Bill de Blasio’s primary finish a win for blacks, progressives and New York
OPINION - Call it 'afro-mentum' Call it the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Either way, Bill de Blasio's sweeping victory in the New York Democratic primary for mayor is a hint of change progressives can believe in...
Contrast to Bloomberg made a difference
Beyond the aesthetics of his family, it was de Blasio’s first-out-of-the gate declaration of opposition to “stop-and-frisk” that likely helped him most with black voters, who de Blasio won last night according to exit polls,
For Thompson, the city’s former comptroller, Tuesday was his second bitter pill in five years — he lost to Bloomberg for mayor in 2009. Thompson joined the anti-stop-and-frisk bandwagon, with a surprise statement on Trayvon Martin at a black church in August, but his commitment to ending the practice seemed half-hearted (and tainted by his strong support from the police union), as did his candidacy, which lacked the charisma New Yorkers are accustomed to.
From Fiorello LaGuardia, who reigned during the New Deal era, to John Lindsey, who in the mid-1960s doubled as a Good Morning America guest host, to the string of colorful mayors who led during the racially divisive years between the late 1970s and 1990s, including the pugnacious Ed Koch, the city’s first and (so far) only black mayor, David Dinkins, and the divisive Rudy Giuliani, who kicked off the “stop-and-frisk” era with the nightmare for black New Yorkers known as “Giuliani Time,” Gotham prefers its mayors with personality. (As someone who lived in New York City during “Giuliani time,” I can attest that “personality” is no substitute for decency, and that era is not missed by many African-Americans.)
De Blasio triumphed by presenting the clearest contrast to Bloomberg, whose grandiose, authoritarian style has worn many New Yorkers out, even as he gets praise for standing strong on national issues like gun control. In the closing weeks of the campaign, Bloomberg had a genuine de Blasio meltdown, accusing the candidate of running a racist campaign just for showing his kids’ faces on TV, proving to any doubters that de Blasio’s real crime was to be the most un-Bloomberg of them all, and giving many progressives even more reason to support him.
Without a big, overarching issue to cloud the race — the crime surge that swept Giuliani past David Dinkins and into Gracie Mansion in 1994, or the 9/11 terror attacks that rocked downtown Manhattan and helped keep City Hall in Republican (turned Independent) hands with Bloomberg in 2002 — New York voters were free to vote purely on personality and issues. And progressives can feel heartened that the most authentically liberal candidate won.
Clearly, the race isn’t in the bag — since de Blasio’s progressive stances could send wealthy liberals among the city’s dominant Democratic voters into the arms of the Republican candidate, Joe Lhota, who ran the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (think subway, and then try and feel good about him), and was an aide to Giuliani (ditto). But Lhota got fewer primary votes on the Republican side than Anthony Weiner, who finished fifth.
Bloomberg could choose to throw the platinum-veneered kitchen sink at de Blasio in the general election to try and push Lhota through, though that could further aide de Blasio among New Yorkers who are ready to wrest the crown and scepter out of King Soda Ban’s grasp. And Bloombergian bloviation, if it’s of the quality of his “race” and stop-and-frisk comments, could actually be the best thing that ever happened to the de Blasio campaign.
So while it’s not over, de Blasio’s primary success signals the possibility of a progressive New York that’s moving on from the ritual humiliation of black men, the fixation on terrorism, and the serial displacement of ordinary working people in favor of the Wall Street barons in top hats. It feels like the ordinary city dweller might actually have a shot, and a friend in City Hall.
Maybe that’s a pipe dream, but watching that attractive, multi-racial family standing on stage celebrating victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday night, it sure felt like afro-mentum.
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @TheReidReport.
