https://washingtonsun.com/new-york New York en-US Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:02:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/mamdani-dsa-berlin-die-linke Daniella Diaz Staffers from Germany’s Die Linke party traveled to New York last year to learn from the DSA’s campaign as they try to win a mayor’s race in Berlin. Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:02:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/mamdani-dsa-berlin-die-linke BERLIN — A mayor's race. A Muslim candidate from the left. A promise to make one of the world's great cities affordable again.

Sound familiar? This time it’s not New York. It's Berlin, where Elif Eralp, Die Linke's candidate, is running to become the city's first Muslim mayor, as well as the first Left Party mayor since the city’s reunification. Recent polling shows her leading with 20.7% of the vote against the Christian Democratic Union of Germany Party and the Alternative for Germany party, which are polling around 18.9% and 17.6%, respectively.

The Sept. 20 election echoes the race that gripped America last year, when political newcomer Zohran Mamdani toppled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary and rewrote the rules of what a mayoral campaign could look like.

In several interviews, Die Linke’s party members have made clear they drew inspiration from Mamdani’s successful mayoral campaign, first from afar and then much closer to New York’s City Hall. Party co-chair Ines Schwerdtner traveled to New York with other party officials to watch the Mamdani operation up close.

Schwerdtner went last fall to learn more about efforts by the Democratic Socialists of America, as well as New York’s progressive Working Families Party, to expand their bases of support in the city and the U.S. more broadly.

“We embrace Mamdani's victory,” said Janis Ehling, the Die Linke federal managing director, which is the equivalent of an executive director for a party in the U.S. “We learned a lot [from] them, especially when it comes to community organizing, door-knocking, canvassing campaigns.”

“I think we're going in the same direction,” Ehling told NOTUS.

A far-left candidate breaking through in Germany’s capital city would stand in contrast to what’s happening in the state government, where the far right appears to be surging.

“It would be really significant for German politics as a whole when you think of [World War II history],” said Thorsten Holzhauser, a historian and political scientist in Germany.

“They have tried to play down identity politics and parts of their agenda,” he said of Die Linke, “and highlight the more economic and social issues such as housing, such as cost of living, things that are important to middle-class voters and working-class voters at the same time.”

The Left Party's Berlin Election Campaign with Lead Candidate Eralp 26234672086988 (3419x2279, AR: 1.50)
While elections operate completely differently in Germany than in the United States — voters cast ballots for the party rather than the candidate — Die Linke has selected Eralp to represent them in the election.

“We have the chance to have a Left mayor in Berlin, and that's a huge chance,” Ehling said. “In Germany, the far right is rising too, and that would be a big symbol of hope for all over Germany, like Mamdani was in the United States.”

Grace Mausser, co-chair of New York City's DSA chapter, told NOTUS that she sees similarities in the United States’ and Germany’s partisan politics.

“I think it's critical that we not only inspire each other and give each other encouragement as we're working in sometimes dangerous conditions, yeah, but also that our work compounds each other and doesn't take away from what each is doing,” she said.

The comparison is one that the Die Linke party officials have leaned into publicly. When Mamdani won in November, the party's Berlin branch posted on X, translated into English, “Whether New York or Berlin: We all want affordable rents and a good life for our families and friends!” Eralp said in interviews that she sees Mamdani’s win as an example for left candidates.

Part of the Die Linke party’s appeal in Berlin is Eralp's pledge to force corporations to own fewer apartments to help lower housing costs. She's paired that with a push for rent caps on public housing, a new city office for tenant protection and a discounted transit pass, a platform that is gaining traction in the city that’s faced an affordability crisis.

Beyond Eralp’s affordability proposals, Mausser said, her immigrant background also resonates with voters.

“One thing I found interesting in the Berlin mayoral election specifically is the potential to activate and politicize an immigrant population within the city,” Mausser told NOTUS. “We saw that with Zohran activating and politicizing a Muslim and Southeast Asian voter base, and I think Elif has the potential to do that with the Turkish voter base in Berlin.”

