Eric and Brad out-Kamala each other

Aug 01, 2024

By Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman

Presented by

With help from Rich Mendez

Vice President Kamala Harris visits Paschal's, a historic Black-owned restaurant, Tuesday, July 30, 2024 in Atlanta.

Rivals Mayor Eric Adams and Brad Lander are clashing over who supports Kamala Harris more. | John Bazemore/AP

Kamala Harris has entered the New York politics chat.

The men running for mayor next year have begun criticizing each other for not supporting Harris hard enough.

Shortly after New York City Comptroller Brad Lander formally jumped in the race on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams sniped at him over what he perceived as an implicit lack of support for the VP.

“I thought (Lander’s) announcement was to go to assist the first woman of color to be the president of the United States, not take the second man of color from being the mayor of the city of New York,” Adams said at his weekly press conference.

“I think we need to be focused on one mission,” he added. “The mission is electing VP Harris. And that's what I’m focused on. I'm sure he’s going to join me in that, once he sees the importance of that.”

Lander is going to have to get used to Adams attacking him for trying to beat the Black mayor.

But this time his campaign shot back quickly, calling Adams out for his own record on backing her:

— Lander publicly endorsed Harris last Sunday, about an hour after President Joe Biden backed her, and sent a fundraising email for her that night.

— Adams declined to endorse her that day in six separate broadcast interviews, before backing her on MSNBC Monday morning.

Now, Lander is driving support to a #DadsforKamala call tonight — and tweaked Adams for that delay.

Everyone’s uniting for Harris, a Wednesday email from Lander’s campaign said. “Even Mayor Adams finally came around to her candidacy!”

Adams has consistently praised Harris since then, but he’s also made impossible-to-prove statements about his own previous support for her.

He claimed on MSNBC that he “endorsed her in the entire primary field” and has since repeated that in other interviews.

But there’s no record of Adams publicly endorsing Harris before she suspended her presidential campaign in 2019. And a person closely involved with Harris’ campaign in New York confirmed Adams wasn’t involved at all.

Adams did tell the Times in 2021 that he had supported Harris in the primary, because “she had a very pragmatic approach to public safety,” but that was when she was already VP.

And Adams’ campaign couldn’t provide any evidence he did when asked.

The other mayoral contenders stayed out of the fight, but are backing Harris, too. Scott Stringer endorsed her in a tweet, and Zellnor Myrie sent his email list a link to donate to Harris.

The presidential race is looming over the 2025 mayoral primary, and a Donald Trump win could scramble everything. Would Adams get crushed by progressive energy? Or would voters flock to an incumbent in times of tumult?

And if Harris wins? Adams is already showing the second Black mayor wants to run right next to the second Black president. — Jeff Coltin

IT’S THURSDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

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WHERE’S KATHY? In Aspen, Colo., where she’ll participate in an Aspen Institute Fireside Chat.

WHERE’S ERIC? Attending a flag-raising ceremony for Switzerland, conducting an interview with 1010 WINS and hosting a mock business dinner for the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) interns.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The Republican ticket is going to be shaking in their boots because we have the talent, but also smart, articulate people who are not weird. There’s a big difference here. We have normal people.” — Gov. Kathy Hochul, doubling down in a CNN interview on Democrats’ needling that the GOP ticket is too weird.

ABOVE THE FOLD

Vehicles are parked outside the U.S. Capitol building.

A new effort to elect Democrats to the House is building a ground operation. | Joe Readle/Getty Images

FIELD PUSH FOR DEMS: A fledgling coalition of labor and left-leaning groups founded to help flip House seats to Democrats says enthusiasm for Harris’ candidacy is helping its ground game.

Battleground New York raised nearly $9 million in just over six months, its organizers told Playbook. Its super PAC brought in $5.2 million while its nonprofit reported $3.7 million.

The group’s paid field operation has collected about 5,500 voter registration cards in the districts represented by GOP Reps. Anthony D’Esposito on Long Island, Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley and Brandon Williams in the Syracuse area — with a goal of registering 13,000 voters in total.

“We’ve seen tremendous enthusiasm over the last two weeks,” said Battleground New York spokesperson Gabby Seay. “We have seen more volunteers, more energy and more excitement than before. Winning the House runs straight through New York.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the same on MSNBC Wednesday, concluding, “We can win the House back in New York state alone.”

Implicit in their stated excitement is that Biden was dragging the rest of the ticket down as he faced relentless criticism over his mental and physical fitness for office.

Jeffries is part of the New York State Democratic Party’s Coordinated Campaign’s $5 million effort to deploy volunteers and organizers for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Capturing GOP seats as Republicans pummel Democrats over their party’s handling of the migrant crisis will not be easy.

D’Esposito, locked in a race against Democrat Laura Gillen, on Wednesday pledged to keep his district red, agreeing with Jeffries by saying “control of Congress runs right through Long Island” but arguing that control should remain in Republican hands.

Similar to Jeffries, Battleground New York — led by groups including the Working Families Party, Planned Parenthood and 1199 SEIU — is focused on engaging voters on the ground.

