This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Gov. Kathy Hochul ditched Brian Benjamin for her new lieutenant governor pick Antonio Delgado, and not to forget mentioning it all happened with a little help from her fellow Democrats in the Legislature, all while her approval ratings in a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University bested every local official across the five boroughs in New York City, including the Mayor of Fun Eric Adams. Boo that, you downstaters.

Eric Adams’ New York is all about unity, and what better place to start than uniting young and sleazy downtown Manhattan with the stuffy society of the Upper East Side? Adams appointed Zero Bond owner Scott Sartiano to a coveted seat on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sartiano may not have the philanthropy or government experience that previous appointees to the board have had, but maybe the upscale club owner will shake up the 148-year-old museum with craft cocktail installations and luxury skin care pop-ups.

It’s one thing for a neighborhood to successfully get New York City to back down on plans to open a homeless shelter. But it’s another for locals to get plans for two shelters struck in quick succession. Susan Lee is one of many Chinatown residents that vociferously pushed back against the proposals – which would’ve provided safe haven beds for homeless New Yorkers – under the argument that the neighborhood provided sufficient shelters already. That victory might provide greater fuel to already intense protests against the city’s plans to build a jail in Chinatown.

This week should remind Eric Adams – a lot happens in a New York minute. While the mayor was in Los Angeles, a cop was reportedly stabbed, lawmakers protested Roe v. Wade’s reversal, a new poll showed his crime approval rating slipping with voters, AND fresh data revealed his homeless encampment sweeps have turned just 39 people to shelters. The mayor went to LA on Tuesday to attend a Milken Institute panel, and the trip was extended last minute on Thursday due to a canceled flight. While his team refused to say if he was fundraising on the cross-country trip, the Daily News reported the answer to that question to be in the affirmative. 

On the of the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader’s allies, Aaron Maslow, seems to have signed up at least 20 people for county committee without their knowledge. It’s a weirdly common practice – shady actors in the Bronx and Queens have done the same, even signing up dead people. Only issue, with this apparent move to keep the balance of power tilted in favor of establishment forces, against the progressive reformers? Reporters at The City caught them in the act. 

Perhaps it’s time for Democrats to stop heeding the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, headed by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, attempted a new avenue to keep lines drawn favorably by Democrats. Then came failure after failure – but still, they persisted. This time, the federal lawsuit Democrats brought practically got laughed out of court by a judge, before he denied a request for a temporary restraining order that would have kept the congressional primary in June with the districts already approved.