Politics
Why Democrats are betting big on a buck hunter
DES MOINES — Rob Sand got a hero’s welcome at a state deer hunting expo at the Iowa Events Center on a recent March weekend.
The state’s lone Democratic statewide elected official, and Democrats’ hope for flipping the governor’s mansion for the first time in 16 years, could barely make it through the Sunday morning sea of camo-wearing, venison jerky-chomping, Busch Light tallboy-nursing fellow hunters as more than a dozen people stopped and congratulated him.
But it wasn’t because of his politics. If anything, it was in spite of them.
“Rob, heckuva buck!” said one passerby.
Sand was at the annual Iowa Deer Classic to enter a Green gross-scoring 209-inch buck he’d tagged earlier this season. Photos of the deer have proliferated on Trophy Bucks of Iowa and other Facebook hunting groups across the state.
“Mr. 200!” said Levi Schmitz, a Trump-voting Republican who nonetheless plans to back Sand.
“You got me,” the 43-year-old state auditor responded with a grin.
As Democrats across the map continue to hunt for paths out of the metaphorical wilderness, Sand is betting that his own path to the governor’s mansion runs through his familiarity in the literal wilderness.
Sand represents the kind of candidate Democrats have long sought to win on tough red terrain: an inarguably of-the-place contender whose persona and bio can help sell political views that have become a tough pitch in places where many hear “Democrat” and picture coastal elites. Iowa, a swing state through 2012, moved hard right in the Trump years as Democrats increasingly struggled to connect.
Here, Republicans have taken advantage of the culture wars in a big way for years. Retiring Sen. Joni Ernst first won in 2014 by running hard on her pig-farming, military vet bio and painting her attorney opponent as an effete outsider.
Sand doesn’t run from some of his more liberal views. But like many other Democrats running this year, he’s banking that his local cultural cred will make him tougher for Republicans to caricature as a not-like-us coastal outsider.The day the expo kicked off, the avid bow hunter and fisherman’s campaign launched a “Hunting With Rob” microsite that extolls the rugged Iowa way of life. “For the first time in Iowa history, hunters, sportsmen, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts alike will finally have an ally in the governor’s office,” it reads.
In a state where the first day of deer season is an unofficial holiday, Sand’s strategy to center his culturally midwestern hobby rather than his Democratic brand was on full display. He dropped $30 on a glove for removing burrs, $35 on a tool that keeps hunting bows level and $69 on MAXX Step Aiders for climbing trees. And the branding appeared to be working.
“I’m super-Republican, but you got my vote,” said Tom Buckroyd, a hunter from a small community near Marshalltown wearing a “Crossbows Are Gay” T-shirt who spent roughly 20 minutes talking to Sand about hunting.
As he picked at a free sample of barbecue venison jerky on a toothpick, Sand said he wasn’t surprised by his warm reception.
“Number one, it just means I shot a huge buck this year,” he told Blue Light News. “But number two, I go back to culture. And we have this stupid, broken, two-choice political system. … And we are told stories about who can be right in either party. And when you find someone that’s in a party, but then also doesn’t fit that story, I think for a lot of people that is a sign of realness or a sign of authenticity about who they are.”
Since their bruising losses in 2024, Democrats have tried all manner of ways to rehabilitate their brand, from cursing more to growing beards to talking about sports. This cycle, they’ve redoubled their efforts to find authentically local candidates — and in some races, those candidates have emerged and caught lightning as they challenge status-quo Democratic candidates. Many are leaning hard into local culture signals.
Sand has hunting. Maine’s Senate candidate Graham Platner has his oystering and his Second Amendment creds. Texas’ Bobby Pulido has his guitar; James Talarico has the Good Book. Alaska’s Mary Peltola has fish. Democratic candidates who can win in tough places often get national buzz. And Sand happens to be from a state that — at least for now — still plays an outsized role in the presidential process. Could Sand be a surprise 2028 contender?
“If Rob wins, he will instantly be part of that conversation,” said Tommy Vietor, President Barack Obama’s former Iowa press secretary and a host of Pod Save America.
Sand is running as a hunting-loving, churchgoing, Casey’s gas station pizza-loving state auditor who has spent the past five years positioning himself as a fiscally responsible friend to the Iowa taxpayer.
