Politics
Knicks fever hits the pols
LAYUP: The New York Knicks are in the NBA finals, and politicians can’t seem to get enough of it.
They’re hosting invite-only watch parties as an excuse to butter up the political press and cash in on the cultural cachet.
They’re deploying taxpayer-funded staff to film and edit Knicks-focused social media clips of themselves, fit with music, multiple shooting locations and a whole lot of hype.
And they’re even mocking up government documents in an effort to spread good vibes — and good publicity — around New York’s basketball team.
It feels like Empire State’s electeds are jumping at every opportunity they can to graft their political brands onto a once-in-a-generation milestone for the Knickerbockers, and it’s happening everywhere you look.
“There is a real unique hunger that is both exciting and unifying about this year and this run that a lot of candidates are trying to tap into,” said Matt Rey, a Democratic operative with Red Horse Strategies. “It’s really hard to reach people on anything live now, except for sports, and this is the height of it, especially for a local area … Any way that you can advertise during, before, after games in the finals is the best chance you have to reach the most amount of Democratic primary voters, bar none.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani got in on that opportunity Wednesday night when he starred in a commercial that aired during Game 1 and featured the mayor’s three favored congressional candidates dishing the rock to each other as if they left their day jobs to become full-time hoopers.
He also revealed this morning he’ll be at Monday night’s game, and paying for his own ticket — which will cost the former rent-stabilized tenant a pretty penny.
President Donald Trump also plans to attend, and Mamdani demurred when asked if he was invited to sit with the president or plans on holding some sort of in-person meeting while Trump is in town.
“I’ll keep the nature of those conversations between the two of us,” Mamdani told 1010 WINS.
The mayor is making his Knicks fandom known in other ways, like drafting up an executive order allowing kids to stay up past their bedtimes to watch the Knicks (It’s the law, mom!), inviting the San Antonio Spurs’ center Victor Wembanyama to participate in the next Charter Revision Commission meeting, and commissioning Knicks-themed art for City Hall’s rotunda and steps.
Other more staid politicians are getting in on it too. Crime-prosecuting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg happily turned his press conference about the indictment of a brazen retail theft ring into an opportunity to talk Knicks basketball.
And the irreverent Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar posted an AI graphic of herself with two of the team’s star players, as if the three are all pals.
“New York, it’s time. Let’s. Go. Knicks. 🏀” she said.
Then there’s the bets: the cliched wagers between elected officials from different cities, where the losing team’s city or state’s quintessential food is sent to the winning team’s supporters. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is betting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz slices of Joe’s Pizza and some Brooklyn Lager — and she’ll get to down Texas BBQ if the orange-and-blue win. Nick LaLota is betting a 6-foot hero on the Knicks winning, in a wager with a Texas congressman. And the New York City Council is putting bagels on the line in a wager against the breakfast-taco-eating San Antonio City Council.
For those electeds considering whether or not to jump in on the trend, Rey, the Knicks-fan-turned-Dem-operative, has some advice: “Don’t be a bandwagon fan.”
“If you’re into this run, go all for it, because this is exciting to you, and is part of what makes you unique, but if it doesn’t make you unique, find something else,” he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, for her part, isn’t betting anything. She shut the door on any friendly wager with the Lone Star State after the Texas Gov. Greg Abbott published an AI-generated image of dunking on Hochul.
For Hochul, a famous Bills fan, the bar for glomming onto — and embracing — any sort of athletic energy that engrosses New York is low.
“I’m fired up,” she said at a press conference Thursday, where both the World Cup and NBA Finals were discussed. “I’m excited about this. I’m a huge sports fan, whatever it is. If there’s a ball involved, I love it.”
From the Capitol
THE LEGISLATIVE FINALE: The annual legislative session is crawling to a close with the Assembly spending today chipping away at its final package of bills.
The Senate concluded its business at 1:30 this morning. Assemblymembers are expecting to wrap up this evening — but optimism that the final buzzer will sound before the Knicks tip off at 8:30 p.m. is ebbing.
