This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

It’s high time this happened. State lawmakers really got in the weeds and, through a joint effort, have reached a deal on legislation to legalize recreational marijuana. The deal is three years in the making, but Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and state Sen. Liz Krueger have been pushing for legalization even longer. And as the final details were hashed out, they seem to be sitting pretty, with many aspects of their original legislation reportedly making it into the deal.

Geez, did somebody turn up the thermostat? These two New York City Council candidates will be sweating through their suits for two weeks or more as they wait for the BOE to get around to counting ballots in the two Bronx special elections. For now, Dinowitz has a comfortable 17 percentage point lead, while Feliz has a slimmer 7 points, that the newly implemented ranked-choice voting threatens to erase. The Bronx is burning – with anticipation.

While de Blasio has enjoyed his moment in the spotlight dunking on the scandal-ridden governor, he's largely had a tough year being hammered on everything from school reopening to policing. But he may be reclaiming some lost love by building on one of his most popular policies. Thanks to an influx of federal cash, New York City will be expanding preschool for 3-year-olds across all of its school districts. Plenty of big questions are still looming over the announcement though, like, how will the city pay for this in a year without a huge windfall of federal dollars? That’s a problem for the next guy to deal with.

The brothers Cuomo, who once charmed the U.S. with their fraternal banter on cable news, are now being heavily criticized after it was reported that Gov. Andrew Cuomo helped provide special access to COVID-19 tests for his family. During the time that these tests were administered at the onset of the pandemic, in March 2020, tests were extremely difficult to come by. On March 31, 2020, it was revealed that the younger Cuomo tested positive for the virus. This news gives the governor another scandal to contend with while he continues to face his two others. 

There can only be one winner of the great, bloated, Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, and it won’t be the man who raised only just over $87,000 over the course of his campaign. New York City Council Member Carlos Menchaca pitched himself as a progressive reformer and would have been the first openly gay, Latino mayor, but he was never able to compete against the heavier hitting – and better funded – candidates in the primary. But Menchaca, a two-term Council member, shouldn’t take it too hard; he’s just getting started in politics! So says the guy who has never held elected office.

Poetic justice caught up with the Southern Tier representative after he rubbed salt in Cuomo’s political wounds over outstanding allegations of sexual misconduct. It turns out that the Problems Solvers Caucus co-chair also has a problem with touching women without their permission and then casting doubt on their accounts. He has now spiked plans for a 2022 run for governor, but funny how fellow Republicans are not calling on Reed to resign.