There’s been little public polling of the race; the only public survey, released back in October, found Sand beating GOP Rep. Randy Feenstra by two points, 45 percent to 43 percent. But national operatives in both parties see it as one of a handful of governor’s races that could flip. Sand is unopposed in the state’s June 2 primary, though five Republicans will be on the ballot for their party’s nomination.
He entered the show room at the EMC Expo Center after attending a chapel service for expo-goers where he quietly scrolled a Contemporary English Version of the Bible on his phone, listening dutifully to the sermon about Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. “What sort of kingdom work is He asking you to do?” the pastor asked
And what does Sand see as his kingdom work? “Talking about the evils of the two-choice system and trying to break down a system that inherently divides us and leads our leaders into the temptation of being lazy, and leads our leaders into the temptation of lying, bearing false witness against their opponents, because they know that they don’t actually have to solve our problems,” he said.
“In order to get reelected, all they got to do is convince us that they’re the lesser of two evils,” Sand continued. “And they win because we only have two realistic options on the ballot — and that entire system, to me, is just such a temptation to not serve people, to not do good, to actively lie, to spread false information.”
You’d be forgiven if you forgot Sand was running as a Democrat. That, of course, is part of the point of his campaign. Sometimes to salvage the Democratic brand in a red state you have to first savage it.
But Republicans will be sure to remind voters a few times between now and November.
“He hasn’t really had to take very many positions,” said David Kochel, a longtime Iowa Republican operative who has guided multiple presidential campaigns. ”He’s going to be forced at some point to either disavow the Democratic Party platform, which is going to piss off progressives, or he’s going to have to accept the label of being a Democrat in Iowa and defend it. And it’s gonna be hard for him to do.”
Republicans will paint some images of Sand of their own. As much as he would like to cut the figure of a rugged outdoorsman, they say, he also spent some time in college modeling in Milan and Paris — photos that may well pop up in GOP ads. “I mean, it was a part-time job I had in college,” Sand said. “Catching chickens was my first one.” Catching chickens? “Castrated male chickens,” he clarifies.
There is also the matter of his election financing: His wealthy in-laws have dumped $7 million into his campaign. “Hardworking Iowans know the value of a dollar, and don’t have the luxury of having a silver spoon feeding them their career,” Iowa Republican Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
Iowa Republicans are taking Sand’s candidacy seriously. In an interview, Bob Vander Plaats, the influential West Des Moines evangelical leader, called Sand “dangerous” and the “best candidate” Democrats could run.
“He’s trying to come off as a more folksy, more accomplished Tim Walz. ‘I go to church every Sunday. I hunt. I’m the taxpayers’ watchdog. I’m gonna hit all the Republican talking points, basically, that I can,’” Vander Plaats said before stressing that Sand “would be way outside of where Iowans are.”
On the Republican side, Vander Plaats endorsed Adam Steen over Rep. Randy Feenstra, the GOP establishment pick and primary frontrunner. “I just haven’t been impressed with Randy’s campaign. I don’t think he has the campaign to win a general election.”
Sand practices a judge-not-lest-ye-be-judge approach with would-be voters. When he was speaking to the man wearing a “Crossbows Are Gay” shirt, Sand didn’t bat an eye.
“I know what that shirt says, but I’m not going to assume that he literally is anti-homosexual because his T-shirt says that,” Sand said. “I’m not a believer that lecturing people is an effective way to get them to not do a thing. Now, I’m open about my support for gay marriage, for the gay community. He’s probably seen me say that. … And he’s not going to hear me back away from that. So to me, there’s probably room for someone to wear a shirt that they mean as a joke they don’t actually mean to be negative.”
Sand didn’t win the Big Buck contest he’d entered. But as he took selfies with the men who had beat him, an onlooker from Exira named Jeremy brought up a possible consolation prize.
“You’re the next governor of Iowa!” he told Sand.
As the day wrapped, the lanky state auditor pulled his buck head down off the wall and, carrying it by an antler, walked out of the convention center — its taxidermied eyes fixed in a frozen stare at Sand’s potential new voters.
JACOB’S LADDER: Otsego County Democratic Chair Caitlin Ogden is launching a bid for the top spot in the state party — the first time its current chair, Jay Jacobs, has had a challenger during his lengthy tenure.
Jacobs, who also serves as Nassau County’s Democratic chair, has led the state party under the past three governors, with stints from 2009 to 2012 and 2019 through the present.
But those stints have unfolded despite years of grumbling from the party’s progressive flank.
