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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

I admire your optimism, but why did the Democrats line up in favor of Eric Adams when he won the primary but now they have "concerns" about Mamdani? Not trying to be antagonistic but this is gnawing at me 😊

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jul 8, 2025, 2:37 pm • 0 0

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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

This is Jamelle’s point, that’s not “the Democrats”, that’s a handful of high-profile members. The Party itself, the local & regional clubs, are endorsing Mamdani, and quite a lot of NYC members of the Dem Party were out pounding the pavement for him! A small set of loud assholes isn’t “The Party”

jul 8, 2025, 2:41 pm • 5 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

Sadly, to most people, it is. If they have outsized influence, if they are the loudest voices, then they have the most pressure on them to do the right thing and endorse their nominee. At least to send a signal to national Democratic voters, if not to NYC voters specifically.

jul 8, 2025, 2:43 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

Some of my in-laws are registered Dems in NYC, and thus are as much The Party™ as Hochul etc., despite being far less influential b/c they’re not famous electeds. There’s millions of folks like that in NYC. So why are we saying “the Party hates Mamdani” when the votes say otherwise?

jul 8, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

Because we are talking about the party establishment. Regular Democratic voters love Mamdani. The problem is that the interests of the establishment differ so much from the interests of their own voting base.

jul 8, 2025, 2:46 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

That’s a problem, yes, and being clear-eyed about how said establishment (which is really only 1 faction of said establishment) is the only way we deal with them & reclaim elected positions from assholes like Cuomo & Trump. At the end of the day, you need actual votes from voters to win elections.

jul 8, 2025, 2:49 pm • 1 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

It's not just one faction, it is the faction that is in control of the party.

jul 8, 2025, 2:50 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

If they were in control, Mamdani would not have even been a candidate, much less the winner of the Dem primary in NYC.

jul 8, 2025, 2:52 pm • 3 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

That is an extremely simplistic view. There's a reason they call it the establishment. They can't dictate primaries, but they did try to stop him, even trotting out Bill Clinton 😂 Their problem is they didn't think he could win until the last second. You are denying reality, so you're done now.

jul 8, 2025, 2:55 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

It really isn’t. There is _no mechanism_ for them to have blocked Mamdani from running in the primary. None! Zero! The structure of NYC’s elections require it if there’s >1 candidate on the Dem side. They tried to stop him by influencing voters. Clearly, they cannot control him though!

jul 8, 2025, 2:57 pm • 2 0 • view
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the autumn and the scarlet🍁 @beneprism.rip

Who do you think "trotted out" Bill Clinton? You don't think that he acted on his own volition?

jul 8, 2025, 3:21 pm • 0 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

The Cuomo campaign 😂

jul 8, 2025, 3:27 pm • 1 0 • view
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Zach Blue Skies @zach-blue-skies.bsky.social

Hey Jeff did you vote for Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate?

jul 8, 2025, 2:43 pm • 1 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

I sure did.

jul 8, 2025, 2:43 pm • 0 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

That was a trick question. Nobody did. There was no primary.

jul 8, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

Yes there was. I cast my vote in it here in MA.

jul 8, 2025, 2:45 pm • 1 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

When Biden was running?

jul 8, 2025, 2:46 pm • 0 0 • view
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Zach Blue Skies @zach-blue-skies.bsky.social

What state did you do that in? They didn’t run a primary in my state

jul 8, 2025, 2:43 pm • 2 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

You have zeroed in on the one thing the Dem Party _actually_ can control, and I’m with you: not having a primary is bullshit.

jul 8, 2025, 2:45 pm • 1 0 • view
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Zach Blue Skies @zach-blue-skies.bsky.social

Okay so we can drop the pretense that we’re all the party. Thanks Jeff

jul 8, 2025, 2:45 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

I’m literally a registered Dem, as are my in-laws in NYC. Which means we’re literally members of the Dem Party. And there’s no mechanism for removing me or anyone else from the Party. Hand-waving away how our political parties work doesn‘t help us if we want to make change!

jul 8, 2025, 2:46 pm • 2 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

We are just pointing out how the establishment tries to thwart the will of the voters.

jul 8, 2025, 2:49 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

Sure, then point at that faction, not “The Dem Party”. It’s counterproductive to lump DSA, progressives, and other more-left factions in the Party in together w/ the old guard/3rd Way/establishment/whatever faction(s). Hand-waving “the Dems are terrible” does Mamdani & other Dems a disservice

jul 8, 2025, 2:51 pm • 1 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

Don't try to tell us what language to use. When we talk about the Democrats we mean the establishment. If we want to talk about Democratic voters we will say Democratic voters. You need to learn how to discern context and stop being the language police.

jul 8, 2025, 2:53 pm • 1 0 • view
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Zach Blue Skies @zach-blue-skies.bsky.social

That is correct. And I’m a member at the gym. I am not The Gym. You can continue to debate the semantics if you want but I’m muting this thread

jul 8, 2025, 2:49 pm • 1 0 • view
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Free Parking 🚘 @free-parking.bsky.social

Well played

jul 8, 2025, 2:49 pm • 0 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

That comparison doesn’t even work; you don’t get to vote on what The Gym does b/c you’re a member. You get to vote on what the Dem party does as a member. Join your local Dem club if you wanna make change!

jul 8, 2025, 2:50 pm • 1 0 • view
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Steve in Chicago @spsnomad.bsky.social

Thinking that the amount of attention that letter from Paterson got was really telling. I don't think anyone has given Paterson a thought since his career flamed out due to bribery 15 years ago, but he sees either Cuomo or a second Adams administration as a path back to relevance.

jul 8, 2025, 2:56 pm • 1 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

Oh for sure. Like many, he’s in it for himself & clearly will happily hitch his wagon to the anti-Mamdani faction if it brings him opportunities & power.

jul 8, 2025, 2:58 pm • 1 0 • view
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Steve in Chicago @spsnomad.bsky.social

It also in no way surprises me that a lot of the opposition seems to be coming from real estate people and the owner of what sounds like a crappy grocery store chain who are ostensibly Democrats, but not in practice.

jul 8, 2025, 3:20 pm • 2 0 • view
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Steve in Chicago @spsnomad.bsky.social

I'm glad to see most of the party is supporting Mamdani -- he's a solid candidate, seems to be a good person, people are genuinely excited about him and the voters just made him the nominee by a wide margin, both as their first ballot choice and after RCV worked through its iterations.

jul 8, 2025, 2:59 pm • 3 0 • view
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Jeff Byrnes 🚰 🏙️ @thejeffbyrnes.com

Me too, and it would be _really_ great if folks would acknowledge that the majority of the Dem Party, shown by an election, supports him & wants him to win! I deal w/ loud minorities a lot in pro-housing work, this is another version of the same thing. A loud but tiny set of assholes.

jul 8, 2025, 3:00 pm • 2 0 • view