Politics
She wants Zohran’s seat
With help from Amira McKee
Mary Jobaida is a Bangladeshi-born, Muslim mother of three who wants to be the newest member of the state Legislature.
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani hasn’t been elected mayor yet. But if — or when — he becomes Gracie Mansion’s newest resident, his Assembly seat in the left-leaning “Peoples’ Republic of Astoria” will become vacant — and Jobaida wants to fill it.
Jobaida touts her membership with the Democratic Socialists of America and says she wants to stand up to ICE, make CUNY, SUNY, pre-k and public transportation free, and even decriminalize the theft of food by hungry New Yorkers.
“It’s actually a waste of money, waste of resources and hurtful to people,” she said, noting that “it’s not practical” to arrest someone for stealing nourishment.
Running for the seat, she said, was arranged by God: “I was not going to run against Zohran Mamdani, for sure, because we need progressive elected officials here, but I say it’s like it’s planned by God and accepted by people,” she said, recounting how the district’s lines were redrawn two years ago to include her residence.
The Queens Democratic Party may have other ideas. If Mamdani — who currently leads mayoral polls — is sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, a special election would have to be called by Gov. Kathy Hochul by Jan. 11 and would likely take place in mid- to late-February.
That would mean the Democratic, Republican and potentially Working Families Party organizations could select their own candidate to run in a special. As City & State reported, the Queens Democrats might jump at the opportunity to replace Mamdani with a more moderate candidate.
Jobaida, who has already started contacting donors, canvassing and gathering volunteers for her bid, is one of the first candidates to emerge amid a wave of leftist energy that’s engulfed the city since Mamdani’s win. She has a website and told Playbook she will officially launch her campaign later this month.
Last month, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas announced she would primary state Sen. Jessica Ramos, an Andrew Cuomo foe turned ally. And Mamdani organizer Mahtab Khan registered Monday to run against Queens Assemblymember David Weprin.
One Democratic Party insider told Playbook that discussions around filling Mamdani’s seat aren’t expected to occur in earnest until the SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico — where politicos, lobbyists and policymakers fly to the Caribbean to rub elbows and drink rum in the days immediately after the general election.
The Working Families Party did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether it would pick a candidate — like Jobaida — to run for the seat on its ballot line. The co-chair of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter told Playbook the party will be hosting “several forums this fall to hear from interested candidates” before its membership votes on whom it wants to endorse.
And Mamdani and Jobaida haven’t spoken yet, though Jobaida plans to speak with him “very soon.”
Jobaida is about 45 years old. She was born in a rural village in Bangladesh that never recorded her birthdate and arrived to this country shortly after 9/11 with a “pretty messed-up education from Bangladesh,” she said.
She attended community college before enrolling in NYU on a scholarship. She got a start in political organizing in 2007 for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and then worked on Bill Thompson’s mayoral bid. She has taught kindergarten as a teacher in public school classrooms. She also handled constituent services for Jessica Ramos’ office (though she’s not sure if she’ll vote for her former boss yet).
In 2020, Jobaida mounted a primary challenge against longtime incumbent Kathy Nolan in Queens’ 37th Assembly District and lost by just 1,500 votes. After Mamdani’s primary win, Jobaida said she received calls and visits from community leaders, telling her, “You cannot sit quiet; you have to run for this seat.”
“I believe I’m going to win this special election,” Jobaida told Playbook. “If it is special election, it’s sealed. I believe it’s going to be a piece of cake.”
Though she believes the country has deep flaws with its criminal justice system and its treatment of the poor, she has immense gratitude for the nation that welcomed her with open arms.
“We are passing a very difficult moment as a country, as a community,” Jobaida said, referencing the recent shooting of a border patrol officer and border czar Tom Homan’s promise to “flood the zone” with ICE agents in its wake.
