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Rashida Tlaib is going viral at least once a day.

Whether its a photograph of the the Michigan Representative confronting President Joe Biden on an airport tarmac moments after he arrived in Detroit, or a video snippet of her choking up on the House floor as she asks her colleagues to recognize Palestinian humanity, Tlaib is the face of an emerging faction of progressive Congressmembers willing to challenge Washingtons decades-long status quo of unconditional support for Israel.

Palestinians in the United States generally have been among the first to stand with Indigenous activists at pipelines and to stand up against police violence in Ferguson and Minneapolis.

Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, frequently speaks of her sitty, her maternal grandmother who lives in the Occupied West Bank, weaving personal anecdotes together with damning statistics that illustrate the devastating reality of life under Israeli occupation.

When #SaveSheikhJarrah began trending across social media earlier this month, Tlaib created a petition, which urges U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to uphold international law by demanding an end to Israels evictions of Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere. The petition, which has garnered nearly 70,000 signatures, also calls on the U.S. to pressure Israel to halt demolitions of Palestinian homes and the theft of Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank.

Tlaib and the five other members of The Squad, as well as a handful of other Democrats in both the House and the Senate, have harshly criticized Israels use of force in Gaza and urged the Biden Administration to pressure Israel to end its ongoing operation, which has so far killed 230 Palestinians.

On May 12, twenty-five U.S. Representatives signed a letter to Blinken, demanding that diplomatic pressure be exerted to keep Israel from evicting the families in Sheikh Jarrah. Additionally, legislation introduced by Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum in June would prohibit Israel from using U.S. taxpayer dollars to carry out several specific human rights violations in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. These issues have achieved newfound traction in the national discourse occurring around the Israeli occupation.

While the shift in popular opinion on Israel may seem sudden, this movement has been gaining momentum for years, according to Sandra Tamari, the executive director of the Washington-based Adalah Justice Project.

We cant just sit here and talk about ceasefires. We need to deal with the real problem and not just the symptoms. We need to talk about the occupation.

What we are seeing is the result of years and years of grassroots advocacy and a growing Palestine movement that has developed relationshipsnot only with staffers and members of Congress, but by building wide support across communities in the United States, Tamari tells The Progressive. Theres no progressive or leftist coalition organizing in any city that doesnt include Palestinian liberation on its agenda.

Tamari describes Adalah as a Palestinian-led organization that is working to change the conversation and place Palestine on the progressive agenda using a collective liberation framework, both at the local and national levels.

Palestinians in the United States generally have been among the first to stand with Indigenous activists at pipelines and to stand up against police violence in Ferguson and Minneapolis, Tamari says. These arent just photo-ops. Its a deep feeling of our liberation being connected. We fight for all of us.

This inter-movement solidarity has manifested as more members of Congress publicly advocate for Palestinian human rights. In the same House floor session at which Tlaib spoke, Missouri Representative Cori Bush recalled that when she organized against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, a Palestinian immigrant was one of the most committed activists with whom she had worked. She noted that the activist, Bassem, often drew from his own childhood experiences in East Jerusalem to advise others on how to deal with tear gas and rubber bullets.

What the conversation about police violence has taught us is that you cant reform a system of violence; you cant dialogue away a system of violence, Tamari says. People are understanding more and more that theres an asymmetry between Palestinians and Israelis. There is a system of violence that is structural and is the root cause of what is happening. Its many things that have come together to help give people a deeper understanding.

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel/Palestine with the International Crisis Group, credits the shift among some in Washington, D.C., to the success of advocacy organizations and progressive politicians in reframing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a human rights issue above all else.

The go-to talking point in Washington has always been, Oh, if Israel is doing something harmful against Palestinians, it hurts its ability to be Jewish and democratic. It prevents the two-state solution, Zonszein says. The Trump years exposed how U.S. foreign policy has been complicit in a lot of destructive Israeli policies. Now, this specific spike in violence and Israeli air strikes on Gaza are an opportunity for Congress members who had already been working on this issue to come out full throttle.