“I came in as Otsego County chair about five years ago, and I’ve heard since then that Jay Jacobs has helped the party get by. And he definitely has,” Ogden said. “But I think the political landscape is shifting radically, and it’s time for a new leader to guide the party through the next phase and really deliver on Gov. Hochul’s vision of statewide, year-round party organizing.”
The friendly footing toward Gov. Kathy Hochul is a bit of a shift for Ogden. She was a top supporter of Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s challenge to the governor.
But expanding on Hochul’s efforts to use the party to help candidates up and down the ballot is now the focus of Ogden’s message as she attempts to win over party members. The Democratic Party has indisputably played a larger role organizing campaigns across the state in recent years, though numerous local officials have characterized this as a slapdash operation that emerges only in the run-up to congressional contests.
Ogden said that in 2022 she “had been expecting there to be a coordinated campaign structure because I had been told there would be.”
“There was not in any capacity — there was no organizational help from Albany or the state party,” she said. “We never got any literature for any of our Albany candidates; we finally got 40 signs for Kathy Hochul in the middle of October.”
The party apparatus has since been more helpful, Ogden said. But it’s still absent more often than not. It played no role as Democrats in her county had one of its best nights in history last November and has been quiet so far in the county that’s at the heart of Rep. Josh Riley’s battleground district.
“We don’t even have staff hired yet, at least to my knowledge,” she said. “And it’s so late in the game.”
“Is it something that would be helpful?” Jacobs said in response to Ogden’s call for a more regular statewide effort. “Of course.”
“But the big question is ‘where do you get the money?’ We raise millions now: This coordinated campaign is going to run through between $6 and $8 million. And that’s not easy to raise, so speculating that you’ll be able to fund not only election year coordinated campaigns, but also ongoing coordinated campaigns year-round every year, I don’t think is reasonable.”
Jacobs highlighted several accomplishments at the state party, such as a grant program that’s given $1 million to county committees and “allowing resolutions to come to the floor, where before they were always tabled to not allow for debate.” He also acknowledged that while 2022 was a “tough year” for the party, it did “very well” in 2024.
The party’s elected committee members select the chair. But historically, they’ve just gone along with whomever’s picked by the governor — a potential obstacle to the pro-Delgado Ogden, but one she thinks can be overcome.
“The conversation has been happening for a really long time now … about whether or not our leadership is on the right path,” she said.
Jacobs has faced calls for his ouster after the 2021, 2022 and 2025 elections, and easily survived a vote of no confidence six years ago. There were rumors last fall that his tenure was at an end after he declined to endorse then-mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, but Hochul said he was “doing a great job” and the party stuck with him.
“Since I’ve been the chair for ten years over two different tenures, I have heard repeatedly that I’m on the way out,” Jacobs said. “The only thing is, it’s never come from me.”
“It’s not that I need it for my livelihood — I like being involved in the Democratic Party and I find this a worthwhile endeavor. So as long as that remains, I’m happy to continue.”
The state Democratic Party will decide on Oct. 1 whether Jacobs stays on or not. — Bill Mahoney
FROM CITY HALL
ZO ON BIBI IN NYC: Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke publicly for the first time today on his plans to skip the protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Jewish head of state will be in New York City next week for the United Nations General Assembly.
“I have made very clear about my views, my thoughts, my assessments,” Mamdani said when asked why he’ll sit out. “When it comes to the UN General Assembly, my focus is ensuring that our city remains prepared to host representatives from across the world, to keep New Yorkers safe, and also to ensure that we’re able to both address the global conversation and the very local concerns New Yorkers have about traffic and their ability to get from point A to point B over the course of the next week.”
Mamdani’s nod to quotidian anxieties like gridlock is a far cry from his typically strident anti-Israel rhetoric and long history of pro-Palestinian activism. As recently as July, he was publicly railing against Netanyahu and entertaining the idea of having the NYPD arrest him on a controversial war crimes warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The war, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis, has left more than 73,000 Palestinians dead.
Mamdani ultimately walked back his calls, saying in a social media video that his administration does not have the “independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.” Still, he has continued to condemn Netanyahu, whom he called the “architect of a horrific genocide.” And he has appeared to call New Yorkers to action, saying that, “while we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon.”
The mayor faced accusations that he was stoking antisemitism by continuing to talk about arresting Netanyahu despite knowing he lacked the power to do so.
