A New York Democrat Who Aligned With Republicans Could Be Headed To Congress
A New York Democrat whose alliance with Republicans helped block progressive measures in the state legislature is in a strong position to win the primary for a solidly Democratic district in Congress, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by the progressive think tank Data for Progress from May 28 to June 3, found that state Sen. David Carlucci has 15% support among likely voters in the June 23 Democratic primary for New York’s 17th Congressional District. Former Obama Pentagon official Evelyn Farkas and former federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer each have 13%, and attorney Mondaire Jones, the progressive favorite, has 12%.
Data for Progress nonetheless found that the race is fluid. Carlucci’s lead is within the margin of error of 5.7 percentage points. And 38% of the 302 respondents said they were “unsure” for whom they would vote.
Still, Carlucci’s high standing is enough to spook Democrats troubled by his political history. From 2011 to 2018, Carlucci was a member of the New York state Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a faction of Democrats who refused to back the mainstream party leadership and had a power-sharing arrangement with the chamber’s Republicans.
For a time after the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, the votes of the eight-member IDC and another renegade Democrat unaffiliated with the bloc kept the state Senate in Republican control, despite Democrats’ numerical majority. Locking Democrats out of power prevented bills to enshrine women’s reproductive rights in state law, expand voting rights, increase protections for renters and tackle climate change from coming up for a vote. In exchange for keeping them in power, Republicans gave the IDC members leadership positions that provided them with higher salaries.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) brokered a deal that dissolved the IDC in April 2018. But progressive activists and a significant number of mainstream Democrats, who had mobilized to unseat...
