a new government rule that industry doesn’t want. That choice was made because of industry pressure, one lobbyist told Margaret.
HHS called the food dye phase out a reflection of “public demand and sound policy making” and reiterated Kennedy’s commitment to taking on corporate power. But so far, corporate power does not seem too concerned. “Their biggest win was not real,” is how one lobbyist summarized the food dye decision.
NEW ON NOTUS
Secrets for me, but not for thee: Congress did not take kindly to news that the White House is considering ending the practice of sharing some classified information with members after an intelligence assessment of the damage the U.S. caused by bombing Iran leaked. “We are the policy makers, so for us to make wise decisions we need access to that material,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said.
Evasive maneuvers: Faced with a barrage of tough questioning Wednesday from Senate Judiciary Democrats, DOJ official Emil Bove mostly declined to offer details about his time as Trump’s legal enforcer. His tactics sometimes led to frustration from senators, who are considering his nomination to serve as an appeals court judge.
Iranian immigrant crackdown? The U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites has immigrant advocacy groups worried that Iranians might be the next target for immigration enforcement. One woman in Alabama told NOTUS the story of her husband’s arrest by ICE.
Republicans split on VOA shutdown: Kari Lake, the senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, made her case Wednesday to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the agency should be shuttered, citing in part “a shockingly high number of foreign nationals” on the payroll at media organizations funded by USAGM. Despite her push, and the White House’s request to defund Voice of America and similar outlets, some Republicans on the panel were not convinced.
More: HUD Is Moving Its Headquarters Out of D.C.; Louisiana’s Lawmakers Just Want the Supreme Court to End the State’s Redistricting Fight; Lawmakers Don’t Know Why Trump Keeps Denying Disaster Mitigation Grants
NOT US
- Usha Vance’s New Life in Trump’s Washington, by Elisabeth Bumiller for The New York Times
- “You Must Be Truly F--king Stupid”: Meet the Man Behind the White House’s Shock Jock Press Strategy, by Paul Farhi for Vanity Fair
- A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime, by Tim Golden for ProPublica