SPECIALLY INTERESTED IN ALBANY: With less than two weeks to go before state primaries, progressive candidates for legislative seats are being targeted by special interest groups — and the groups say the flood of cash is a sign of their success. “DSA has been winning,” Grace Mausser, an organizer with the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, said when asked about the outside spending, exclusively reported by POLITICO Monday. “We don't win 100 percent of our races, but we do win races every year, and we've been growing our block in Albany,” she said. “I think our enemies are just getting more and more nervous about that, trying to scramble to spend against it.” The DSA made its mark in recent years, defeating a handful of Democratic mainstays in legislative primaries across New York City — most notably Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. So far independent expenditure committees have spent $489,000 on upcoming state races, with the vast majority spent in support of Assemblymembers facing primary opponents backed by the DSA or the Working Families Party, according to our colleague Bill Mahoney’s analysis. That amounts to less than what was spent in years prior — super PACs shelled out $868,000 at this point in the 2022 legislative primary season and over $1 million two weeks before the 2018 vote — but the interest groups are particularly focused on knocking out lefty candidates this year. “DSA has been a leader on standing for Palestinian Liberation and against the genocide in Gaza,” Mausser said. “I think that's fueled a lot more focus on both DSA and some WFP races.” The targeting of the candidates comes amid the backdrop of the especially pricey NY-16 congressional primary between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer, where about $16 million has been spent on advertisements alone. Of particular note in the assembly races is the role that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is playing. Bloomberg, a billionaire and a longtime advocate for charter schools, gave a combined $2 million in March and April to pro-charter school groups New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany and Moving New York Families Forward. Those organizations spent heavily in support of incumbents Michael Benedetto and Stefani Zinerman, who each face a DSA-backed challenger. They’ve also backed Anathea Simpkins, who is running against North Brooklyn Assemblymember and DSA member Emily Gallagher, and Taylor Darling, a third-term Assemblymember hoping to secure outgoing Democrat Kevin Thomas’ state Senate seat. Bloomberg’s team declined to comment for the story, though he and one of the heirs to the Walmart fortune have both spent generously in favor of charter schools recently. “Luxury developers and real estate CEOs are spending big against our candidates, because they know our candidates support the rights of families to stay in their homes without bracing for massive rent hikes each year,” said Ravi Mangla, a spokesperson for the Working Families Party. The issue of charter schools continues to be salient in Albany. A historically pro-public school state Legislature gave concessions to charter schools last year at the behest of Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose reelection campaign was supported by pro-charter school groups. In that deal 15 "zombie charters" — schools that were closed or never opened — are now available to be filled in New York City, where the number of charters has reached the state's geographical cap. “Mayor Bloomberg, he funnels the money through the PACs,” said Jonathan Soto, a DSA-backed candidate running against Benedetto. “He has his policy in place with mayoral control, and is going to continue trying to buy state legislators like Michael Benedetto out, but that's why we're running as a public school parent.” Crystal McQueen-Taylor, executive director of StudentsFirstNY, which is affiliated with New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, explained the groups involvement in the races in a statement to Playbook. "New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany will always be there when tough races emerge for candidates who put kids first,” she said. “This year's elections are critical for parent choice, and we're proud to stand with an outstanding crop of candidates." — Jason Beeferman | 