She added: “That to me is so important because the right wing explicitly doesn't want people who are not coded as a native to their home country to be able to vote, to have a political voice. So a figure like Zohran, a figure like Elif, a figure like [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], who is obviously Hispanic and will speak to that population, them running proudly as non-white people in majority white countries, I think it sends an important signal on who belongs in each of those places.”

Holzhauser, the political scientist, sought to temper expectations of what a Die Linke victory could yield, saying that Germany’s coalition system of governing will make it nearly impossible to enact Eralp’s and Die Linke’s proposed policies.

“It will be very difficult for Die Linke to realize and to bring forward their agenda in such a coalition,” he said. “Especially when it comes to housing, when it comes to the very controversial issue of expropriating major players in the housing sector, which is a very important issue for Die Linke, but which has been opposed by every other party and especially by the potential partners.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/money/kalshi-george-santos-lifetime-ban-state-of-the-union-trump-insider-trading-prediction-market Jenna Monnin The ban and a financial penalty stem from the disgraced New York ex-congressman’s bets on his attendance at this year’s State of the Union. Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:24:31 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/money/kalshi-george-santos-lifetime-ban-state-of-the-union-trump-insider-trading-prediction-market Former Rep. George Santos received a permanent ban and a fine of more than $71,000 from the prediction market Kalshi after he placed wagers on his attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address this year.

The disgraced congressman publicly posted about plans to attend the annual address in February — even asking what kind of suit he should wear in a now-deleted post. From Feb. 2 to Feb. 25, Santos began placing large bets on his own presence at the address, and by the time he posted that he was watching it from an airport TV, the New York Republican had already allegedly switched his bet.

“As a person capable of influencing the outcome of this underlying event, Santos was prohibited from trading in this market,” Kalshi wrote in a disciplinary notice released Monday.

Kalshi’s Compliance Department found that Santos had profited $17,839.57 from manipulating the “price of the Yes or No contracts that he intended to purchase.”

The notice also cited Santos’ lack of cooperation with Kalshi’s investigation. A representative from Kalshi told NOTUS in an email that Santos “evaded discussions with our compliance dept[ment].”

Santos is the first person to receive a lifetime ban from Kalshi, The Wall Street Journal reported. The ban went into effect Friday.

The former congressman spoke out against his ban in a series of posts on X, calling Kalshi “an unserious company” that “violates its own notices and deadlines.”

“On August 7th they gave us a 30 day notice and today they leaked/ announced once again their frivolous nonsense,” Santos wrote Monday. “Leaking and attention seeking seem to be the M/O of this organization. Pathetic!”

Kalshi told NOTUS that Santos can appeal the ban and the monetary penalty against him to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent federal agency that’s charged with regulating the prediction market.

Before this Kalshi violation in his private capacity, Santos faced a litany of financial mismanagement accusations while serving the public in Congress.

The House Ethics Committee found that Santos had misused campaign funds for personal expenses, deceived donors and improperly filed campaign finance reports, among other violations. Congress voted to expel him in December 2023.

Santos also pleaded guilty to federal charges of fraud and identity theft and was serving a seven-year prison sentence when President Donald Trump commuted it last year.

When Santos placed the bets in question on Kalshi in February, he had been out of federal prison for less than four months.

The Justice Department is also investigating whether his bets constituted insider trading, NPR reported in June. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined Santos $35,000 for “manipulative trading” and levied a three-year trading ban on the former congressman in July.

Santos’ disciplinary notice from Kalshi came the same day the prediction market sanctioned Laurie Buckhout, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Kalshi reported that Buckhout placed less than $1,000 worth of bets related to her campaign. Buckhout agreed to the terms of the settlement, which include a three-year suspension from the platform and fine of more than $2,500, according to Kalshi’s notice.

The district Buckhout is running in was rated “Lean R” by Cook Political Report after the state legislature approved a new map for U.S. congressional districts last year — making Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Davis’ seat vulnerable to a Republican flip this November.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/aoc-dsa-membership Jenna Monnin DSA said the “ongoing discussions” about 2028 prompted them to confirm the congresswoman’s affiliation with the organization. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 21:03:51 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/aoc-dsa-membership Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has officially rejoined the Democratic Socialists of America this month after her membership expired seven years ago.

The New York Democrat, who first signed up for an annual membership in 2018, is the most prominent politician affiliated with the organization despite having let her official affiliation lapse for seven years.

