A scarcity down-ballot? Woman candidates.

Jul 26, 2024

With help from Rich Mendez

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks.

Vice President Kamala Harris has a chance to be the first woman president, but down-ballot there's a shortage of women running. | Julia Nikhinson/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy has renewed hopes that the country could see its first woman president, but down the ballot, fewer women are mounting election challenges.

Democrat Laura Gillen on Long Island and Republican Alison Esposito in the Hudson Valley are the only female contenders in New York’s six most competitive House races.

And Gillen is the sole woman among 10 Democrats in the DCCC’s Red to Blue program in New York and California, traditionally deep-blue states where party leaders have stressed that abortion and women’s health care are on the ballot.

The former Hempstead Town supervisor locked in a rematch against GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito described her status as both strange and unsurprising.

“Politics is a rough game, and some people don’t want to engage,” Gillen told Playbook.

“There probably are a lot of deterrents for women,” she added, recalling that she was harassed last cycle, her address posted on social media and her children placed in potential danger.

The gender gap in campaigns wasn’t always this stark.

There were 583 women running for the House in both 2020 and 2022, but just 466 this year, according to data compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Women currently account for less than 27 percent of all House candidates.

Why the drop? There was a Democratic mobilization after 2016 when former President Donald Trump was elected, and a reactive GOP push in 2018, but “it may be that the inconsistency in attention — whether by donors, by media or others — to targeted recruitment and support for women has affected the candidate numbers this year,” CAWP Director of Research Kelly Dittmar suggested.

Monica Klein, a New York-based Democratic strategist, agreed. “The current decline suggests that the post-Trump wave wasn’t followed by consistent support or sustained efforts to grow this involvement,” she said.

The bigger “why” goes much deeper.

Perceived gender roles have meant that some girls aren’t encouraged to lead the way boys are. And fewer women on community and school boards and in city and state governments mean fewer women primed to compete for higher office.

There are about twice as many Democratic women running for Congress as there are Republican women.

Gillen attributed at least part of her recent fundraising windfall to donors’ eagerness to boost a viable woman with bipartisan appeal.

“A lot of people want to see more women in elected office,” she said.

Esposito, a retired cop facing Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, offered a different take.

“You are seeing people that are not traditional politicians stepping away from their comfort zones,” she told Playbook. “They’re leaving their comfort zone so that they can battle for the heart and soul of our country. I don’t think it’s about a gender. I think it’s about a fighter.” — Emily Ngo

HAPPY FRIDAY: No more brat talk, please. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

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WHERE’S KATHY? In Erie County with no public schedule.

WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering opening remarks at AAMA Tech & Public Safety Summit, then calling in live for GMGT LIVE’s “The Reset Talk Show." After that, he'll appear in a pre-taped interview on Rock the Bells Radio’s “The Drama Hour."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It is the most disgusting cocktail of all the worst smells I can think of.” — Manhattan resident Ollie Robinson in Gothamist’s exploration of how heat waves have made the city’s urban odor extra pungent this summer.

ABOVE THE FOLD

Adrienne Adams speaks at a rally

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said that ballot proposals from Mayor Adams' CRC would essentially make him a "king." | John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit

COMING AT THE ‘KING’: The fight is underway for the City Council and allied groups opposed to ballot referenda that Council Speaker Adrienne Adams warned would give Mayor Eric Adams the powers of “a king.”

They are left to mount a campaign to convince New Yorkers to vote down the five ballot proposals that were adopted Thursday by the mayor’s Charter Revision Commission. If approved by voters in November, the changes would shift the balance of municipal influence in his favor.

His opponents have called the process a “sham,” a “power grab” and “anti-democratic.” The livid council speaker even said, “It is a dangerous attempt to shift power away from the people represented by the City Council to one single individual. Do you want a king?”

But amplifying that message to voters will take people and money. Mayor Adams’ critics voiced confidence that they could somehow amass both quickly.

The opposition will include “people who are concerned about what’s being rammed down their throats,” Council member Gale Brewer said at a rally Thursday in Brooklyn, predicting that as editorial boards and grassroots organizing play a role, “the money will come.”

Council member Shahana Hanif acknowledged, “This is going to be complex. It’s going to be a task for us because the proposals are on this year’s ballot, which is going to be a high voter turnout election. … So we’re going to be organized.”

Perla Silva of Make the Road New York said her immigrant advocacy group is already organizing for the November elections and will add fighting the proposals to its blueprint.

