| | | | |  | | By Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman and Emily Ngo | With help from Rich Mendez
|  Rep. Gregory Meeks is fighting to keep control over a judicial seat that provides the financial lifeblood to the political machine he oversees in New York City. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | NEW YORK MINUTE: Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn native, is returning to his home state today, lending his political star power to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s rally in Hastings-on-Hudson. And on Saturday, the progressive pair are joining headliner Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a South Bronx rally, as Bowman desperately tries to hold onto his NY-16 seat against Westchester County Executive George Latimer in what’s become the hottest primary in the nation — and the most expensive ever. PRIMARY PRIMER: County machines aren’t dead yet — but they’re fighting for their lives. The Queens, Brooklyn and Bronx Democratic Parties are all throwing down for candidates in competitive primaries this year. Wins could prove they’ve still got juice, but it won’t be easy: The challenges are coming from all angles, and it’s not just progressive insurgents facing incumbents. In Queens, county favorite Assembly candidate Larinda Hooks is trying to fend off former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate in his 6th comeback attempt since serving prison time on corruption charges. The nonprofit staffer Hooks has a ton of support, including more than $200,000 in outside spending from the Laborers’ union, funded by Mets owner Steve Cohen. Monserrate is the top foe of county leader Greg Meeks and he’s got a clearer path than he did during his previous failed attempts, since Hooks has never held legislative office before. Civil court judge Wendy Li is pitting the county organization against the growing Chinese community, putting up impressive fundraising numbers in her bid for Surrogate Court against Queens Dems-endorsed Cassandra Johnson. A win by Li would threaten the Queens Dems’ financial hold over the low-profile court. The party is also backing Johanna Carmona, who’s a pseudo-incumbent after Assemblymember Juan Ardila lost support following a years-old accusation of sexual misconduct. The major electoral threat there is Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist hoping to further grow NYC-DSA’s influence in western Queens. DSA is taking on the county parties in the other boroughs, too. Brooklyn Democratic Party Boss Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn joins House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Attorney General Tish James in backing Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman over challenger Eon Huntley. And on the mainland, the Bronx Dems are helping Assemblymember Michael Benedetto against Jonathan Soto. The incumbent beat the former staffer for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez two years ago, but this year he’s got NYC-DSA on his side. The Bronx Dems aren’t doing much for Bowman in his primary against George Latimer — he hasn’t asked — but they are putting resources into saving newly-elected Assemblymember Landon Dais from a challenge by Leonardo Coello, who’s backed by Rep. Adriano Espaillat. County organizations have weakened substantially in recent years. But things have been a lot less dramatic on this side of the Hudson. In New Jersey, Democratic organizations lost their favored “county line” in a court case months before South Jersey’s top boss George Norcross was indicted on corruption charges. — Jeff Coltin IT’S FRIDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | WHERE’S KATHY? Appearing as a guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box." WHERE’S ERIC? Calling in for a live interview on 1010 WINS’ “The PM Rush.” QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This is clearly a coordinated effort to use smear tactics just a few days before the election to hurt me and my family.” — State Sen. John Mannion, denying the anonymous allegations by former staffers of a toxic work environment, days ahead of his congressional primary, via WKTV.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | | 
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said he currently has no plans to call lawmakers back to Albany. | Mike Groll/AP | GET BACK TO 518: Don’t hold your breath for a special session of the state Legislature — even as the to-do list is growing. Both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie have thrown cold water on calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to take up outstanding issues like a recurring revenue plan to aid mass transit infrastructure or curtailing mask-wearing in public. “I’d have to have a reason to come back,” Heastie told reporters this week. “I haven’t been posed with a reason to come back yet.” Legislators wrapped their six-month session on June 8 and are not due back to the capitol until January. But there are pressing issues lawmakers may have to attend to — even if they are loath to return in the thick of campaign season. Lawmakers left town this month sans agreement with Hochul to replace the estimated $1 billion of annual revenue congestion pricing tolls were expected to bring in. Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams has pushed for limits on where masks are worn in public, zeroing in on pro-Palestinian demonstrations and incidents on trains in which people have been harassed. It’s not so simple, however. A proposed payroll mobility tax increase meant to offset the lost toll revenue was rejected by Democrats in the state Senate. It’s also not clear how the questions over masking on trains, buses and at protests can be addressed without alienating people who cover their faces for health or cultural reasons. And some Democratic lawmakers told Playbook in recent days they would be supportive of addressing both issues. “We’re looking to do something. I don’t think we want to wait,” Assemblymember David Weprin said. “When you’re dealing with Albany, anything can happen.” — Nick Reisman
| | CITY HALL: THE LATEST | | | | 
