This morning on its Facebook page, the Hudson City Democratic Committee expressed congratulations to the winners of the Democratic Primary.
In case it needs explaining, (I) indicates "incumbent."
As the announcement indicates, there will be hand counts of the ballots in two races: for Fourth Ward councilmember, where incumbent Jennifer Belton beat out Alexis Keith, who is seeking to return to the Council after close to ten years, by only six votes: 68 to 62; and in the Third Ward, where 17 votes separate incumbent Lola Roberts (102) from incumbent Shershah Mizan (85). Election law requires a hand count in any race where the margin is 20 or fewer votes.
Kamal, Tom and Randall, if you are reading this, please do not drop out.
ReplyDelete🏃♂️ Stay in the race.
Democracy requires lawful competition of ideas, policies and engagement.
🐳 Also, the meme machine needs you.
All this Dem on Donkey violence is bizarre. Likely a result of the GOP being harassed and driven underground. Then you got too comfortable.
Also... should Verity remain City Dem leader after this dismal primary season? Strange that they refuse to back their strongest candidates and instead act as a Trojan horse for socialists/ DSA types and Poughkeepsie based Super PAC funded liberal arts grads who weren't cool enough to get the Brooklyn division assignment.
Chameides, before you try to become County Manager (can the rumors be true?) after the county referendum, could you return and organise the donkey flock in the 12534?
As Biden said: one should not shellac oneself.
Good point FNI! Perhaps candidates shouldn't drop out - but the Executive Committee of the The Hudson City Democrats certainly should all resign. How in any way, shape, or form could they justify supporting Kamal?- which unless he proves it wrong is receiving free housing from Galvan- a $4,500 monthly gift- in return for supporting millions in tax breaks (something everyone in Hudson has known for years). And where is that affordable housing that was suppose to be built with those breaks? Oh that's right $1,800 per month for a one bedroom is now defined as affordable housing in Hudson. Would be great if the committee could explain why they considered/still consider Kamal the candidate to endorse.
DeleteHi John. I think they stay neutral until the primaries are over. We’ll have to see how supportive they are of their democratically selected nominees.
DeleteA funny thing I read in the Register Star is Randall Martin’s continued enthusiasm, or delusion, to keep campaigning to represent a ward that has never shown much enthusiasm in him. The primary result was no surprise as it was made clear by resident petition and endorsement of both council members that the 1st Ward wanted Alexandria Madero to represent them in the county. That spirt of democracy was ignored by Tom and his rubber stamp council members and instead Martin was anointed to the first ward like a colonial governor. Just like Kamala being appointed to replace Biden instead of letting the people decide—it’s a losing strategy.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s even funnier is Martin’s signs and campaign materials using the phrase “re-elect” when he has never been elected to anything, just appointed to his various positions, much like the Power Broker himself, Robert Moses. My advice to Randall, besides dropping out, would be to change his phrasing to say “Keep Randall Martin for 1st Ward Supervisor.” This would be more accurate and reflect his gifted incumbency.
As far as all this party stuff goes, I’d love to see national political parties just go away at the local level. I respect Peter Spear for taking this route. National politics are not very compatible with municipal governance and do nothing but distract and cause division. Running a small city like ours is about infrastructure, department management, traffic policy, zoning, and getting the bills paid. There is a clear division in Hudson’s politics and it doesn’t have to do with parties. Some people want to see Hudson’s continued successes along with smart growth; the opposing side resents growth and would prefer stagnation or even decline—for reasons of resentment, nostalgia, or being beholden to parasite developers like Galvan who prey on venerable municipalities.
The Hudson City Democratic Committee has poorly reflected the diversity of Dems in the city for a long time. They should just change their name to the Hudson City WFP Committee and be done with it. Then real Dems can form their own, effective and reflective City Committee.
ReplyDeleteSo what happens if the HCDC refrains from supporting the candidates that prevailed in the primaries? I would think that at that point they would stop being the Democratic Committee and would just be squatting on that function.
DeleteBut then how do you turn it around and into something that is representative of the Democratic vox populi?
Verity (Chair of The Hudson Democratic Committee) - We know you are a Gossips reader.- Why don't you answer that for us?
Delete🤔 It will be curious if Kamal (and his supporters over at Kite's Nest, Promise Neighborhood, and the City funded Youth Center, and Spark?) will frame (read: blame) his current and future loss as:
ReplyDeleteA) "racism"
B) "transplants from Brooklyn"
C) "rich GOP secretly funding opposition"
D) "poor turnout" when everyone lives next to a polling station. Or the "100" NOP and Greenport residents that ought to have been allowed to vote for him, as he claimed on election today 🤣
E) other
A, B an D are disproven by his first election win, and back then there were GOP out on the streets before being driven underground.
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Instead of taking responsibility and acknowledging to his current and potential supporters that:
1) He did not really campaign, or even update his materials and website. Let's check today: kamalforhudson.com... nope, did Justin or the previous Mayoral Aide lose access to the website update credentials?
2) He is literally in bed with Galvan / City staff
3) The 3 parks are not actually completed, and won't be for a while
4) The 3 housing developments (Galvan, Bliss, Mill Street) are not actually (re)built, and likely won't be on their current site or in current plan, ever
5) He ran a ~$1m annual budget deficit, delayed a city-wide tax-reassessment, made it a policy not to collect back taxes. (Why should the rest of us pay this year?)
Let's see if Kamal owns his mistakes and takes responsibility, or if he blames outside dark "forces" for his loss.
🤯 The most stunning trend to think about... this is the first local election post-Trump's 2nd term, weeks after a "No Kings" protest, , when New Yorkers elected the most left, most pro public housing, most pro free-anything Dem Primary mayoral candidate (who happens to be youthful, Muslim, and from Africa (Amandla! Viva, mfowethu!!) ... and in this broader national and regional context, arguably the best time ever to be a WFP / Socialist Democrat (or is it Socialized Democrat, or maybe Democratic Socialist? Verity can you help?), candidate in New York... Kamal was shellacked by a nice nerd who just rolled up his sleeves (slightly too high?) and turned the other cheek.
So why would anyone support Kamal financially or reputationally if he is not a responsible and hard-working candidate?
Why would Delgado want to be in a photo with Kamal on his way out of office? Quintin Cross is already focussed on Albany and taking credit for WFP wins there and pretending he did not campaign in Hudson. Justin worked harder than Kamal on the campaign, should he be the candidate?
And how many City of Hudson NOP and GOP voters would want to vote for Kamal over Joe, Peter, or Lloyd?
Have we hit peak Kamal @ 416 votes or ~7% of City population?
He had 678 (11%) in the general in 2019 (unclear how many of them were Bard students, but the City population was well above 6000 then)
See the HudsonLeaderBoard.com
Related, if Vicky ran in the 5th this year she would have won easily. Crazy idea Vicky... write in? 🍿
Easy win, and if you lose you give Claire the gift of legitimacy.
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Good read here from always-winning, always-smiling, cookie monster, and proud pundit Trixie, with the very apt Icarus reference:
*Political Analysis of Hudson Mayoral Race*
https://www.trixieslist.com/2025/06/27/political-analysis-of-hudson-mayoral-race/