Politics

Who watches the watch parties?

Published

2 months ago

June 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

As New York City gears up for summer events, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch outlined safety and security concerns during the City Council Committee on Public Safety’s executive budget hearing on Monday.

SUMMER OF HELL: The NYPD has quite a summer ahead, to hear Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch tell it.

During a four-hour budget hearing this morning (and afternoon), the mayor’s top cop provided new insight into possible threats during the World Cup, hinted at the beef between the police department and the mayor’s office over the scale of celebrations in New York City and ballparked how much police overtime will cost when America’s 250th birthday festivities, the NBA Finals, a large sailing event and annual parades are taken into account.

“Any one of those events on its own would be a major operation in New York City,” Tisch told members of the City Council’s finance and public safety committees. “Taken together, they place extraordinary demands on the NYPD.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already announced five fan zones where New Yorkers can catch World Cup games for free. Tisch said Monday there would be more.

“My understanding is that the mayor is going to announce a very robust set of watch parties for FIFA around the whole five boroughs, which will run the length of the tournament,” she said.

Yet behind the scenes, as POLITICO has reported, police brass have chafed at the scale of watch parties desired by the mayor, an avid fan, who wants to host novel get-togethers like soccer on the beach. Some of those tensions appeared to seep through Tisch’s comments Monday as she ticked off all the ways the NYPD will be taxed in the coming months.

“I would appreciate it if you could think about the demands on this department in that context,” she said, stressing to lawmakers the NYPD has limited resources. “We would like to facilitate a lot, perhaps we will be able to facilitate everything — but there will be a lot of celebrating in New York City.”

Tisch and her team tried to paint a picture of the scale of the tasks at hand: The department will screen 200 buses arriving from New Jersey on eight days when games are being played at MetLife Stadium. Officers will also secure the staging areas in Midtown where passengers will board those buses before being ferried back across the Hudson River. The NYPD plans to screen an estimated 15,000 rail passengers before they take a train to the Garden State as well.

Tisch has previously expressed her fears about weaponized drones that could be used to launch attacks during the tournament. On Monday, she turned to a more grounded example of why the NYPD needs to be involved in planning.

“We don’t want cars driving into these watch parties, either on purpose or by accident,” she said. “We don’t want to see vehicle ramming attacks across the city.”

All told, Tisch and her team said overtime costs associated with the summer will run approximately $92 million. Officers will be put on mandatory 12-hour shifts from July 1 through July 7, as POLITICO has reported, a run Tisch said Monday may need to be expanded. Around $70 million of that cost is either already accounted for in the city’s budget or is being picked up by the feds, leaving a roughly $20 million shortfall at a time when the city has little money to spare. — Joe Anuta

From the Capitol

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott today posted an AI-generated photo on X showing himself dunking over New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

SLOP THERE IT IS: Just in time for NBA Finals, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Republican foes are gleefully casting themselves as ballers in AI-produced videos and images dunking on the hapless Democrat.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott today posted a photo on X of the Lone Star Republican in a San Antonio Spurs jersey scoring off Hochul kitted out as a Knick. President Donald Trump sitting courtside smiles along in approval.

This follows a video by Hochul’s general election opponent Bruce Blakeman dribbling circles around Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (In this iteration, Blakeman is on the Knicks and the New York Democrats are on the Cleveland Cavaliers.)

Hochul — a Buffalo native who appears to be much more of a Bills and Sabres fan — scoffed at the Abbott photo this morning, making a reference to controversies over trans people participating in sports.

“I was actually surprised to see the president and Governor Abbott — with their memes of me, they’re dunking me on the court — that they’re supportive of men and women competing in the same sport,” she said. — Nick Reisman

THE KIDS ARE ALERT: Students are learning more and scrolling less thanks to a statewide cellphone ban, according to research released today by the governor.

Roughly 80 percent of teachers across the state said in a survey that the ban, which went into effect this school year, has resulted in positive outcomes, including better student engagement. Another 60 percent reported a decline in bullying and cyberbullying incidents. And 75 percent said their ability to teach effectively improved.

Hochul, who attended a roundtable discussion with students and teachers at a Brooklyn school today, said she first sought to determine what was causing youth mental health issues more than a year ago.

“I quickly came to the conclusion that there were severely negative impacts on young people’s mental health in classrooms when they could not put down their cellphones,” she said. “Literally, it became an addiction.”

The governor’s office received 585 responses to the survey. Forty-seven percent of the educators polled were from New York City, according to Hochul.

It remains to be seen though whether the policy will have an impact on students’ academic performance.