“Another way of saying it is like labor pain is harder before the childbirth,” she said. “We are going through some very difficult childbirth, labor pain, now, and I’m hopeful that we’re going to see a beautiful America soon.” — Jason Beeferman
BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Adams unveiled a whopping figure at his housing presser in Brooklyn today: 426,800.
That’s the total number of housing units he says his administration has created, preserved or planned over the course of his tenure.
For New Yorkers looking around and wondering why, despite this influx, finding an affordable apartment still feels like competing in the Hunger Games, the operative word is “planned.”
Planned units — which include projections from rezonings, some of which aren’t even yet approved — account for nearly half of the total sum.
Those 197,000 projected homes include the yet-to-be-seen fruits of the mayor’s wide-ranging City of Yes blueprint, neighborhood plans like the yet-to-be-approved rezoning of Long Island City, private rezonings, housing RFPs and other projections.
Many of these initiatives rely on the whims of the private sector, and development decisions that are based on myriad economic factors outside of the city’s control.
“Everything is dependent on the real estate market more generally, everything we do,” Kim Darga, deputy commissioner for development at HPD, said during a briefing on the numbers.
“The mixed-income programs are very dependent also on the greater climate in which we are operating, so what happens with interest rates could drive what happens, what happens with tariffs could impact what happens,” she continued.
Adams nonetheless touted the 426,800-unit figure as far surpassing previous mayors’ housing totals and crowned his administration as “the most pro-housing” in city history. — Janaki Chadha
POT PROBLEMS: Gov. Kathy Hochul said her administration will support cannabis businesses that were incorrectly granted licenses by the state.
“It’s a major screw-up,” the governor told reporters today. “When I found out about it I was angry to say the least.”
Some 150 businesses were found to have been granted licenses for storefronts that are illegally located after regulators mistakenly measured how close they were to schools.
Hochul said she explored an executive order to fix the problem, but instead determined a more durable solution is a change in the law. She blamed the prior leadership at the Office of Cannabis Management for the error.
“I’ll protect these businesses,” she said, while adding that “we need to get the law changed to have a fix.”
State lawmakers, including influential Democrats such as Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger, have signaled support for changing the law so the retailers can stay put.
In a statement, the Office of Cannabis Management downplayed a report from Spectrum News that found the state knew about the issue for a month before alerting business owners.
“OCM notified impacted applicants and licensees within days of confirming the issue and identifying the scope of redress opportunities,” the office’s spokesperson, Taylor Randi, said in a statement. She added that its acting director, Felicia Reid, began reviewing dispensaries’ compliance “over the past year.”
OCM has also scrambled to dispel reports that dispensaries with locations too close to schools will have to close up shop. Randi said that as long as existing businesses properly file their applications for a renewal, they will be allowed to remain open until legislators come back to Albany to fix the problem. — Nick Reisman and Jason Beeferman
ICE’D OUT WITH AN APPOINTMENT: The Trump administration’s response to a lawsuit filed this week by House members barred from inspecting migrant detention facilities has revolved around the Democrats making unannounced visits.
But lawmakers in New York have sought access both announced and unannounced. Rep. Dan Goldman requested an appointment in June and was still denied entry to the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan. Democratic lawmakers have simultaneously cited their authority to conduct oversight without giving advance notice of “detention facilities holding individuals in federal immigration custody.”
The 67-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington includes Goldman and Adriano Espaillat as plaintiffs. It references new DHS guidelines that congressional Democrats say infringe on their authority, including the need for seven days’ notice ahead of a visit.
In June, Goldman’s team emailed Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff a request for an appointment nine days before he and Rep. Jerry Nadler came to 26 Federal Plaza amid reports of unsafe conditions. They still were denied access.
The reason, according to DHS? The 10th floor of the building is a processing, not a detention, facility.
“These members of Congress could have just scheduled a tour,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this week in a statement reacting to the legal complaint by 12 members of Congress.
McLaughlin was asked again today on Fox News about the lawsuit and why lawmakers “think that they can just show up announced.”