The nonprofit and PAC told Playbook it’s on track to sign up enough new voters in the Hudson Valley race, where Lawler is facing Mondaire Jones, and the Syracuse-area one, where Williams is being challenged by John Mannion, to make up the vote differential from the 2022 face-offs.

It plans to knock on 120,000 doors in a paid canvass in each of its target districts, focusing on women, minorities and new voters. — Emily Ngo

Millions of retiring Americans rely on Social Security benefits, but the program is running at a deficit and Congress has struggled to find a solution for years. Join POLITICO on August 7 to explore what can be done to save the program. What other steps can Congress take to ensure its future? And how could Social Security impact the affordability and housing crisis facing aging New Yorkers? REGISTER HERE.

CITY HALL: THE LATEST

Mayor Eric Adams discusses New York's budget.

Mayor Eric Adams is set to skip an event for his brother’s new charity. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU: Adams is listed as the special guest at the Hamptons gala for his brother Bernard’s new charity — but he now isn’t actually expected to show up at the Saturday night soirée.

Bernard and Alisa Roever, a socialite who serves as a volunteer fundraiser for Adams’ campaign and legal defense fund, launched access-to-arts charity Angels Helpers NYC earlier this year — which the Times reported raised some concern that donors would give to it as a way to curry favor with the mayor.

Roever told Playbook that Adams is not coming to the “Hamptons White Party” at the $16 million Southampton mansion, and she’s “not sure” why not. Former Mets great Dwight Gooden is expected, however.

But time will tell. Adams spoke at the charity’s first event in May on the Upper East Side, which Roever said raised money for the Harlem School of the Arts. — Jeff Coltin

More from the city:

— Migrants say meager meals from a city shelter operator and police harassment are leaving them with few ways to feed themselves. (New York Focus)

— Dense residential blocks pose a major challenge to Adams’ “trash revolution” switch from trash bags to containers. (Gothamist)

— Adams touted an agreement his administration reached with Uber and Lyft, but drivers aren’t buying it. (SI Advance)

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NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY

Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas (D-Queens) sponsor of the "Coverage for All" bill speaks to reporters.

Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas and colleagues are spotlighting reproductive laws in the Dominican Republic. | Hans Pennink/AP

GLOBAL ABORTION DEBATE: New York Democrats have said abortion is on the ballot in U.S. elections this year.

But some state lawmakers are also turning their attention to reproductive laws in the Dominican Republic, raising concerns with a pending law overseas they worry could have ramifications in America.

Assemblymembers Jessica González-Rojas, Karines Reyes and Amanda Septimo sent a letter obtained by Playbook to Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader raising concerns with pending legislation in the country that would sustain the full criminalization of abortion in the country’s penal code.

The three lawmakers traveled to the Dominican Republic late last year to meet with abortion rights advocates. In the letter, they urged Abinader to meet with them to discuss the issue.

“Women in our nation and in all nations deserve access to the healthcare they need,” González-Rojas said in a statement.

The strict abortion law in the Dominican Republic is one of four complete bans on the procedure in Latin American countries and has drawn the ire of abortion-rights advocates in the U.S.

While it’s not common for state lawmakers in New York to raise concerns with the domestic policy of another country, abortion rights are expected to play a major role in Democrats’ electoral hopes this fall.

The letter, released by the Women’s Equality Center and State Innovation Exchange, comes as abortion rights are a focal point for Democratic candidates this year — an issue the party expects will counter Republican arguments on issues like crime and the border.

Voters in New York will consider a proposal to enshrine abortion rights and other equality guarantees in the state constitution — a referendum the party wants to leverage and boost turnout for down-ballot House candidates this November.

Republicans have pushed back against the pending amendment and the party has pursued legal challenges — so far all unsuccessful — to get the provision off the ballot.

GOP officials have argued the amendment goes far beyond a simple enshrinement of abortion rights.

State Republican Chair Ed Cox has called the amendment “a Trojan horse” and said it would upend a variety of societal norms. — Nick Reisman

MICHIGAN WAGE: The advocates backing a minimum wage change in New York are cheering a Michigan court ruling that’s expected to lead to a phase-out of the lower “tipped” minimum wage.

The One Fair Wage campaign — backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, VOCAL New York and other unions and left-leaning groups — has framed the push to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers as a smart political move for states like New York.

Tipped workers often tend to be younger people — voters Democrats struggled with when Biden led the ticket, but could be returning to the party fold with Harris now the presumptive nominee.

“It is shocking to see that New York, which has a trifecta for Democrats in state government, falls behind on an issue that matters so deeply to key voters,” said Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage. “If Michigan can end the subminimum wage for tipped workers, a legacy of slavery, New York can, too.”

The Democratic-led Legislature and Hochul in 2022 agreed to a new minimum wage law that would tie the base pay to the rate of inflation. State lawmakers are not expected to return to the Capitol until January when the new legislative session begins — forgoing any potential action on the minimum wage issue until then.

But tipped workers in New York earn less than the $16 an hour in the New York City region and the $15 an hour pay north of Westchester County: Service employees in most areas of New York earn $13.35 an hour; food service workers earn $10.65. Tips are meant to at least make up the difference.

Restaurant owners have fought against ending the tipped wage as have some workers, who have argued they can earn more than the minimum wage with gratuities factored in. — Nick Reisman