“Logic would tell us that that is a result we expect to see at some point,” Hochul told reporters after the roundtable. “I don’t know that it follows at the end of any first year, but it is data I’ve asked for. We don’t have the final exams in, for example.” — Madina Touré

FROM CITY HALL

Under the original timeline, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration would have to reduce class sizes by 2028.

CLASS SIZE DELAY CEMENTED: Mamdani is set to receive two more years to comply with a state law mandating lower class sizes in public schools.

The legislation to allow for that would revise the benchmark for the upcoming school year from 80 percent to 70 percent, according to state Sen. John Liu, who chairs the Senate’s New York City Education Committee.

After that, the city will have to reach 80 percent by the 2027-28 school year, 90 percent by the 2028-29 school year and 100 percent by the 2029-30 school year.

Under the original timeline, the city had to reduce class sizes to between 20 and 25 students, depending on the grade, by September 2028.

“The legal timetable will be extended by two years, empowering the Mamdani administration to at long last bring all NYC class sizes down to state and national norms of teacher-student ratios,” Liu said in a statement. “This amendment to state law is respondent to clear and accountable teacher recruitment and classroom construction plans developed by the Mamdani administration to be fulfilled within the mayor’s current term of office.”

The class size law is a key priority for Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. He said the union preferred compliance over an extension.

“But the reality is that New York City, up until now, had not done all that was needed to make this law a reality in every classroom,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “If giving this new administration two more years gets us a partner committed to building the necessary seats, then it is the fastest way to turn the law into reality.”

The agreement includes an “accountability incentive” that requires the city to treat space and hard-to-staff exemptions — schools that receive money to hire staff but are unable to fill those positions for the fall — as temporary tools.

The city will have to pay teachers a differential when working at schools that received space or hard-to-staff exemptions to meet the 70 percent benchmark for the upcoming school year. — Madina Touré

IN OTHER NEWS

— NO DICE: Resorts World, New York City’s first casino, is in a tax dispute with the state’s Gaming Commission, which claims the casino must pay an additional $150 million annually to the state’s horseracing industry. (New York Focus)

— AT RISK: The Trump administration is proposing to “optimize self-sufficiency” with cuts to the nation’s largest homeless assistance program that could leave thousands of formerly homeless New Yorkers without shelter. (Gothamist)

— BREAKING BREAD: Competing visions for the left are fueling tensions in the open NY-7 Democratic primary, with tribal politics framing the contest between progressive Antonio Reynoso and democratic socialist Claire Valdez. (The New York Times)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

Politics

It might take ‘a lightning bolt from God’ to get these Senate Democratic hopefuls to bow for independents

Published

14 hours ago

August 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats vying for a pair of deep-red Senate seats are facing increasingly desperate calls from within their party to step aside for more promising independent candidates.

But they say they won’t drop out — unless there’s divine intervention.

Democrats Alani Bankhead of Montana and Julian Beaudion of South Dakota both told Blue Light News they have no plans to exit the race, despite pressure from national — and even some state — Democrats to step aside. Numerous polls, coupled with stronger fundraising and campaign operations, show independents Seth Bodnar and Brian Bengs have a stronger — if still muddied — path to victory in November.

If the Democrats stay on the ballot, it will be almost impossible to claw these seats away from Republicans in Mountain West states that President Donald Trump dominated in 2024.

“I’m a person of faith. If a lightning bolt from God struck me and was like, ‘Alani, get out of the race,’ sure,” Bankhead told Blue Light News when asked if anything would change her mind. Otherwise, she said there’s “absolutely nothing.”

Beaudion has a similar resolve: “To be clear, we are not considering dropping out of the race,” he told Blue Light News.

By digging in, the Democrats could imperil their party’s hopes of regaining Senate control in an already uphill cycle. There’s broad agreement across the many factions of the Democratic Party that a crowded race relinquishes any hope of victory. Bengs has argued that Beaudion remaining on the ballot jeopardizes his chance of winning this fall against GOP Sen. Mike Rounds. Bodnar has maintained he has a viable path either way, and he could be helped out if the Libertarian candidate in the race pulls votes from Republican Kurt Alme.

The deadline to withdraw in South Dakota is Tuesday, and Montana’s is shortly after, on Aug. 10. Democrats across the ideological spectrum in Washington and their home states are calling on Bankhead and Beaudion to step down to help their party bank-shot a Senate majority, with the idea that a victorious independent candidate could caucus with a future Democratic majority — or at least not party up with Republicans.