The U.S.-based American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is one of the advocacy organizations that can be credited with pushing the discourse surrounding Israel and Palestine further to the left. In addition to organizing Americans to lobby their representatives on Capitol Hill and at local levels, AMP organizes national campaigns and supports educational initiatives across the United States.

Taher Herzallah, AMPs Director of Outreach and Grassroots Organizing, says that when he first moved to Washington, D.C., at the end of Barack Obamas second term, the stances that some members of Congress are taking now wouldve been unthinkable.

The dynamics and discourse have changed dramatically over the last five years, Herzallah says. The Biden Administration and any administration after his will need to realize that the voter base and the donor base has shifted on this issue, and they will need to catch up to it.

For U.S. policy regarding Israel to change, Herzallah says the discourse still needs to be pushed forward.

Now is the time to take advantage of the momentum that we have to build better alliances, to organize our community and to force policy change, Herzallah says. We cant just sit here and talk about ceasefires. We need to deal with the real problem and not just the symptoms. We need to talk about the occupation. We need to talk about the siege on Gaza. We need to talk about Israels violation of Muslim sacred spaces and its erasure of Palestinian identity and heritage. These are things that need to be addressed if we are going to provide justice for people in the region.

As Palestinian rights becomes a more normalized part of leftwing priorities, Tamari encourages citizens to remind their Representatives and Senators that the funds earmarked for aid to Israel can be redirected to fund progressive domestic initiatives, such as Medicare for All or student loan forgiveness.

We have everything we need, and we have learned from Bidens bold moves in his first few months that its possible to redirect funds, Tamari says. We need to start by backing up our values with our budget priorities and go from there. What we see is that if you give a values statement to a member of Congress and insist that they be consistent with their values, not only on domestic issues but across borders, then we can make headway.

Excerpt from:
How Progressives Are Changing the Conversation on Israel-Palestine - Progressive.org

Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Israel has finally agreed to a cease-fire, but this months violence has sparked a standoff between congressional liberals and President Joe Biden that is just getting started.

On Thursday, after an 11-day military campaign, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a cease-fire after increasing pressure from the international community and, eventually, Biden.

But Biden didnt start out there. At the beginning of the week, the president made it clear he wasnt calling for a cease-fire so much as saying hed support one, if Israel reached that decision. Biden blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution three times calling for a cease-fire, and he repeatedly said he supports Israels right to defend itself.

When White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about some of the criticism the administration has fielded from lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Psaki was emphatic that political pressure from progressives wouldnt affect Bidens decision-making.

The president doesn't see this through the prism of domestic politics, Psaki said.

Perhaps not. But Bidens support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government has put a number of Bidens Democratic allies in an awkward position. They want to support the president. But many progressives are increasingly uncomfortable with the new administrations accommodation of Israels more bellicose tendenciesand the latest burst of conflict, these lawmakers say, has opened up space for them to reexamine all the ways in which Congress has backed Israel.

There is more and more interest in conditioning aid to Israel, given what's been happening, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. Whether or not that happens this year, that would be a tectonic shift right now.

This is a serious crisis, and I think the President had an opportunity to reset the dial from the last administration's relationship with Israel, Jayapal continued, labeling Bidens decision to block United Nations Security Council calls for a cease-fire unacceptable.

Story continues

Over the course of the week, Biden did get sterner with Israel, as the country continued its bombing campaign of Palestinian territories. By Wednesday, Biden finally did call for a cease-fire. But by the time Israel finally announced an end to its missile strikes, more than 200 Palestinians were dead, including 63 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and 58,000 Palestinians had been displaced. Meanwhile, 12 Israelis have died from Hamas missile attacks and civil unrest.

Jayapal, for one, was unimpressed with Bidens changing tone, telling The Daily Beast that Bidens eventual decision to call for a cease-fire was too little, too late.