A good chunk of the final day was spent unanimously passing a bill from Assemblymember Alex Bores that would impose regulations on how AI chatbots interact with minors. The bots would be banned from engaging in sexually explicit conduct or encouraging kids to commit suicide.
“If you cannot make chatbots safe for children, you should not make them available to children,” said Bores, who’s running in a hotly-contested congressional primary. “I cannot think of a more appropriate bill to be my final bill in the chamber.”
The Assembly also debated a constitutional amendment that would move elections such as upstate mayoral contests and district attorney races to even-numbered years.
Democrats have argued the shifts will improve turnout in under-the-radar races and save money since polling sites will be opened less often. It’s much easier for voters “to put their energy into these elections all at once, instead of being stressed out every year about different offices,” Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha said.
Republicans have long opposed this, as well as 2023 legislation that moved most town and county races to even-numbered years, saying the shifts will politicize elections that should be decided by who’s best at managing snow plows.
“This is blatant power grab number four,” Assemblymember Joe Sempolinski said, summarizing a week when Democrats also passed measures on congressional redistricting, judicial redistricting and ending the bipartisan Board of Elections’ power to choose the wording for referenda.
“All of those are very partisan attacks on the integrity of our democratic institutions,” Sempolinski said. “What the people back home want us focused on is making their lives better, making their lives more affordable, not what we’re doing — which is the Democratic Party seizing more power for itself.” — Bill Mahoney
FROM CITY HALL
OVERKILL: A new report from City Comptroller Mark Levine found the majority of NYPD overtime — an outlay that routinely costs the city around $1 billion annually — comes from events that are known well in advance and could be better planned for.
“Overtime spending has been a clear cost the NYPD wants to rein in, especially as New York City seeks to reduce recurring expenses in light of projected budget gaps,” Levine said in a statement accompanying today’s report. “Overtime should be used when absolutely necessary to enable police officers to keep communities safe.”
During last year’s mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to rein in OT spending that has regularly been underbudgeted in the city’s annual spending plan, creating an unwelcome and pricey surprise when the bill comes due.
In the current fiscal year set to end June 30, Levine projects NYPD overtime costs will reach $890 million, the third-highest year on record.
To rein in costs, Levine suggested the department better manage staffing for parades, quality-of-life initiatives and other predictable events to prioritize regular shifts. He also recommended holding specific commands accountable when they routinely blow their overtime budgets, mandating rest periods for officers who work extended shifts to avoid fatigue and creating a more comprehensive accountability structure that could be audited.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has pledged to get a better grip on overtime spending too, and Levine’s report suggested that her efforts have produced some preliminarily positive results.
But a confluence of summer events including the World Cup, the NBA finals and celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary are expected to add around $92 million to the NYPD’s overtime budget for the upcoming fiscal year, though some of that will be covered by federal dollars.
At a recent City Council hearing, where Tisch said the department’s overtime spending has also gone up because of salary increases and general inflation, she pledged to balance the demands on the department with the fiscal goals of the comptroller and mayor.
“This uniquely busy period will lead to an increase in overtime spend,” she said. “However, this increase does not change our overtime management plan or our priority to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers while being a responsible fiscal steward.” — Joe Anuta
PENN DRAMA: Rep. Jerry Nadler is fuming over legislation pushed by a developer selected to redo Penn Station.
Before Amtrak picked Halmar to overhaul Penn in May, the developer shopped a bill on Capitol Hill to allow the railroad to benefit from nearby commercial development.
The effect of the legislation would be to supplant a now-paused deal between the state and midtown developers, including Vornado, to fund billions of dollars in upgrades to the rail hub using so-called payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, incentives. Under the bill, the developers could strike a deal with the Trump administration and make payments to Amtrak, cutting out New York officials. The head of Vornado, Steve Roth, is a former business associate of the president’s.
Nadler was the only member to vote against the idea in committee when it was attached as an amendment to a surface transportation bill. The Democrat dinged the plan as a giveaway to developers and an effort to bypass local accountability.
