Tag: Jose Peralta

Ramos hopes to unseat IDC member Jose Peralta. Despite that partisan gerrymander, New York Democrats still managed to claw together a narrow Senate majority in 2012—but that victory was instantly thwarted by four nominally Democratic state Senators who, calling themselves “Independent Democrats,” joined in a power-sharing agreement with the minority to keep control of the State Senate in Republican hands. Led by women and the emergent progressive movement, 10 Democrats in the New York State Senate face primary challenges (eight IDC members, one Democrat who outright caucuses with Republicans, and one centrist mainline Democrat), of which at least half are likely to be successful. All of these passed the Democratic-controlled State Assembly with ease, but couldn’t get through the Senate because IDC members had ensured Republican control of the chamber. From the New York Health Act (a state single-payer insurance plan) to a green jobs bill, from universal rent control to a universal-basic-income pilot project, these candidates campaign for the things progressives across the country want to see on legislative dockets. In January, Jessica Ramos, a former de Blasio aide and Democratic district leader, announced she was taking on Senator Jose Peralta in the 13th, an ethnically diverse district in Queens. Biaggi is running to unseat Jeff Klein—the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference for seven years. With Liu on the ballot, every incumbent IDC member will have a well-organized challenger. Many in the New York City Council have endorsed anti-IDC challengers, as has much of the New York state’s Congressional delegation, including, most recently, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. They will control both halves of the legislature and the governor’s mansion, and that makes the next legislative session among the most important in the history of the state—and it maybe makes New York’s next legislative session one of the most consequential in the country.