DSA-linked candidates have amassed a string of wins this primary season, knocking off some long-standing Democratic incumbents in the process — sometimes to the chagrin of moderate lawmakers on the left. But as Ocasio-Cortez leads some recent polling among potential Democratic presidential candidates, her decision to reestablish membership with the DSA could further boost the progressive political organization’s relevance beyond this midterms cycle.

“Democratic Socialists of America confirms Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a member in good standing of our organization, having recently rejoined in August 2026,” DSA wrote in a statement shared with City & State New York. “Previously, the representative joined DSA in 2018 with a one-year membership, which DSA’s national leadership recently noticed had lapsed, in 2019. She has since renewed her membership as of this month.”

Some DSA members have been considering what putting up a presidential candidate in 2028 could look like, The Washington Post reported this month, and Ocasio-Cortez is currently one of their best chances at reaching the country’s highest office.

“While it is atypical for DSA to address the membership status of individuals, ongoing discussions about the 2028 presidential campaign have prompted this release,” the organization said.

DSA has referred to Ocasio-Cortez as a “member” several times in the past seven years, despite her lapsed membership.

The congresswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ocasio-Cortez won her first U.S. House race in 2018 by toppling 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District. Although she appears to have only been an official card-carrying member of the DSA for one year, her four terms in the House spurred a movement for other congressional hopefuls hoping to upset candidates they considered to be part of the Democratic establishment.

DSA-endorsed nominees like Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado clinched breakthrough victories in their primaries this year, while other candidates linked to the DSA have also seen some success. And New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s DSA-backed victory last fall further elevated the organization’s national profile, though the progressive politician tried to distinguish his platform from some of the DSA’s national policy goals while on the campaign trail.

Ocasio-Cortez has at times endured a rocky relationship with the organization. DSA withdrew, then conditionally reinstated, their support for the congresswoman’s 2024 U.S. House campaign, citing her vote for a resolution that equated the “denial of Israel’s right to exist” as a form of antisemitism.

At a private DSA meeting earlier this year, Ocasio-Cortez said she would not authorize any military aid to Israel and cited her record of voting “no” on the issue.

“The Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves,” Ocasio-Cortez said, City & State New York reported in April.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/courts/letitia-james-new-york-prediction-market-kalshi-lawsuit-polymarket Angie Orellana Hernandez The lawsuit comes amid disputes between the federal government and states over who has jurisdiction to regulate the rapidly growing prediction market industry. Fri, 31 Jul 2026 16:22:16 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/courts/letitia-james-new-york-prediction-market-kalshi-lawsuit-polymarket New York Attorney General Letitia James sued prediction market Kalshi in state court on Friday, alleging that the company runs an “illegal gambling operation” without proper state licenses.

James’ lawsuit comes amid disputes between an independent federal agency and state governments over who has jurisdiction to regulate the rapidly growing prediction market industry, which includes companies like Kalshi and Polymarket. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction marketplaces, has argued that the companies are “designated contracted markets” that offer event contracts, otherwise known as swaps, that offer odds on yes-no scenarios.

State governments have rebutted that argument, contending that the sport contracts offered on prediction markets mirror sports gambling that falls under states’ regulatory purview. Forty-four state attorneys general, including James, signed a letter to the CFTC on Monday asking that the agency “start afresh with its rulemaking and clarify that sports bets and gambling cannot be traded on [designated contract markets], but are instead subject to state law.”

James used a similar stance in her lawsuit against Kalshi, accusing the company of circumventing state regulations on sports betting “by offering what is quintessentially wagering under the guise of ‘event contracts’ on a ‘prediction market.’” The lawsuit also accused Kalshi of allowing individuals under the age of 21 to wager on the platform.

James’ lawsuit asked a judge to bar Kalshi from operating within the state by offering “contracts relating to sports, culture, elections, and other events” without required licenses. It also asked for Kalshi to pay restitution to consumers, pay a fine equal to three times the gains the company made and forfeit any alleged illegal profits.

“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” James said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple. By ignoring our laws, Kalshi is running an illegal operation and harming New Yorkers in the process.”