The mayor took a more measured tone today when answering questions about whether he would encourage critics of Israel to protest Netanyahu’s visit to the city.
“To New Yorkers — I’ve never encouraged them to protest, but I always told them they have the right to do so, and we respect that right, and this city is proud of the first amendment,” Mamdani said.
Regardless, sizable protests are expected ahead of and during Netanyahu’s Sept. 24 speech at the UN. The mayor said he has been in close contact with the NYPD and there are no expected security threats. — Molly Reinmann
SEWER SOCIALISM: Mamdani’s administration plans to install 17 free public bathrooms across the five boroughs — part of a one-year, $4 million pilot project with the modular public toilet company Throne Labs.
Each of the modular bathrooms will be climate controlled, have a toilet, a sink and a baby changing station, and will close at 10 p.m. To enter, New Yorkers can scan a QR code, use an app, send a text message, or use a physical tap card.
“These 17 formerly bathroomless locations will soon become New York City’s number one place to go number two — or number one, you don’t need to tell me,” the mayor joked today.
The pilot program is set to place five toilets in the Bronx, four in Brooklyn, three in Queens, four in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.
The initiative builds on a January announcement from Mamdani and is an attempt to solve an enduring problem that’s bedeviled city officials for decades: How to construct a simple public restroom without taking years and spending millions of dollars.
Former Council Member David Greenfield once highlighted a public restroom renovation in his district that — bogged down by municipal procurement and construction requirements — took nearly a decade and cost $2 million.
The commodes announced by Mamdani today, by contrast, are projected to come out to under $250,000 per bathroom, inclusive of maintenance, for the year-long pilot.
“We are essentially wasting taxpayer money,” Greenfield said at the time. “You can build a complete house in six months for $1 million.” — Molly Reinmann and Joe Anuta
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
EYES ON AI: Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan and former city Comptroller Brad Lander are among the signatories on a pledge to refuse cash from the big-money, pro-AI political group Leading the Future.
Lander, who’s all but certain to serve in Congress next year after winning the June primary in a safe-blue district, said he’s “determined to pass strong safeguards into law and make sure the American people have a true say in the future of AI.”
Ryan accused the “Big Tech oligarchs behind Leading the Future” of only caring “about their profits.” — an argument he made during the primary for NY-12. In that race to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, Ryan backed state Assemblymember Alex Bores, one of Leading the Future’s biggest targets. Bores finished in second place.
The public condemnations from Ryan and Lander come amid heightened concerns about the existential threat potentially posed by AI. New York politicians have urged the federal government to do more to address the rapidly developing technology, and Hochul vowed that the state will fill the void in the absence of action from Washington.
Leading the Future, which is backed by leaders at OpenAI and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has pushed back against criticism that it’s anti-regulation. It previously stated that it supports “passing a national regulatory framework for AI.” — Madison Fernandez
IN OTHER NEWS
— GRACIE GATHERING: Students and teachers from two of New York City’s elite Orthodox Jewish schools will demonstrate Friday outside Gracie Mansion. (Jewish Currents)
— FLOWERY PLANS: City officials are weighing plans to put rain gardens on top of bus stops after a prototype went up in Brooklyn. (Gothamist)
— PROPERTY PAYOUT: New York City is spending $60 million to settle a 2019 lawsuit alleging a city-instituted program illegally stripped dozens of homeowners of their equity. (The New York Times)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
HELP! I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN GET UP: A report from the New York City Department of Investigation confirmed today what many political watchers have long suspected — that the city’s police pension system is ripe for abuse.
The Police Pension Fund doles out retirement payments to all NYPD officers and, in fiscal year 2025, paid $935 million to officers who qualified for accident disability retirement — meaning they were injured on the job and unable to perform their duties.
While DOI Commissioner Nadia Shihata said injured officers should be fairly compensated, her office found the pension system assigns this distinction — which boosts pension payments by 50% and allows officers to receive 75% of their average pay — without considering an officer’s specific job duties.
“No New Yorker wants to stand in the way of NYPD officers rightfully receiving accident benefits when they suffer injuries on the job and are unable to work,” Shihata said in a statement. “But the [Police Pension Fund’s] current administration of these benefits is vulnerable to misuse and does not employ standards consistent with those used in similar law enforcement retirement systems, such as the system for state police.”
Instead, the board has a single standard: whether an applicant can perform the general duties of a police officer, like subduing a suspect or operating a firearm — a threshold that makes less sense for officers with desk or administrative jobs.