“Exactly, this is about political theater,” she said in response. “This isn’t oversight.”
Goldman, Espaillat, Nadler and Rep. Nydia Velázquez have said migrants are being held for several days there in unsafe conditions as revealed in videos. And they have said they would use every tool to shine light on the treatment of migrants as President Donald Trump escalates his deportation agenda. — Emily Ngo
LET ’EM OFF EASY: Turkish construction executive Erden Arkan should be sentenced to only one year probation after giving illegal straw donations to Adams’ campaign, his lawyer argued in a memo Friday while denying Arkan had any coordination with the Turkish government.
Arkan, the co-founder of KSK Construction Group, pleaded guilty in January. His lawyer, Jonathan Rosen, said the federal probation office recommended that he receive only a year’s probation and no prison time.
Arkan “did not ‘coordinate’ his decision to use straw donors, the scheme at issue in this case, with the Turkish Consulate or any Turkish official,” despite what prosecutors alleged, Rosen wrote. A Turkish Consulate official invited Arkan to a meeting where he met Adams, but the decision to give illegal straw donations in the names of his employees came only after Arkan tried and failed to solicit donations legally from business contractors, who largely refused to give to Adams.
“Fearing embarrassment from the now impending fundraiser, Erden pivoted to a new strategy,” Rosen explained.
Rosen also argues that federal prosecutors were using Arkan to get to Adams, and he should be let off now that Adams’ case has been dropped. “The government’s characterization of Eric Adams as a ‘tainted prosecution’ … calls into question any bona fide federal interest in Mr. Arkan’s continued prosecution in federal court,” he wrote, quoting former Trump administration Department of Justice official Emil Bove’s letter.
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Jeff Coltin
— FAKED SIGNATURES: Mayor Eric Adams’ reelection campaign submitted forged petition signatures in an effort to get on the November ballot as an independent candidate. (Gothamist)
— TALL ORDER: The Department of Education approved close to $750,000 in catering spending at a single Brooklyn restaurant in the fiscal year 2025. (amNewYork)
— HEALTH CUTS: Federal funding cuts to Medicaid could worsen New York’s nursing shortage. (City & State)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Top Democrats are using 2026 as a launching pad for potential 2028 presidential runs.
From progressive Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to the more moderate Pete Buttigieg and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Democrats have sought to shape their party by endorsing in contested primaries this year. They’ve traveled the country to raise their own profiles and elevate candidates they see as the future of the party.
Their strategies have not always been successful — but they have been revealing: Some endorsed against incumbents based on generational or ideological differences. Some weighed in early to give candidates credence, while others waited until the last minute to help them close out the race. And some have focused on purple districts and other competitive races that could determine control of Congress in the fall.
“If you’re thinking about running for president, you need allies,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist whose firm works with House and Senate campaigns across the country. “The more that you’re out there, trying to get people elected and making a meaningful difference, voters are going to remember that.”
Appearing with candidates on the campaign trail is an opportunity for potential 2028 candidates to create social media buzz, Nellis noted. Traveling gives them opportunities to connect with donors and elected officials across the country who might be helpful for a future presidential run and pressure test how messages work in various parts of the country. For those not up for an election of their own this year, it’s also a way to stay relevant.
Some potential presidential candidates have been particularly prolific, while others have been more cautious or stuck to their home states, according to a Blue Light News review of endorsements in House, Senate and gubernatorial races. And a handful mostly stayed out of this year’s primaries.
The most prolific endorsers
Few members of Congress threw out as many endorsements as Khanna.
The California representative, who has said he is “seriously considering” running for president in 2028, endorsed in more than a dozen races, often serving as one of the earliest national backers of progressive candidates such as Kat Abughazaleh in Illinois’ 9th District and Analilia Mejia in New Jersey’s 11th District. Abughazaleh lost her race, while Mejia won.
Khanna also backed left-wing candidates that other national progressives shied away from, most notably democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race.