“This is a handout to Donald Trump and his real estate buddies, and New Yorkers will pay the price,” Nadler said in a statement to Blue Light News.
Halmar, which Amtrak awarded master development rights to in May, approached Nadler in mid-March with bill language. That was after Amtrak had floated the idea of using PILOT incentives to help it pay for the new Penn Station — but before Halmar was tapped as the winning developer.
The amendment was introduced by Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) and backed in committee by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). Both see the bill, which has broad language that applies outside of New York, as a way to make it easier for Amtrak to fund upgrades across the country.
“This is maybe the first time I’ve ever heard a Democrat not support Amtrak making these kinds of decisions,” Moulton said as he and Nadler briefly sparred over the amendment during a May 21 hearing.
Halmar declined to comment. A spokesperson for Vornado did not respond to a request for comment.
It remains unclear whether other Democrats will come out swinging against the idea, which supporters say could help speed up development around mass transit hubs — an idea that’s generally appealing to Democrats. — Ry Rivard
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
DEBATE-A-PALOOZA: One of the city’s suddenly most competitive races will be getting a high-profile debate before the primary.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier — his Mamdani-backed challenger — will take the stage on June 17 for a debate hosted by Telemundo 47/WNJU. Theo Chino-Tavarez and Oscar Romero, two other candidates vying for the seat, will appear as well.
The debate will be conducted exclusively in Spanish. Hispanic residents make up around half of the district, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
The primary has heated up since Mamdani weighed in for Avila Chevalier last week. On Friday, a day after a testy forum on WNYC between Espaillat and Avila Chevalier, both campaigns held events in Harlem touting their respective progressive backing. — Madison Fernandez
IN OTHER NEWS
— BATTLEGROUND: Espaillat and Avila Chevalier are intensifying outreach to Harlem’s Black electorate, a crucial bloc in the closely watched primary fight. (The New York Times)
— ‘BLINDSIDED’: Parents of trans children say Mount Sinai plans to share records of children receiving gender-affirming care with the Trump administration. (Gothamist)
— MR. MET: Ali Najmi, former election attorney to Mamdani and head of NYC’s commission to select local judges, is now working for billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen. (Hell Gate)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
INTIFADA FLARE UP: One of New York City’s most prestigious public high schools is facing backlash because a school-based socialist youth group co-signed a social media post declaring “Intifada Until Victory!”
The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter of Stuyvesant High School — along with YDSA chapters at Hunter College, the New School, City College and Lehman College — all signed onto an Oct. 8 Instagram post that accused the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter of silencing student activists who wanted to protest Mayor Zohran Mamdani over Israel.
The groups accused the democratic socialist mayor of betraying the Palestinian cause and blasted his decision to keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her position, referring to her as a “Zionist billionaire.”
The term intifada — which refers to violent uprisings against Jews in Israel — is viewed by many Jews as a call to violence against them.
Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers — an advocacy group representing Jewish teachers and students across the city — is demanding the posts be removed immediately and that the YDSA group provide a public apology to the school community.
“NYC public schools have seen hundreds of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents since October 7, 2023,” he wrote in an email yesterday to Stuyvesant Principal Seung Yu and New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels. “When a school-recognized club amplifies this rhetoric, it risks contributing to a hostile environment.”
In the missive, Spern invoked Title VI — the federal law that bans discrimination based on race, shared ancestry and national origin — and demanded a review of the YDSA chapter’s charter, faculty adviser and recent activities for compliance.
Spern also cited a chancellor’s regulation that states that student clubs operate under the principal’s supervision and must remain consistent with the school’s educational goals.
Yu did not respond to requests for comment. Mamdani’s Department of Education also did not respond to Playbook.
Spern told Playbook today that he has yet to receive a response from Yu.
“To flat out ignore it is extremely irresponsible,” he said.
The NYC-DSA defended the organization.