The report specifically cited the case of former Chief of Department John Chell, who was awarded a $295,919 annual pension while serving as the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer under former Mayor Eric Adams. The huge sum came, in part, because of an ankle injury sustained in 2024. Chell was among several top Adams-era police officials who received lucrative payouts using this criteria, which the DOI report argued contributed to mistrust in the system and the belief that higher-ranking officers had an easier time securing disability pay. (The report did not make any assumptions about whether Chell would have been granted his pension under stricter criteria.)
DOI contends this standard incentivizes more people to claim a disability, citing a 2015 report that found 21% of NYPD employees retire on accident disability compared to 6% within the state system for police and firefighters, which has a more narrow criteria for awarding disability pay. Shihata even suggested that the pension board’s broad standard might not be legal, since courts have found, in the case of the state police pension rules, that job duty means what an officer actually does in practice.
Despite that, the board rejected a DOI recommendation to change the standard.
Notably, DOI pointed out in its report that two of the people on the medical board making the determinations are appointed by city agencies controlled by the mayor — which means Mayor Zohran Mamdani could push to overrule the board’s leadership.
City Hall did not respond to a question about whether he would do so.
The NYPD declined to comment, while the pension board did not respond. Chell could not be reached.
The pension system does include a safeguard to maximize city resources. The board is authorized to re-examine officers receiving disability pensions who aren’t yet of retirement age to see if their condition would allow them to work a different city job, even if it’s not in the NYPD. If they’re deemed able, then they’re primarily compensated with their pension money until they reach retirement age.
So is the pension system using this provision to examine the $100 million worth of annual pension payments doled out to NYPD officers who are under the retirement age, which the board is required by law to do?
In short, no.
Since 2019, the board has only reevaluated one pensioner, per the DOI report. And that person was found unable to do any other city work.
The report found examples indicating the board could be doing a more thorough job. DOI provided findings that suggest four officers under the retirement age are receiving disability pensions while engaging in activities like lifting weights, performing home renovations, playing competitive sports, doing pushups, instructing workout classes and, in one case, performing “complicated dance routines exhibiting a full range of arm motion.”
DOI recommended the board require officers receiving disability payments who are not yet of retirement age to periodically certify they still have a disability. The board rejected this recommendation, but agreed to create an online portal to gain input from the public on pensioners who may be healthy enough to work. It also agreed to reevaluate the four retirees flagged by DOI. — Joe Anuta
From the Capitol
META’S DAY IN COURT: New York’s top court opened its fall session this afternoon with a case that could have massive implications for the legal liability of social media companies and AI users.
Website owners are typically immune from liability for content created by third parties. But the families of the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo are arguing that social media companies shouldn’t dodge responsibility for radicalizing Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old who drove across the state with the goal of killing Black people.
The state Court of Appeals is now deciding whether these families can proceed with a lawsuit against companies such as Meta, Google, Discord, Reddit, Amazon and 4Chan.
Gendron’s diaries and confessions show he was motivated by white supremacist material he encountered while addicted to social media. The families contend these companies are liable because they intentionally designed an addictive algorithm that destroyed his mental health while proactively steering him to pro-violence content.
“The social media companies had a role in causing the crime,” attorney Jennifer Bennett argued. “Heavy social media usage goes hand-in-hand with mass shootings.”
Meta attorney Eric Shumsky said the entire argument boiled down to an attempt to sue over the actual content the shooter saw, a type of claim his company is protected against.
“If the addiction were to cooking tutorials or cat videos or anything else, it would be an absolutely incoherent theory of liability,” Shumsky said.
Judges on the seven-person court panel acknowledged the possibility of significant repercussions no matter how they rule.
“Let’s say I can’t function, I can’t work anymore, because of my addiction to social media,” Judge Michael Garcia said while questioning the plaintiffs about how far reaching lawsuits might be under their theory. “It’s addictive, I can’t deal with people, I stay home, I can’t work.”
“That is a viable claim,” Bennett said. “The evidence is very strong that the social media companies made a product to have this effect.”
While questioning Meta, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson raised the possibility of troubling precedents if the court supports the idea of widespread immunity for app creators.