His record is mixed. Hong lost and former Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner, who Khanna stood by despite a series of controversies, had to drop out after winning a primary but facing an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies — at which point Khanna, like many others, withdrew his endorsement.
Khanna told Blue Light News he likes “endorsing early when an insurgent candidate is a bit of a longshot because that is when they need the endorsement most.” He looks for candidates who support Medicare for All and taxing billionaires and are opposed to foreign wars.
“My philosophy is to give those who are outsiders and have to scrape their way in — like I had to — a fair shot,” he said in a text message.
Ocasio-Cortez also endorsed a large slate of progressive candidates, but she’s been more selective than Khanna — a difference in approach that’s sparked some infighting within the Bernie Sanders wing of the progressive movement.
Critics have argued she’s played it too safe. But her selectivity has also meant she avoided high-profile stumbles.
Ocasio-Cortez has positioned herself as more of a closer this cycle. In California’s 22nd District, a battleground in the Central Valley, Khanna endorsed progressive professor Randy Villegas last September, while Ocasio-Cortez dropped her endorsement in May — about a month before the primary. Villegas ultimately defeated a moderate lawmaker backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is among the progressives who will now try to knock off an incumbent Republican in November.
Ocasio-Cortez actively campaigned for progressives in several contested battleground primaries, rallying with Sam Forstag in Montana and alongside Sanders with Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly won the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan.
She recently threw her support behind Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who faces a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton next week.
The other most frequent endorser among potential Democratic 2028ers this cycle played in a different lane. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a moderate, has been active on the campaign trail, visiting most presidential battleground states and endorsing in key Senate primaries, including Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota’s Democratic Senate primary — which she lost to progressive Peggy Flanagan — and state Rep. Josh Turek in Iowa’s Democratic Senate primary, which he won.
Buttigieg, who has said he is “more inclined than not” to run for president again in 2028, has also notched endorsement wins with Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s battleground 3rd District and former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin in Connecticut, who defeated incumbent Rep. John Larson earlier this month.
Most governors stuck close to home
Governors eyeing White House runs kept their endorsements closer to home, largely trying to play kingmaker within state lines as they face their own reelection fights.
The local focus allows them to flex their influence while avoiding criticism for nationalizing their own states’ politics. And they’ve campaigned aggressively for their chosen candidates — political power plays that not only strengthen their standing on home turf but could also serve as springboards for national bids.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pumped $10 million into a super PAC supporting his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in the contentious Senate primary to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, and appeared alongside her on the campaign trail. He described the race as “personal” to him; Stratton won by 7 points.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro expended significant political capital in one of Democrats’ top House targets in his state, helping recruit longtime ally and firefighter union chief Bob Brooks into the race against GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the state’s swingy 7th District and then working to elevate him out of a four-way primary. Shapiro fundraised for Brooks, cut an ad for him and joined him on the stump ahead of Election Day; Brooks won by nearly 20 points.
Shapiro was also one of a handful of Democratic attorneys-general-turned-governors who backed Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in his gubernatorial primary against Sen. Michael Bennet. Weiser won by 14 points.
In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore backed state Del. Adrian Boafo in the crowded race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer and boosted Rep. April McClain Delaney in her bruising primary against former Rep. David Trone — including recording a robocall on her behalf. An adviser to Moore said the governor had preexisting relationships with both candidates he endorsed, and that he prioritizes local and in-state races as he seeks to make endorsement decisions that will benefit his constituents.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also stuck to her state, only really playing in Michigan’s high-profile Senate race. She endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens in the final stretch of the race, although she wasn’t active on the campaign trail in the same way Pritzker was for Stratton or Shapiro for Brooks.
Disagreements among moderates
Even among candidates occupying a more centrist lane heading into 2028, there was room for disagreement.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former national security official, endorsed retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, a moderate in Michigan’s 7th district, which she previously represented. Several Democrats had hoped she’d back former foreign service officer Bridget Brink, a fellow moderate — and as they split the centrist vote, progressive William Lawrence ascended to the nomination in the toss-up district instead.