The CFTC preemptively requested a temporary restraining order in federal court ahead of James’ lawsuit to stop the state from pursuing civil or criminal enforcement actions against Kalshi while litigation continues.

Kalshi and New York were engaged in “ongoing negotiations” on a comprehensive tax proposal prior to the lawsuit, a source familiar with Kalshi’s negotiations told NOTUS. The source said New York did not respond to the proposal “in substance” and then “abandoned” the idea.

Sean Butler, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said Kalshi has "blatantly violated state law” and “deprived New Yorkers of billions in revenue” in response to a request for comment about the tax negotiations.

“Weak attempts to self-regulate are meaningless,” Butler said. “If a company willfully violates state law, they must face consequences."

Elisabeth Diana, Kalshi’s head of communications, called New York’s lawsuit “political theater.”

“States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange,” Diana said in a statement. “This would also hurt New Yorkers, who would be driven offshore. We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product."

This story was updated to reflect new statements from Hochul and Kalshi.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/morris-katz-graham-platner-genevieve-mcdonald Alex Roarty Katz “needs to take some time for reflection and consider if he is serving the Democratic Party well,” Genevieve McDonald said. Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:58:56 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/morris-katz-graham-platner-genevieve-mcdonald Democratic strategist Morris Katz’s public mea culpa last week for his role in promoting and protecting Graham Platner didn’t sit well with at least one person familiar with the inner workings of the former candidate’s political operation.

“I don't believe him,” Genevieve McDonald, who served as the Platner campaign’s political director until resigning last October, said of Katz. “I mean, consultants shouldn't have main character energy. We have lost the plot when consultants are doing PR tours for themselves, for their own redemption, and that is what this felt like.”

Katz — one of the people most responsible for helping elevate Platner to national stardom — appeared on “The Ezra Klein Show” last week, saying he now believes some of the initial revelations about Platner, including his online history, should have been enough to end his Senate candidacy last year. Platner would go on to win the Democratic Senate primary in June, only to be forced out of the race weeks later after he was accused of sexual assault.

It was a notable admission from Katz, a rising star in his own right after helping mastermind New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s winning race in 2025.

But it rang hollow to McDonald, who said Democratic voters were robbed of a real primary because top members of Platner’s campaign dismissed the seriousness of the candidate’s actions and failed to properly vet rumors of other potential misdeeds.

“I appreciate the recognition that those things should have been enough,” McDonald told NOTUS in an interview on Monday. “However, they weren't enough in the moment, and so it doesn't repair the damage.”

Katz’s admission that he misjudged the situation is an effort to protect his career rather than a genuine admission of wrongdoing, she said, and another chance for him to build out a political status that she thinks has a tendency to overshadow his actual political clients.

“We've gotten to a point where it seems as though I've read as much about Morris Katz as I have about the candidates that he works for,” she said.

Katz and McDonald have publicly tussled before over the former political director’s decision to talk to The Wall Street Journal about allegations that Platner had sexted multiple women while he was married. During last week’s interview, Klein asked Katz whether he owed McDonald an apology, which he declined to give.

Katz’s response angered McDonald, who says he and his company, the Fight Agency, have tried to disparage her and her professional reputation since she resigned last year.

“I don’t need an apology from Morris Katz,” McDonald said. “I think Morris Katz needs to take some time for reflection and consider if he is serving the Democratic Party well.”

McDonald’s remarks mark a continuation of one of the most damaging controversies in recent party history, one that forced Democrats to pick a new nominee only this past weekend against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner’s eventual decision to leave the race also led to a round of finger-pointing at some of the officials who worked for him and for months defended him vigorously from criticism.

“I do think the process was irresponsible,” McDonald said. “You know, it appears Fight Agency and Daniel Moraff were so eager to launch him and push out any potential competitors in the primary that they did not do their due diligence.”

Katz declined to comment for this story. Katz said in the interview with Klein that Fight Agency “is not a vetting agency,” but that it’d be “fair” to critique him and the firm for “putting more pressure on people to ensure that the vetting process taking place is responsible and robust.”

McDonald said she just hopes that everyone can move on.