The proposals adopted Thursday include a softened version of an earlier pitch. That referendum would now require that the council give the mayor’s office at least 30 days advance notice of a vote on legislation relating to public safety.

The mayor’s office and the charter commission have argued that the process has been transparent and the feedback ample, citing 12 hearings, 240 people giving testimony and 2,300 written comments. The mayor has said of beefing with the council, “I’m just not going to get involved in those fights anymore.”

Those standing up to his proposed changes, however, only appear to be ramping up their fight. — Emily Ngo

CITY HALL: THE LATEST

— Poor living conditions are not just a NYCHA problem, but a private low-income housing problem, too, according to a new report. (City & State)

— Rafael Salamanca has an early fundraising lead against Vanessa Gibson for the race for Bronx borough president. (City & State)

— Housing advocates protested Adams’ policies at City Hall, worried that homeless encampment sweeps are coming. (PIX11)

— NYC students will receive free OMNY cards loaded with four free rides per day. (Chalkbeat)

NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY

Tom DiNapoli

The GOP wants state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to audit the state's Emergency Rental Assistance Program. | Seth Wenig/AP

GOP WRITES TO DINAPOLI: The state Senate and Assembly’s Republican conferences issued a joint letter on Thursday to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, calling on him — again — to audit the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which aimed to help low- and medium-income households pay rent during the Covid pandemic.

Last month, the federal Department of Justice reached a settlement of $11.3 million with Guidehouse, a firm contracted with the state to administer the rental assistance program, and a second company for failing to meet cybersecurity measures. DiNapoli celebrated the settlement in a DOJ press release.

But the Republicans in the Legislature say that DiNapoli ignored their warnings about the program. In January of last year, they issued a letter to him asking him to perform an audit. DiNapoli’s office never did so.

“The fact that Guidehouse and one of its subcontractors failed to meet an important contractual obligation should be reason enough to commence an immediate audit,” read a statement from Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay and Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt. “The Guidehouse contract is with New York State, not the federal government, so there may be potential damages that result from a breach of contract with New York. Without an audit, the ability to determine any failings is highly unlikely.”

DiNapoli’s office said they received the letter and it’s under review.

Guidehouse referred Playbook to a statement that notes the “settlement agreement does not include any admission or acknowledgment of liability by Guidehouse.” — Jason Beeferman

More from Albany:

— The state Department of Health has approved the Mount Sinai Health System’s plan to close Beth Israel hospital in lower Manhattan. (POLITICO Pro)

— Albany County District Attorney David Soares isn’t interested in repairing his relationships with local Democratic leaders. (City & State)

— The attorney general's office released security camera footage and body-worn camera video of the fatal police shooting of an armed man in Brooklyn on Mother’s Day. (Gothamist)

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NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

— Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg urges the judge to reject Trump’s bid to toss out hush money conviction on immunity grounds. (POLITICO)

— A lawsuit alleges that New York cannabis regulators were aware of violations and allowed them anyway. (Times Union)

— CUNY is trying to keep college-bound students on track amid financial federal aid chaos. (THE CITY/Open Campus)

— Brooklyn reps gathered to celebrate safety upgrades like curb enhancements and traffic agent deployments coming to Atlantic Avenue. (Brooklyn Eagle)

SOCIAL DATA

Edited by Daniel Lippman

MEDIAWATCH — Zoha Qamar is joining POLITICO as director of audience. She had been the strategy manager at the WSJ.

BOOK CLUB — Melania Trump will publish a memoir, “Melania,” this fall from Skyhorse Publishing, AP’s Hillel Italie reports. The announcement said the book “includes personal stories and family photos she has never before shared with the public.”

IN MEMORIAM — Elizabeth Emily Marcum, mother to former New York City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer, who worked on all his campaigns, died Tuesday at 84, after a fight with vascular dementia.

— “Lewis H. Lapham, Longtime Editor of Harper’s, Dies at 89,” by NYT’s Robert McFadden: “Born into a patrician family, he used Harper’s and later his own Lapham’s Quarterly to denounce what he saw as the hypocrisies and injustices of a spoiled United States.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Erin Gloria Ryan ... Dan Harris … Lesli Linka Glatter … Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke … Lia Seremetis … Hadley Holmes … Olivia K. Scanlon … (WAS THURSDAY): Alan N. Maisel ... Philip Darivoff ... Darren Star ... Arkady L. Bukh … (IS SATURDAY): NYC Council member Joe Borelli