“The math is inescapable. If it’s impossible for a Democrat to win, it is vital that the Democrats step aside and give the independent at least a shot of beating the Republican,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. “Beating the MAGA Republicans is priorities one, two and three. Who we beat them with is pretty far down the list.”

Democrats have already had some luck setting up one-on-one independent vs. Republican matchups in other Trump-won states. The Democratic candidate in Nebraska withdrew to pave the way for independent Dan Osborn — though an ongoing court case from a Democratic anti-abortion pastor could complicate things. And Idaho’s Democratic nominee recently dropped out in favor of independent Todd Achilles.

“Knowing that your campaign is not gonna break through, and just being able to recognize that is probably the hardest thing of all,” Achilles said of Democrat David Roth’s decision to step down. “I do appreciate what David did in Idaho.”

Bankhead and Beaudion insist they can win, even despite the headwinds. Bankhead expects to ride the anti-incumbency and pro-outsider wave into office, and Beaudion credits his relationships with voters throughout the state.

“Nobody ever knows what’s actually going to happen in an election,” Bankhead said. “The people decide on November 3.”

But Idaho and Nebraska Democrats reached a conclusion that Bankhead and Beaudion did not: The party’s brand is so tarnished in their states that the “D” label on the ballot line provides no viable path to victory.

“I am a professional partisan Democrat, and I have every incentive to be on the Democrat’s side here,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition-research firm. “But ultimately, the priority is to take the Senate majority away from Republicans. In some states, that path is very difficult to impossible for a Democrat. In those cases, it is both strategically and morally correct to take the path that is most likely to achieve the goal we’re going for.”

Faiz Shakir, a longtime adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), did not go as far as to call for Bankhead and Beaudion to step aside. But he agreed that there’s real opportunity for independents who aren’t stuck with the Democratic brand’s baggage.

“Being someone who’s not associated with the two-party system right now helps you greatly in many parts of this country, particularly those that have much more rural and conservative tendencies,” said Shakir. “There’s frustration and anger with Trump, and there’s not as much of a love and appreciation for the Democratic Party.”

Shakir also said that competitive races in these red areas — even if the independents can’t pull off a win — could force Republicans to pull much-needed resources out of battleground races in order to defend their turf.

But he also offered a warning to his party: Talking too much about the independents’ strong fundraising and establishment backing risks tying them to the “donor class” and turning them “into a worse version of what people assumed of a Democrat.”

“You gotta give them the space to be both independent in mind and in spirit,” he said. “The argument for them is truly that they are building a movement in the state that people are hungry for, and that in the support of those people, they’re finding resonance. And that would be the argument for a Democrat to step aside.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are working to paint the independents and Democrats as one and the same. They’re also trying to elevate the Democrats in an attempt to stop the independents from gaining more traction: Trump on social media attacked Bankhead in July, ignoring Bodnar entirely.

“Democrat-backed independents all support the same socialist policies and middle-class tax hikes that made Democrats toxic across the country,” Joanna Rodriguez, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “Republicans will defeat them in November.”

The inside calls for Beaudion and Bankhead to step aside aren’t just coming from Washington. Many local Democrats in Montana and South Dakota have said publicly they should not continue their campaigns. Nancy Keenan, the former executive director of the Montana Democratic Party who has endorsed Bodnar, wrote in a June op-ed that “there is not a viable path for a Democratic victory in this race.”

Bennett, the Third Way co-founder, went further, saying if Democrats fail to flip the Senate in November, the blame would lie at the hands of Bankhead and Beaudion.

“If we fumble away a majority because these no hope candidates are too vain to get out of the race, that’ll be a political calamity,” he said. “These people need to understand that they will become pariahs.”

Bankhead doesn’t see it that way.

“I’m not swayed by it because I’m not here for power and money,” she said. “It’s still the old, rich D.C. powerful political circles that are trying to keep more progressive candidates out of the fight so they can maintain the status quo.”

Politics

FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters

Published

2 days ago

July 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters

lead image

Politics

Mandela Barnes considering dropping out of Wisconsin governor race

Published

2 days ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and his team are discussing dropping out of the crowded Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The conversations come as Democratic officials in the state brace for damaging media reports about Barnes expected to hit in the coming hours. Barnes and his team have been on calls Thursday to discuss how to proceed, according to the people, granted anonymity to share private details.

The primary had become increasingly messy as more moderate leaning Democrats like Barnes have tried to stave off Democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s rise, worried her victory could boost presumed Republican nominee Tom Tiffany. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement of David Crowley — who reentered the race in the final stretch — further complicated the moderate coalition.

A spokesperson for Barnes’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.