“The past several months have been deeply challenging to me, both, you know, personally and professionally,” she said. “I'm very much ready for the nation to move on from the Platner campaign.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/mamdani-appoints-lina-khan-new-york-economic-development Jenna Monnin Khan, a progressive antitrust champion and former head of the FTC, will serve as chair of the city’s Economic Development Corporation. Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:00:45 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/mamdani-appoints-lina-khan-new-york-economic-development New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday appointed Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission under President Joe Biden, to serve as board chair of the city's Economic Development Corporation.

Mamdani also nominated Tony Shorris to serve as president and CEO of the EDC, which serves as the city’s economic development arm. Shorris was the city’s first deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio and has decades of civil service experience.

“Frankly, this feels like the economic wonk’s version of the 1992 Olympic basketball Dream Team,” Mamdani said at a press conference. “It brings me great pleasure to say that today's appointees not only share a vision for the future of this office, but a commitment to executing on it.”

The mayor added that he is looking forward to partnering with Khan and Shorris “every step of the way.”

Khan advised Mamdani on economic policy and claimed to have found dormant mayoral powers to lower costs for New Yorkers as one of the four co-chairs of Mamdani’s transition team.

In her remarks Wednesday, Khan echoed Mamdani’s emphasis on affordability and committed herself to using the position for the benefit of all the city’s residents.

“EDC has enormous capacity to make life materially better for New Yorkers, and to ensure that public resources are being used to build state capacity,” she said.

Mamdani’s predecessor as mayor, Eric Adams, was indicted on federal corruption charges for allegedly accepting campaign money and travel benefits from individuals connected to the Turkish government. The Justice Department eventually dismissed the case, but Adams lost his reelection bid after facing scrutiny over the allegations on the campaign trail.

Mamdani signaled in his inaugural address that rooting out bad business practices in the city's government would be a priority: “We will answer to all New Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch who thinks they can buy our democracy,” he said at the time.

Now, in Khan, he is tapping a strong advocate of executive power to help lead the EDC, which manages properties and projects on behalf of the city as well as some public-private partnerships.

While at the FTC under Biden, Khan pursued aggressive antitrust enforcement actions against large multinational companies including Amazon and Ticketmaster. Khan’s progressive antitrust philosophy upended decades of previous enforcement, shifting the focus from protecting price competition among companies to addressing the harms of market dominance for consumers.

“As commissioner of the FTC, Lina Khan consistently delivered for working Americans, taking aim at the corporate monopolies that not only hurt working people at the checkout line but make life harder for the small businesses that are the backbone of our economy,” Mamdani said.

Khan was the youngest person to serve as chair of the FTC when she was appointed in 2021 at age 32.

Following Wednesday’s announcement, some voices in the business community expressed concerns about Khan’s likely approach to the position. 

“The Economic Development Corporation exists to expand the economy, attract private investment and jobs, and foster innovation,” said Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Competitiveness Coalition, a conservative-leaning free-market advocacy group. “Entrusting that mission to an activist regulator whose federal tenure was defined by hostility toward enterprise, severe agency mismanagement, and job losses is a disaster in the making for New Yorkers.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/zohran-mamdani-benjamin-netanyahu-arrest Manuela Silva The New York City mayor posted a two-minute video explaining that he does not have the authority to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister if he comes to New York City. Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:39:21 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/zohran-mamdani-benjamin-netanyahu-arrest New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would not arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to New York City, a pledge he made while campaigning for mayor last year.

Netanyahu is expected to visit New York City in September for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Mamdani told The New York Times last week that he was “in active conversation” with the city’s law department over the matter, but said on Tuesday that he does not have the legal authority to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant out for Netanyahu. President Donald Trump responded to the mayor’s earlier comments in a Monday Truth Social post, saying the prime minister would not be arrested “in any way, shape or form” in the U.S.

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to order the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if he were to come to New York City. He reaffirmed his desire to do so on Tuesday in a two-minute video, calling the prime minister the “architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.”

“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said. “It is clear we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.”