“We support the right to organize,” NYC-DSA co-Chair Gustavo Gordillo said in a statement. “NYC-DSA did not organize or endorse this particular rally, but red scare tactics have never been effective tools for engaging with student movements.”
The social media uproar is the latest flashpoint in ongoing tensions in the city over Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war that followed.
Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel, was reluctant to condemn the term “globalize the intifada” on the campaign trail last year before finally saying he will not use the term. He also drew bipartisan backlash over his statement marking the third anniversary of the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled the mayor an antisemite, which Mamdani has denied.
Mamdani, though, has also simultaneously faced backlash from pro-Palestinian activists who accused him of betraying the Palestinian cause by retaining Tisch, who’s Jewish and a self-described Zionist. Those critics have also criticized him for not doing enough to prevent local synagogues from holding events that promote land sales in Israel, some of them in the occupied West Bank. — Madina Touré
From the Capitol
Q’S LATEST: Gov. Kathy Hochul has a 55-41 lead over Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman, a Quinnipiac University poll released this afternoon found.
That 14-point advantage is narrower than the 19-point lead Quinnipiac gave Hochul last month. But it’s more in line with the numbers from other pollsters: Marist found Hochul up by 11 two weeks ago, Emerson had Hochul up 12 in early October, and Siena measured her lead at 9 points last month.
Despite Hochul’s lead, the Q Poll concluded Blakeman has an enthusiasm advantage. A total of 65% of his backers were “very enthusiastic” to support him, while only 33% of Hochul’s supporters said the same. — Bill Mahoney
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
LANDER DETAINED: Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained today by Israeli security officials while harvesting olives in the West Bank.
Lander, a self-described liberal Zionist and critic of Israel, said he went to the West Bank as part of the “Protect the Harvest” coalition to support Palestinians gathering crops.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, a progressive rabbinical organization, said she was also detained Wednesday, along with “approximately 80 American, Israeli, and international volunteers providing a protective presence for Palestinian farmers.” According to a press release from T’ruah, there were “approximately two hours of peaceful harvesting” until “Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone” and detained them to transport them to a police station, despite the volunteers agreeing to leave.
An Israeli military official told Blue Light News that officers from the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police, along with local police, arrived at the scene because Palestinians did not submit a request to coordinate harvesting in that area, which is required ahead of time. The official added that the farm in question “requires only a small number of harvesters to collect its produce” and “the security establishment views the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended solely to provoke, which undermines the harvesting process.”
Lander was released “once the matter was brought to our attention” that he is a congressional candidate, the official said.
Lander confirmed in a social media post that he was released with a “warning” because of his “public profile.”
Read more from Madison Fernandez in Blue Light News.
IN OTHER NEWS
— MUSK: Elon Musk has spent more than $500,000 to support Rep. Mike Lawler’s reelection bid against Democratic challenger Cait Conley. (Gothamist)
— STOP: New York City deployed 600 red light cameras to intersections, the maximum number allowed under state law. (New York Daily News)
— MEASLES: In the wake of a measles crisis, the state Health Department remains locked in a court battle with Amish schools over religious vaccine exemptions. (The New York Times)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
The GOP has a midterm messaging problem. Ramaswamy isn’t helping
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Republicans are banking on a massive cash edge to help save their majority in Congress. But they are losing much of that advantage in an important arena: broadcast TV ads.
Republicans have spent $677 million on those ads across 10 key Senate battleground states, compared to $479 million by the Democrats. But the GOP’s money isn’t going nearly as far because they’re more dependent on outside groups that pay much higher rates than candidates.
The disparity has helped Democrats stay in the fight for Senate control amid an onslaught of GOP outside spending.
In Ohio’s Senate race, Republican groups make up 63% of the $218 million spent. But in spite of their nearly two-to-one spending advantage, they make up just over half of ads that are on the airwaves, according to data from the tracking service AdImpact. In Texas, Republicans have outspent Democrats by a three-to-one margin, but have aired just 58% of the ads. And in Michigan, the GOP accounts for 60% of the spending but just over half of the ads.