That kind of talk has been rare in recent decades, when a consensus of automatic support for Israel dominated the Democratic Party. The fact that this dialogue is happening now reflects a leftward shift within the party on Israeland a rightward shift within Israel that has alienated many Democrats. Netanyahu, for his part, has all but buried the idea of a two-state solution in the Middle East, and done all he could to elect Republican candidates in America. Meanwhile, movements like Black Lives Matter and leftwing stars like Bernie Sanders have helped push progressive sympathies toward the Palestinian side.

In the eyes of many on Capitol Hill, however, Biden has remained as loyal as ever to Israel. During his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, he forged close ties with Israeli leaders as the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Hes called Netanyahu his friend for more than 30 years.

The president, one progressive aide told The Daily Beast, is seen as to the right of even the Senates two most pro-Israel DemocratsMajority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the current chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But thanks to the outrage over Israels actionscivilian casualties, leveled refugee camps, destroyed medical facilitiesas well as the sense that Biden wont act the way progressive lawmakers want without significant pressure, congressional Democrats are taking inventory of all the different ways they might use their power to shift U.S. policy.

One is fundingthe key power that Congress retains. Traditionally, both parties have supported generous aid packages to Israel, and the notion of putting conditions on that aid has been a red line for most lawmakers. Even progressives havent dared cross that threshold.

But on Wednesday, before the cease-fire was announced, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) said the old way of handling Israel wasnt acceptable.

Weve got to start figuring out ways to put some pressure points, said Pocan, a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And one of those is deciding whether or not the assistance that we giveif it continues to go there with no strings attached.

The current chair of the CPC, Jayapal, was just as emphatic.

Our main leverage is around the aid that we give, and our diplomatic relations, Jayapal said. She added that greater support for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel would represent a massive shift in the party. And though she doesnt yet see widespread movement to that policy, she does see some.

Jayapal was one of eight Democrats on Thursday who signed a letter to Biden calling for an indefinite hold on a $735 million arms sale to Israel.

We have a special obligation to scrutinize the actions of our close ally Israel, given our provision of weaponry and other military and diplomatic support to the Israeli government, these Democrats wrote in their letter to Biden, calling the sale antithetical to any efforts to try and de-escalate violence.

The arms sale became a flashpoint this week when news broke that the U.S. had approved the exchange to Israel and planned to move ahead with it despite the continued bombings. While lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over arms sales, do not have to be notified about these sorts of transactions, the chairman and ranking member of the committee do.

In this case, Foreign Affairs chairman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) wasnt notified of the sale until it came out in the media. The deal was approved months ago, but became public during the tensest point of U.S.-Israel ties in recent years.

Liberal Democrats were outraged. Committee Democrats called an emergency meeting. And Meeks and Democrats on the panel decided to request that Biden delay the sale, according to Politico. Ultimately, Meeks backed down, saying hed secured a classified briefing for members on the arms sale.

But in the wake of that dust-up, leaders have confirmed to rank-and-file members on the Foreign Affairs Committee that they, too, will be notified of U.S. arms sales, according to one aide, who described it as a small, but welcome, change.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a leading progressive on the House Armed Services Committee, said that a goal of lawmakers should be expanded enforcement of arms control laws that require the U.S. to sell weapons only if used for legitimate self-defense.

What I'm going to be pushing for, and I think others as well, is a broader enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act in all situations around the world where our aid is available, to make sure that none of it, to any country is being used knowingly to violate human rights, Khanna said.

On Thursday, Sanders said he would introduce a resolution to block the U.S. arms sale to Israel, and a House companion was introduced on Wednesday by Pocan, Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). The odds of success on that legislation, however, are long. Both chambers would need to vote to approve it, and then also override a likely veto from Bidenall in the brief timeframe that is required when it comes to disapproval of weapons deals. But the resolutions ensure that the arms sale will remain front-and-center in the dialogue, even after the cease-fire.

Biden Tells Bibi U.S. Expects Significant De-escalation Today

The public relations campaign illustrates the biggest power progressive lawmakers may have in this debatethe bully pulpit.