He instead turned the onus to arrest Netanyahu onto the federal government, which is unlikely to do so: “I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, accusing them of crimes against humanity including murder, starvation, persecution, and attacks on Gazans.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/congress/hakeem-jeffries-progressives-democrats-brad-lander Daniella Diaz Brad Lander backed his New York colleague but warned that “voters are fed up with the status quo.” Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:11:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/congress/hakeem-jeffries-progressives-democrats-brad-lander New York’s Brad Lander said he would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker if Democrats win back the House — an olive branch from a candidate expected to become one of Congress’ highest-profile progressives.

Lander and several likely members of Congress — including Melat Kiros, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Chris Rabb — are part of a group of uber-progressive Democrats, many aligned with the leftist Democratic Socialists of America, who recently won competitive primaries in safe blue districts. The majority of them have not committed to supporting Jeffries if Democrats win in November.

Lander’s support for Jeffries, who is a fellow New Yorker, is a tacit admission that the members are willing to give leadership a chance as they’re on the cusp of winning back the majority — but still he warned that “voters are fed up with the status quo.”

“I look forward to voting for Hakeem to be the speaker of the House,” Lander said in a recent interview with NOTUS. “At the same time, I want a party and party leadership that can listen to the passion and anger that voters feel and be responsive to it, and that means showing people much more clearly than leadership have so far what we're fighting for.”

DSA-aligned candidates built their campaigns around a direct challenge to the Democratic Party’s “status quo,” casting themselves as insurgents willing to break with establishment leadership. Their message centered on economic populism — even when that meant taking on moderate Democrats rather than Republicans.

Now that several of them are on track to easily win in November, the tug-of-war over the Democratic caucus’s center of gravity is about to grow even more pronounced. And many of the people who will be trying to pull it left will be from congressional districts in Jeffries’ backyard.

Landers has previously said he plans to support Jeffries for speaker.

"There will be a good opportunity for leadership to create a framework in which we can cut the line as fighters versus folders and show that it will be possible to win the majority in a strong way and to hear what voters are saying about their frustrations and the bolder posture they want to see from Democrats,” Lander, who beat incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in a primary that attracted national attention, told NOTUS.

Lander said Jeffries called to congratulate him and that the two have continued to talk, along with Jeffries' team, about how Jeffries envisions progressives working in the next Congress.

When asked for comment, Jeffries team pointed to his remarks at a recent press conference.

“I've talked to several of them, and we'll have more to say about it in the future,” Jeffries told reporters when asked about the winners of the competitive primaries in his home state.

Building new working relationships between drastically different wings of the party isn’t an entirely new dynamic for Democratic lawmakers to navigate. In 2019, after Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley arrived as the “Squad,” the then-new lawmakers had to establish a working relationship with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

They often broke with leadership on marquee votes, including when Omar and Tlaib opposed the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, and several backed primary challenges against sitting Democratic incumbents in the years that followed.

Pelosi, who’s retiring, said she has no concerns for Jeffries after November.

“Hakeem is a very unifying force. He's eloquent. He listens,” Pelosi said in an interview. “He's very respected by the members. I was a different kind of voice, and I always had a race, except for my first time. Every single time I had a race. I don't see that for him. I think he will have a very unified caucus.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who told NOTUS she’s made herself a resource for the incoming members, said she understands the candidates have to listen to their constituents who elected them for change.

“Movement-based candidates don't just make individual calculations. Movement-based candidates generally try to be — especially when they're elected from their communities — I think they just conference a lot with their communities,” she said.

Some centrist lawmakers, however, are already concerned that the DSA-aligned candidates will use tactics similar to those used by conservatives in the House Republican Conference, whether it be voting down a rule or refusing to back measures supported by moderate Democrats.

Rep. Brad Schneider, chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, which has more than 100 Democratic members, argued there should be more attention to the moderate candidates running in battleground races. He argued that candidates like the ones who have beat out incumbents are “not adding to the Democratic majority” because they’re in already-blue districts.

“I am concerned about the rhetoric when [the progressives] come in and they say, ‘We are going to take down the rules, take down the speaker,’ and do these things,” Schneider said. “That just locks it up. We see that with the Republicans.”

While none of the soon-to-be members of Congress have said they plan to vote against Jeffries, they’re noncommittal about supporting him.

Several progressives said the fear expressed by Schneider is disconnected from reality.