A large part of this discrepancy comes down to the mechanics of broadcast advertising. Candidates, and now political parties thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling, are entitled to significantly lower rates. That has allowed Democratic candidates — who have posted bonkers fundraising hauls — to offset much of the GOP advantage in super PACs. Republican Senate candidates, on the other hand, struggled overall with their fundraising. And some GOP outside groups bought their ad time later, when it was even more expensive.
“There are limitations to the impact of ‘big money’ in politics,” said Sean Cooksey, a Republican former FEC commissioner. “It’s a good demonstration of the economics of campaign fundraising. Hard dollars really just go so much further.”
The disparity also shows “the Republican overreliance on outside groups,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic admaker.
“You get an eye-popping dollar amount, but it doesn’t actually translate into as many spots as you would think relative to a well-financed candidate,” Russell said. “[Republicans] were just hoping that they could spend their way out of everything that was going wrong for them. But the problem is, their issues run much deeper than a few ad buys can fix. Especially when you’ve got monster fundraising hauls from the Democratic side.”
Republicans in House and Senate races have long been more dependent on outside groups and megadonors, and for multiple cycles have seen their cash advantage undercut by fundraising strength from individual Democratic candidates. But that trend is particularly pronounced this year given the combination of Republican super PAC money and their candidates’ struggles.
In 2024, Republican outside groups spent only about 15% more than Democrats on TV ads across House and Senate general election contests, according to a Blue Light News analysis of AdImpact data. This cycle, GOP outside groups have spent 7% more.
In a few states, the discrepancy between dollars and airtime is less stark. Republicans account for 60% of the spending in Maine’s Senate race and an equal percentage of the ads, according to AdImpact. That’s in part because Sen. Susan Collins has outraised her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson over the whole cycle, although Jackson, who didn’t launch his campaign until July, raised far more in the third quarter.
The numbers show the shifting dynamics of campaign strategy after the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to more spending from parties by granting them the lower advertising rate.
Republicans have been faster to take advantage of the new rules: Major coordinated spending efforts from the NRSC and RNC have helped their side significantly this cycle.
Republicans have far outspent Democrats on Senate party-coordinated Senate advertising, $90 million to $34.6 million across TV, radio and digital ads, according to data from AdImpact.
“If I were the leader of either party, I would say you shouldn’t give a dollar, you shouldn’t give a single penny to these super PACs until you’ve maxed out to the party committee,” Cooksey said.
Some Republicans say that strategic errors have contributed to erasing their cash edge. A number of GOP strategists have also privately griped that MAGA Inc. — one of the major outside groups backing their candidates — bought TV airtime too late, forcing them to pay even higher rates and further draining resources and increasing the price of reaching voters. Republicans fretted for months about whether Trump’s well-financed super PAC, MAGA Inc., would get involved. The group has since spent heavily, but only launched its first general election ad buys in September.
“There is no question MAGA Inc. should have bought ads earlier in the cycle,” said one national GOP operative who was granted anonymity to discuss party strategy, noting that rates across the country increase as Election Day nears. Other top GOP outside groups, like the Senate Leadership Fund and the Congressional Leadership Fund, made their early advertising reservations much earlier in the cycle than MAGA Inc.
Trump allies waved away that criticism. A person familiar with the Trump operation’s midterm planning, granted anonymity to discuss strategy, said it’s “indisputable that the spending from the Trump political effort has kept us competitive in many Senate races.”
MAGA Inc. declined to comment.
Still, GOP outside groups are utilizing their cash advantage in some underappreciated ways.
Republican super PACs have massively outspent their Democratic counterparts on mail — roughly $157 million to $35 million for the general election — according to a Blue Light News analysis of independent expenditure filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission. That’s led by a whopping $44 million in spending on mail across 24 races from the Trump-aligned No Going Back PAC, along with $23.8 million across 20 races from Elon Musk’s America PAC.
GOP-aligned super PACs have also spent more than Democratic ones on phone calls and text messages, the data shows.
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