This week, many liberal lawmakers became convinced that their rafts of letters and comments, both public and private, had pushed Biden toward a tougher line on Israel, even if it was still far from what they wanted.

He's listening, Khanna said of Biden.

Khanna brought up Bidens impromptu and emotional exchange this week in Michigan with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of Congress of Palestinian descent. Who knows what makes someone decide something, Khanna said, but I think it's having an impact.

And liberals are convinced that the changing politics of Israel within their party, combined with their advocacy, will have a measurable impact on Biden.

It is very clear that the political environment and debate about the Middle East here in the United States has shifted since Joe Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Daily Beast. Those shifting dynamics are going to continue to be felt in the ensuing months and years.

There are, of course, still a number of influential pro-Israel Democrats in the traditional mold. And they hold sway, even if progressives have defined the debate and key leaders have had to change their rhetoric.

One of those Democrats, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), told Jewish Insider that its a small group of loud voices who were pressuring Biden, and that the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the nation, and Democrats in Congress, are strongly supportive of Israel, of the U.S.-Israel relationship, of Israel remaining a Jewish and Democratic state.

This supposed silent majority may exist within the Democratic caucus, but even if its less robust than Wasserman Schultz asserts, the inertia of U.S. policy toward Israel may still mean that nothing changes.

Take the issue of Iron Domethe U.S-funded missile defense system that intercepted so many of the rockets fired into Israel over the past two weeks. Even Pocan said he has always supported the Iron Dome because the idea is when a missile comes in, if you take it out, no ones been killed on either side and there's de-escalation. If you use it for that purpose, and then you still send 20 times the number of missiles back, thats not the intention.

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) acknowledged to The Daily Beast that there wasnt a whole lot members of Congress could do to move Israel policyat least not immediately.

Smith oversees the sprawling defense authorization bill which sets Pentagon policies for the year. Iron Dome is always a hot-button issue. And judging by a procedural vote Republicans forced on Thursday, the political ramifications are only going to get more heated.

As the House voted on an emergency supplemental for increased security after Jan. 6, Republicans introduced an amendment that would have made an additional $500 million available to Israel for the Iron Dome and various ballistic missile programs.

A senior GOP aide predicted to The Daily Beast on Thursday that the House may soon vote on similar legislation, potentially even during the upcoming three-week recess, as a concession to Israel agreeing to a cease-fire.

As this aide said, cease-fires arent cheap.

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Fight Between Progressives and Biden on Israel Just Starting - Yahoo News

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks after touring Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., May 18, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

With his muted response to the Gaza conflict, President Joe Biden is largely sticking to a time-worn U.S. playbook despite pressure from progressive Democrats for a tougher line toward Israel and from Americas allies for a more active role to end the violence.

By citing Israels right to defend itself against a rocket barrage from the Hamas-ruled enclave and only nudging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toward a ceasefire, Biden has effectively given Israeli forces more time to press their offensive against Palestinian militants there.

U.S. officials hope both sides will reach a point when they will be ready to wind down their attacks in coming days and that quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving regional players such as Egypt will help achieve an end to the hostilities, people familiar with the matter say.

However, Bidens effort to cautiously navigate the crisis in the Gaza Strip will be put to the test if in the meantime the fighting increases and the civilian death toll rises sharply.

"Theres a playbook thats being followed, said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations. But theres always room for the unpredictable.

When Biden took office in January, he made it clear that he wanted to focus on the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn at home and challenges such as China, Russia and Iran abroad.

Tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something that has bedeviled U.S. presidents for decades, was not a top priority, though he had promised to revise some policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, that were widely considered heavily biased in favor of Israel and which alienated Palestinians.

It was weeks before the new president talked to Netanyahu, a right-wing leader who cultivated strong ties with Trump.

The latest eruption of Gaza violence caught the new administration off guard, and it has responded so far in accordance with a familiar pattern.

Biden, a longtime supporter of Israel from his decades in the Senate and the vice presidency, began by backing Israels right to self-defense against the cross-border rocket attacks, something successive presidents have always said of Washingtons chief Middle Eastern ally.