“I use AI to, let’s say, ‘design me an app to create the most harm possible to teenagers,’” Wilson said. “It’s my intent to create an app that selects content designed to destroy the mental health of teenagers … Am I liable?” — Bill Mahoney
EYES ON AI: Gov. Kathy Hochul chided the federal government today for not doing enough to address concerns about the existential threats artificial intelligence potentially poses.
“Understandably, Americans are concerned, as am I,” Hochul told reporters after an event Tuesday in Manhattan. “We have an obligation to ensure that technological progress does not come at our own peril. So while Washington refuses to act, here in New York, we’re stepping up.”
Hochul pointed to the landmark RAISE Act, which goes into effect in January, and a one-year data center moratorium, which she issued in July, as evidence that New York is acting aggressively. Her administration earlier today rolled out a framework for communities that want to host a data center to minimize detrimental effects on the area.
The governor added that she’ll find “additional actions that we can take at the state level to lead the way in the absence of leadership from Washington” — though she did not specify what that looks like.
While some in Washington are eager to implement restrictions to slow down AI, President Donald Trump has tried to shut down those efforts, calling the AI dooming a “HOAX.”
Hochul said she hasn’t had conversations with legislators in recent days regarding AI. — Madison Fernandez
FROM CITY HALL
TO ENFORCE OR NOT TO ENFORCE — THAT’S THE QUESTION: Mamdani wouldn’t commit today to ordering the NYPD to step up enforcement of traffic violations in New York City — because he’s focused on “behavioral change,” not punishment.
The NYPD’s rate of issuing tickets to drivers who speed, blow through red lights, block bike lanes or otherwise break traffic laws remains far below pre-pandemic levels. And transit advocates, including left-leaning allies of Mamdani, say the police department must get back to issuing more violations, arguing that it’s critical to keeping city streets safe.
This afternoon, though, Mamdani declined repeatedly to say whether he will deliver such marching orders to the NYPD and suggested enforcement isn’t a key priority for him.
“Our goal here is not going to be measured in terms of the number of tickets that are issued or the violations, but rather behavioral change, and the NYPD is a partner in delivering that change,” Mamdani said, speaking at a press conference in Brooklyn held to unveil his new street safety plan, which contains ambitious proposals but is light on many implementation details.
How does the city change behaviors without stepping up enforcement, though? In response to that question, Mamdani suggested the answer could lie in developing more protected bus and bike lanes and otherwise redesigning streets to make them safer for pedestrians.
At the same time, Mamdani said he’s committed to “a continued partnership with the PD to use those tools of ticketing when any violation is present.”
“We’re going to be taking a hard look at how best we can change behavior that we’re seeing in violation of street safety laws, and then utilize that. That includes the PD,” he said.
The mayor’s comments came after Streetsblog reported the NYPD has shifted its traffic violation strategy to prioritize enforcement against scofflaws on e-bikes and other micromobility vehicles. That shift comes in spite of the fact that car drivers account for the vast majority of crashes and traffic deaths in the city, data shows. — Chris Sommerfeldt
FOILED ATTEMPT: The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is suing the Mamdani administration over its handling of Freedom of Information Law requests.
The think tank has been seeking records related to meetings between foreign dignitaries and Ana María Archila, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. Archila has faced criticism for attempting to meet with an Iranian diplomat amid that country’s war with the U.S.
While the Adams administration provided tailored estimates for FOIL requests (but by no means fulfilled them in a timely manner), the institute found Mamdani’s City Hall team began giving out blanket six-month timetables for fulfilling requests.
“City Hall has turned FOIL into a six-month waiting room for everyone,” Manhattan Institute City Policy Analyst Santiago Vidal Calvo and General Counsel Cameron Macdonald wrote in explaining their suit, which was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court. “That is why we are suing.”
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit. — Joe Anuta
SCREENS IN SCHOOLS: The New York City public school system banned unfettered access to YouTube on school-issued devices for the current school year, the Department of Education revealed Tuesday.
The ban — which went into effect last week, ahead of the first day of school — comes amid calls from City Council members to limit the use of YouTube, personal devices and AI in the classroom.
“We heard everyone loud and clear,” DOE official Scott Strickland said at a Council hearing today. “As of Wednesday night at 5 p.m., we filtered YouTube out of all student devices. They shouldn’t be able to access it either on a Chromebook or an iPad both at school and at home.”
Council member Shekar Krishnan, who chairs the Council’s Oversight and Investigations Committee and was co-leading Tuesday’s hearing, said he was “very glad to hear” of the YouTube ban.