A person familiar with Slotkin’s thinking, granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal deliberations, said that she connected better with Maasdam and saw him as a stronger general election candidate.
The person also acknowledged that Slotkin’s decision to wait to issue her endorsement until three weeks before the primary didn’t leave enough time for voters and party leaders to coalesce around Maasdam.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) rolled out a slate of endorsements of veteran candidates, mostly for the general election, but has backed a range of other Democrats in primaries. That includes DCCC-backed political novice Marlene Galan-Woods in his home state, only for her to lose the primary in Arizona’s 1st District.
“As Navy combat veteran and former NASA astronaut, Mark Kelly knows the country is best served by leaders who represent their communities and bring a range of different backgrounds and experiences to the job. It’s why he’s endorsed candidates in competitive primaries and campaigned for Democrats up and down the ballot,” Kelly spokesperson Marisol Samayoa said.
In next week’s primary in New Hampshire’s 1st District, Kelly is supporting Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of his Senate colleague Jeanne Shaheen, praising her as a “fearless leader” who would stand up to President Donald Trump.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also went on a recent endorsement spree focused on military veterans. But she’s backing Maura Sullivan in the race against Shaheen next week, along with Rep. Seth Moulton in his primary against Sen. Ed Markey, who has gotten backing from progressives including Ocasio-Cortez.
“The fight isn’t moderates versus DSA candidates,” Sherrill told POLITICO earlier this month. “The fight is if we are going to have strong people in the Democratic Party that are going to actually make change to make people’s lives better, or people who you can just expect more of the same.”
The ones who (mostly) sat it out
Not every potential presidential candidate was eager to endorse this cycle.
Even after working to redraw boundaries in his home state to create more safely blue seats, California Gov. Gavin Newsom stayed out of the federal races — and the contest to succeed him. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear endorsed after primaries in his home state were complete. Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who is considering his own White House bid, also eschewed endorsements.
And Kamala Harris declined to weigh in on the majority of competitive primaries because of her high profile, according to a person familiar with her thinking who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. The exceptions were “based on the closeness” of the former vice president’s relationships with the people she did endorse.
Harris recorded a robocall for Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Senate primary before Crockett eventually lost to James Talarico. She backed Del. Stacey Plaskett ahead of her U.S. Virgin Islands’ gubernatorial primary victory earlier this month. She has also endorsed Dan Koh in next week’s primary for Massachusetts’ 6th District.
All three candidates have close ties to Harris. Crockett served as co-chair of Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, Plaskett endorsed Harris when she first ran for president in the 2020 primary, and Koh is a former Biden administration official.
Iowa’s last Democrat on how he can win in Trump country
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Alaska GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan can’t shake his same-name challenger.
Retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan punched a ticket out of the state’s top-four, all-party primary early Wednesday morning. He could now play spoiler in a high-stakes Senate clash between the Republican senator and former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola that could help swing control of the upper chamber.
Republicans fought and failed to keep Dan J. Sullivan off the primary ballot, arguing he was a Democratic plant designed to boost Peltola. Both Dan J. Sullivan and Peltola’s campaign have denied any coordination.
The senator’s allies have already taken steps to mitigate the second Sullivan’s potential vote siphoning, in some cases running ads using the senator’s middle initial to help differentiate between the same-named candidates.
Supporters of the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which kicks in for the general election, argue the process helps curtail the spoiler effect. But the presence of other candidates could still skew the results of the battleground race. Outside groups flooded the primary with more than $2 million to boost myriad fringe candidates — and could do so again ahead of November.
It’s not smooth sailing for Peltola, either, as she wages an uphill battle to flip a red seat in a state President Donald Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024. She recently replaced her campaign manager in a staffing shakeup ahead of the primary, among other internal moves.
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