Speaker Adrienne Adams is still at odds with Mayor Eric Adams over budget negotiations, but the mayor is confident a deal will be made by the July 1 deadline. | John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit | WHO’S FLYING?: City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said they’re still “days away” from reaching a budget deal with Mayor Adams’ administration, and they don’t even agree on revenue estimates that will determine how much the city can spend. “We still believe that there is money there. We saw in excess of $1 billion that we believe needs to work on behalf of not just restoring (previous cuts), but building funding,” Speaker Adams said at a wide-ranging press conference Thursday. The mayor downplayed disagreements at his own press conference Monday, saying “We’re going to land the plane” with the speaker before the budget is to take effect July 1 as they have before. He even dubbed them “AA Airlines.” The speaker, a former flight attendant, tested her own plane analogy Thursday. And while she said she was striving for a budget to be passed before the July 1 deadline, she kept the door open to a late deal. “From a council perspective, we have banked left. We’re in a holding pattern. We’re circling the airport,” she said. “And it’s possible there will be a diversion.” — Jeff Coltin LIST OF DEMANDS: Speaker Adams is salty over the mayor’s Charter Revision Commission, which she thinks was called to block the council from getting its own bill to expand its oversight over mayoral appointees on the ballot. She submitted testimony to the commission Thursday, just days before its preliminary report is due on Monday when we’ll get our first look at what New Yorkers could be voting on in November. The speaker’s suggestions aren’t likely to make it, but they include:
- Take more time with the commission, delaying ballot proposals until 2025
- Allow the council’s advice and consent proposal to get on the ballot this year
- Make units of appropriation in the city budget more specific
- Tie the Civilian Complaint Review Board budget to the NYPD’s — Jeff Coltin
More from the city: — Roughly half of the migrants who reapply for shelter after reaching the deadline set by the Adams administration are getting denied. (Hell Gate) — Adams hasn’t raised the Palestinian flag, but his office said if anybody requested it, the “flag-raising working group” would review it. (Daily News) — Complaints about NYPD conduct surge under Adams to their highest level since 2012. (The Guardian) — The NYPD disciplinary trial of Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey has been put on hold, as the sides work out a possible settlement. (NY1)
| | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | | 
All eyes are on Hochul as worries rise over federal aid and the Second Avenue subway expansion is put on hold. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images | NO PAUSE FOR PROJECTS: Congestion pricing may be on pause, but the MTA capital projects in the pipeline won’t be, Hochul vowed to reporters on Thursday. “I’ve been in contact with the federal administration, the Department of Transportation, to ensure that the funding commitments that they’ve made to projects on the books right now will continue,” Hochul said after signing new social media regulations into law. The governor shelved the congestion pricing plan that was due to take effect on June 30, but the decision has called into question federal aid that was linked to the expected $1 billion in annual revenue from the tolls and help boost the region’s shambolic infrastructure. Hochul’s insistence that New York won’t lose out on federal aid comes after MTA officials this week announced the expansion of the Second Avenue subway is on hold. At the same time, Hochul sought to rebuff mass transit advocates who have started to blame her for delays on trains and buses. “I know there’s a strong interest in saying a late train an hour from now is a result from this,” she said. “There will be a lot of people trying to create this doomsday scenario.” Hochul reiterated she paused the toll plan due to the ongoing cost-of-living concerns facing New Yorkers in a fragile post-pandemic economy. Nevertheless, MTA officials have said this week they will have to reprioritize spending as a result of the toll plan being put on hold (that’s alarmed lawmakers like Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who wrote a letter to transit officials raising concerns with the delay). And transit activists are indeed blaming the governor. "Governor Hochul alone is responsible for the fate of the Second Avenue Subway expansion,” Riders Alliance spokesperson Danny Pearlstein said. “By stopping congestion pricing, the governor has most likely lost New York the largest capital investment grant that the Federal Transit Administration has ever made.” Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman rejected lawsuits aimed at blocking the plan by the United Federation of Teachers, the Staten Island borough president and others. Liman acknowledged the changed circumstances since he heard oral arguments in the cases this spring. “The question before the court is whether federal regulatory power, not political choices, stands in the way of a novel public policy approach to a pressing public issue,” he said. His 113-page ruling prompted a curious response from MTA general counsel Paige Graves on Thursday night. “We stand ready to relieve congestion and improve transit service for millions of riders,” she said in a statement. — Nick Reisman, Ry Rivard More from Albany: — State prisons have been illegally holding prisoners too long in solitary confinement, despite a law that limited the practice. (New York Times) — State Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs donated to the primary opponent of Assemblymember Taylor Darling. (City & State) — More federal funding is at risk due to Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing. (Spectrum News) — A lawsuit to block congestion pricing was dismissed — but that doesn’t change anything, due to the pause. (PIX 11)
| | KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION | | More from the Congress: — Inside the upstate House primary where Dems stand the best chance of defeating GOP in November. (POLITICO) — In barely a month, an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC has spent $14.5 million — up to $17,000 an hour — on the primary between Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer. (New York Times)
| | | | JOIN US ON 6/26 FOR A TALK ON AMERICA’S SUPPLY CHAIN: From the energy grid to defense factories, America’s critical sites and services are a national priority. Keeping them up and running means staying ahead of the threat and protecting the supply chains that feed into them. POLITICO will convene U.S. leaders from agencies, Congress and the industry on June 26 to discuss the latest challenges and solutions for protecting the supply lines into America’s critical infrastructure. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — Former President Donald Trump's legal team filed a motion calling on Judge Arthur Engoron to recuse himself from the former president’s civil fraud case after he was alleged to have an improper conversation about the case. (NBC New York) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been bombarded with death threats and harassing messages in the three weeks since his office secured Trump’s conviction. (Daily News) — Jill Stein failed to make the presidential ballot in New York after hiring Steve Kramer, who infamously created deepfake robocalls using President Joe Biden’s voice. (Business Insider)
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