Educational videos embedded into Google Classroom for specific lessons will be exempt from the ban.
Earlier this month, Mamdani announced a year-long AI moratorium for students in grades 2-K through eighth grade. Hochul and lawmakers in Albany also rolled out a full-day “bell-to-bell” restriction on cellphone use during the school day last school year.
Ahead of this afternoon’s hearing, Krishnan and Council member Eric Dinowitz, who chairs the Education Committee, held a rally railing against screen-heavy classroom instruction and calling, among other things, for a YouTube ban.
“We will not let the greed of big technology companies get in the way of our children’s future and their education,” Krishnan said at the rally. — Molly Reinmann
IN OTHER NEWS
— DECLASSIFIED DOCS: Trump said he’d consider releasing classified documents related to 9/11 after victims’ families pleaded for clarity on Saudi Arabia’s involvement. (NY Post)
— TIED UP: Long Island Democratic House candidate Christopher Gallant acknowledged he posed in bondage gear for an ad campaign over a decade ago. (The New York Times)
— ICE ARRESTS: Police in the Westchester village of Port Chester have turned over more people with no criminal record to ICE than other local law enforcement agencies, despite assertions the police department would not cooperate with ICE. (NY Focus)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Politics
‘Profoundly unhelpful’: Texas Republicans worry Bo French’s xenophobic posts make a tough year worse
Texas Republicans were already fretting about slipping support with voters of color. Then Bo French got on X.
The Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner posted a photo of a crowd of University of Texas football fans, most of them people of color, saying, “The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”The Sunday morning comments, which appeared to target South Asian students, sent Lone Star Republicans into a frenzy, worried about the impact the rhetoric could have on GOP candidates up and down the ballot, including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s high-profile Senate race and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection fight.
A number of Republican lawmakers, including some in tough races, quickly denounced the post as racist, as others squirmed with carefully worded statements. And GOP operatives winced at the potential electoral backlash — in a year that’s already looking tougher-than-normal for a party that has dominated the state for decades. Still, no one explicitly called for him to drop out of the race.
“His post on social media is profoundly unhelpful if his goal is to see Republicans win statewide races in a tough political environment in 50 days,” said Matt Mackowiak, an Austin-based GOP consultant who advised Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) unsuccessful primary campaign against Paxton.
Cornyn condemned the post, asking whether other GOP officials would “condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized.”
Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), who is facing a tough reelection fight in a Hispanic-majority district, told Blue Light News in a statement she’s willing to “condemn racism” wherever it comes from.
“All I see in that photograph is a group of kids celebrating a Longhorns win. What can be more Texan than that?” De La Cruz said, before taking a shot at her Democratic opponent, Bobby Pulido, for his past racial comments.
And Karl Rove, a longtime adviser to former President George W. Bush, called French a “bigot” at a private lunch event and said he’s voting for French’s Democratic opponent, The Texas Tribune reported. Meanwhile, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, the Democrat running against French, said he had his best fundraising day of the cycle after French’s post.
French didn’t respond to requests for comment. He repeatedly stood by his comments since Sunday morning. During a local radio appearance Monday, he said he didn’t have any personal animosity against the students at the football game, but said that it is “not racist to point out that we should be favoring Texans over foreigners” and that his fellow Republicans are afraid of being called racist.
The divide emerging among Texas Republicans over the social media post — and Democrats’ eagerness to capitalize on it — show just how precarious the party finds its position this cycle. Texas Republicans were already worrying about losing support from Hispanic and other minority voters amid a tough economic environment and President Donald Trump’s unpopular immigration agenda. They need to hold onto or improve the incremental gains they made over previous cycles with voters of color in a fast-changing state where non-Hispanic white people now only make up 37% of the population. The stakes are high this cycle: Most polls show Paxton slightly trailing in a Senate race that could determine control of the upper chamber; Abbott appears to be in the toughest of his four election fights; and the state is home to several key House races.
“I don’t think [French’s post] independently and universally sours voter sentiment. But it contributes to GOP declining numbers with Hispanic voters particularly in the South Texas congressional races which we hope to win,” said Alfredo Rodriguez, a Dallas-based Republican strategist, who called on French to “stop the petty political theatrics.”
The blast radius of French’s posts was wide enough to garner carefully worded responses from the top of the ticket. Abbott said in a Sunday statement that French’s post “is not my message,” before noting unity “doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.”
