Progressive Democrats have struggled to break through in one of the most high-profile elections of the year: the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. With just five days until the election, candidates who have stayed away from more progressive positions on policing, taxes, development and education continue to dominate in the polls. We’ve seen a similar dynamic in some races beyond New York this year as well.
In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, we hear from two people involved in the progressive movement in New York City about what’s happening in the race and how progressivism is shaping politics more broadly. Susan Kang, who volunteered for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign in 2018, is a political science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Ross Barkan is a columnist for Jacobin and The Guardian. He ran unsuccessfully for a New York state Senate seat in 2018 and is the author of the new book “The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York.”
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