“I think if their fear is simply that these will be people who are more interested in division for its own sake or attention for its own sake, they've got something else coming,” said Andrew Bard Epstein, who worked on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and Valdez’s campaign. (Mamdani backed several of the New York progressives on track to win seats in Congress.) “These are people who are smart and determined and strategic.”

Lander was optimistic that in the general election, once primaries are wrapped up, Democrats will come together to win the majority. He dismissed any concerns about members of the caucus being able to work together in that scenario.

"I'm much more worried about Donald Trump and the danger that he presents to the country than I am about the divisions within the party," he said.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/george-conway-campaign-loan Christa Dutton He finished fifth in a crowded Democratic primary in one of New York City’s wealthiest districts. Thu, 16 Jul 2026 01:21:16 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/new-york/george-conway-campaign-loan George Conway, the former conservative lawyer turned Democrat, loaned his campaign $2 million to finish fifth in the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District.

He reported the personal loan in a Federal Election Commission report published on Wednesday. Micah Lasher, a state assembly member, won the primary in June and is expected to win the general election in the deep-blue Manhattan district.

Conway, a founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and the ex-husband of conservative political operative Kellyanne Conway, also raised about $437,581 as of June 30 in his failed bid to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler in one of the country’s wealthiest districts. He ended the second quarter with about $662,430 cash on hand.

His campaign also owed about $101,768 across several vendors, including $25,650 to Z Tribeca LLC, an ad agency.

When Kellyanne Conway joined the first Trump administration in 2017, the couple disclosed assets between $10 million and $39.3 million, according to ABC News.

A personal financial disclosure filed by George Conway in May showed that he reported his total assets as being worth between $6.1 million and $24.8 million. (Candidates report their assets in broad ranges.) That works out to be a median net worth of about $15.4 million.

Conway, who filed paperwork in December to run for the seat, did not immediately return NOTUS’ request for comment.

The primary also featured Kennedy family heir Jack Schlossberg, state assembly member Alex Bores and Lasher. Conway finished with just 6% of the vote.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/technology/kathy-hochul-new-york-data-centers-moratorium Angie Orellana Hernandez Hochul, a Democrat running for reelection this year, said the one-year freeze was necessary while state lawmakers draft regulations to protect energy resources. Tue, 14 Jul 2026 14:47:19 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/technology/kathy-hochul-new-york-data-centers-moratorium New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is implementing the country’s first statewide moratorium on the construction of new, large-scale data centers, she announced Tuesday.

Hochul, a Democrat running for reelection this year, said the temporary, one-year freeze was necessary while state lawmakers draft regulations to protect energy resources. Data centers have stored computer systems in physical buildings for decades, but the growth of artificial intelligence has led to the rampant construction of controversial facilities that require large amounts of electricity and water for their cooling systems.

“We want AI companies to invest here, grow their businesses, and do well,” Hochul said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “But when you benefit from the talent and energy of New York, we expect you to protect our resources and give back to our communities. This is a critical moment, and New York is going to take the time to get it right.”
https://x.com/GovKathyHochul/status/2077011610694992295?s=20The executive order immediately pauses the construction of new data centers that plan to use more than 50 megawatts of power. It also orders the creation of a “Community Investment Framework,” which instructs the Empire State Development to create guidelines for local communities to receive economic benefits from data centers.

Hochul said she also intends to pursue legislation that repeals sales tax exemptions to data centers.

There are at least 133 data centers in New York, according to Data Center Map, an industry database. Virginia and Texas have the most data centers in the country with about 637 and 504, respectively.

New York’s state legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act in June, which proposes a one-year moratorium on new permits, the creation of a separate utility rate for data centers, establishes energy efficiency goals for the facilities and the formation of a community benefits program. Hochul has not yet signed the bill.

Hochul’s executive order touches on elements of the legislature’s measure but is ultimately less aggressive than the bill, which would implement a year-long ban on centers using more than 20 megawatts.

Hochul’s office said in a press call that the governor’s executive order allows for immediate action while further regulation is under review, Axios reported.

Forty-six percent of respondents to a state Siena Poll conducted in June said a one-year moratorium on new permits for large data centers was good for New York communities.]]>