This week's biggest Winners & Losers

There’s nothing sweeter than a big endorsement after weeks of your male rivals telling anyone who will listen what a wonderful deputy mayor you would make. And while the New York Times could have actually endorsed more than one person this year with ranked choice voting, it seems the editorial board only has eyes for one woman, and she drives a Multihog.

On Wednesday, Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted from the number three leadership position in the GOP caucus for speaking out against President Donald Trump and it’s looking like Stefanik is poised to take her place. Republican leaders are strongly considering the devoted Trump supporter as the next House Republican Conference chair. The determining vote won’t happen until some time today but it sure looks like Stefanik’s star is continuing to rise.

It’s a misconception that New York’s Democratic Socialist wave is a phenomenon experienced by the five boroughs alone, and a new endorsement in Buffalo’s mayoral race by a slate of DSA state lawmakers cements that fact. State Sens. Julia Salazar and Jabari Brisport, along with Assembly Members Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, Zohran Mamdani and Phara Souffrant Forrest, endorsed India Walton, giving the Democratic primary challenger to incumbent Mayor Byron Brown a shot at pulling in new fundraising and people-power.

Departing New York City Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann knows just when to abandon a sinking ship, announcing her resignation just hours before a report by a federal monitor detailed the department’s “pervasive level of disorder and chaos.” But that report, and and other recent reports of mismanagement at the department will likely color Brann’s legacy, overshadowing reforms she led during her tenure. 

The two mayoral candidates love to tout all the practical stuff they learned in their respective past lives as a big shot banker and housing extraordinaire under President Barack Obama. Yet, neither of them had any idea how expensive it is to afford anything more than a one-bedroom cardboard box in Brooklyn. If they wanna move into Gracie Mansion anytime soon, they better learn how the rest of us live – especially with just a few weeks left before the June 22 Democratic primary. 

It undoubtedly takes time to dot I’s and cross T’s when it comes to conducting a credible impeachment probe of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but colleagues are getting impatient with the pace taken by the chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Two months have passed with few updates and Lavine has not even scheduled another committee meeting to discuss the matter. The time is coming Chuck to punctuate the silence with a little update, no?