Two of the students in the photo told the Dallas Morning News that they’re U.S. citizens. Most UT students are Texans — state law requires that 90% of each freshman class come from in-state — and there is no evidence that the students in the photo French posted are foreigners.
Some Republicans weren’t thrilled about Abbott’s response.
“This had nothing to do with illegal immigrants,” said Anang Mittal, an Indian American national GOP strategist, of Abbott’s comments. “These were students at a college game. They’re not H-1B. If they’re students, they’re on a student visa. … It’s pretty damn disgusting of Greg Abbott to say, ‘I condemn racism, but also, like, we’re keeping all the Indians out.’ That’s essentially what that tweet read to me.”Democrat James Talarico called Paxton out on social media, asking if he would follow Cornyn’s lead in denouncing French’s post. The GOP nominee replied that he condemns “racism in all its forms” — and then claimed Talarico had a “history of dividing Texans by race.”
Spokespeople for Paxton and Abbott did not respond to requests for comment.
Other Republicans were less willing to fully denounce French’s comments.
“I don’t really know the guy. I heard he said some not so pleasant things,” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who said he hadn’t seen the posts — but launched into a criticism of immigration nonetheless. “I am concerned about the number of people living in this country, and we don’t even know who they really are,” he said. ”Shut the border down for 10 years, and then let’s try to figure out who we got in this country because we don’t even know.”
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who campaigned with Talarico in Houston on Sunday, said French’s posts came up in conversations with every Asian American voter he met.
“Everyone was talking about it,” Kim said. “Every single Asian American that I was with yesterday raised this with me. They were saying this is an example of, ‘Not only are they not courting us or engaging with us, but they’re actively demonizing us, actively being xenophobic and racist towards us.’ We need leaders that stand up against this.”
The political damage could also extend — potentially for years — to Texas’ small but growing Indian American population, the demographic group French appeared to target in his posts. Both Dallas and Houston have significant Indian American populations. In 2019, an event at a Houston stadium headlined by Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew over 50,000 attendees.
French’s comments could alienate those same voters, said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican consultant in Austin.
“He just irritated a bunch of people, many of whom could be supporters and could be Republicans,” said Steinhauser, a University of Texas graduate. “I’d be willing to bet a lot of those kids that he was posting a photo of are probably, you know, their parents might be Republicans, or they might be Republicans, or conservatives, or independent-leaning conservatives.”
If French is elected, he would sit on a commission that regulates Texas’ powerful oil, gas and mining industries — which has little to do with immigration or social issues. But French, a longtime provocateur in Texas political circles, has a history of incendiary statements. Just last year, Republicans were calling on French to resign as chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party after he published an online poll asking whether Muslims or Jews were “the bigger threat to America.” He deleted the post and said he regretted it, adding “antisemitism has no place in the Republican Party.” This spring, he unseated a well-financed Republican incumbent for Texas Railroad Commission.
French isn’t the only politician in Texas who has made singling out Muslims part of his political brand. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made “preventing Shariah law in Texas” one of his legislative priorities. Patrick didn’t respond to a request for comment. Abbott, Paxton and Cornyn have all called for investigations and other government action to stop development of a commercial and residential development being built by the East Plano Islamic Center, a mosque outside Dallas. And just last month, Abbott threatened to withhold funding from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to block plans for ritual washing facilities for Muslim travelers in the airport’s terminals. There’s little difference between French’s attacks and the other politicians’ actions, said Yasir Qadhi, an Islamic scholar at the Islamic center.“It is the same mindset,” he said in an interview. “What we’re witnessing is really an unprecedented and increasingly brazen form of racism. It’s unfiltered, it’s unapologetic, it’s even stripped of even the pretense of political correctness. You know, this is a type of racism we’ve never seen in our lifetimes.”
When French unleashed a string of inflammatory social media posts in 2025, several GOP officeholders — including Patrick, the lieutenant governor — called on him to resign as county GOP chair. But Republicans now refuse to tell French to drop out now “because that might mean that there would be a Democrat elected statewide,” said Glen Whitley, a Republican former Tarrant County judge. “That’s the bottom line.”
“That’s part of my frustration with the Republican Party altogether: They talk about being Christian, but they get up every morning to talk about who they hate,” said Whitley, who still identifies as Republican but endorsed Talarico for Senate.
Joey Fox contributed to this report.
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