This comes at a time when the Biden administration has sought, to little avail, to assuage Israeli concerns as it negotiates over a possible return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

It took Biden until Monday, after Israels destruction of a Gaza high-rise that housed offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news organizations but which Israeli officials said also sheltered militants, to voice support for a ceasefire.

But the White House, apparently reluctant to antagonize, made clear he was not demanding that Israel agree to one.

PRESSURE FROM PROGRESSIVES

The current hostilities are the most serious between the militant group and Israel in years, and in a departure from previous Gaza conflicts have helped to fuel violence in Israeli cities between Jews and Arabs.

Gaza medical officials say 217 Palestinians have been killed, including 63 children, and more than 1,400 wounded since the fighting began on May 10. Israeli authorities say 12 people have been killed in Israel, including two children.

Taking note of the disproportionate casualties, some progressive Democrats, a group that helped Biden win the Democratic nomination and the presidency, are pushing for him to be more assertive with Israel.

We need to have a ceasefire. The president should demand it, not just say he supports it, U.S. Representative Ro Khanna said.

Biden so far has shown no signs of giving much ground, and left-leaning Democrats may not be ready to confront him head-on.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee met on Monday, after which some members said its chairman, Representative Gregory Meeks, planned to send a letter asking Biden to delay a planned $735 million smart bomb sale to Israel. However, Meeks had decided by midday on Tuesday not to send the letter.

Republicans have sought to use the Gaza conflict to hammer Biden and his fellow Democrats. Pro-Israel voters are a major part of the Republican political base and many are also Democrats and independents.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said anyone who advocates for a ceasefire is "basically suggesting that there is moral equivalency" between Israel and Hamas, which the United States views as a terrorist group. "There are a significant number of Democrats who want to throw Israel under the bus," he said.

At the same time, the Biden administration, which has touted its multilateral credentials, has found itself isolated over the Gaza issue at the United Nations. The United States has blocked any Security Council action on the issue, saying it would not help calm the crisis and would continue intensive diplomacy.

Biden, however, has not yet named an ambassador to Israel and dispatched to the region a mid-level official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr, instead of a more senior envoy.

The administration would like to get on a path in coming days leading to what a source familiar with the situation called a humanitarian pause in the violence to let relief assistance be delivered to Gaza and build a sustainable calm.

The Biden administration was also believed to be preparing significant initiatives on Gaza humanitarian reconstruction, the source said.

Biden was confronted with the issue on Tuesday on a trip to Michigan, where he was met by U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress and a leading progressive Democrat. She told him that Palestinian human rights ... must be protected, not negotiated, according to an account provided by a Tlaib ally.

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Analysis: Biden sticks to Israel-Gaza playbook, irking progressives and allies - Reuters

New Yorkers could be about to do something radical. They may kick progressivism to the curb, where it belongs. With luck, other cities will soon follow.

New York voters will likely choose Eric Adams to be the Democratic nominee for mayor. Should Adams, Brooklyn Borough president and a former cop, win his partys nomination in the June 22 primary vote, he is almost certain to be elected mayor this November.

Adams win would be a victory for common sense and a serious repudiation of current Mayor Bill de BlasioBill de BlasioNew Yorkers may ditch progressivism to save their city: Will the nation follow? New York City Marathon returning with smaller field Jeffries endorses Wiley in New York mayor's race MOREs woke Leftism. New York, often in the vanguard of American politics, could be a canary in the coal mine for overreaching progressives not only in the Big Apple but across the country.

Adams has emerged in a crowded field as virtually the only candidate talking about an issue critical to New Yorkers safety. A poll conducted in early April showed voters number one issue to be the coronavirus, closely followed by crime or violence. As COVID-19 recedes, law and order will rank number one, and it should.

In the most recent week, murders were triple last years level, while robberies were up 50 percent and assaults up 19 percent. Overall, major crimes were up 22 percent. Nearly every day brings horror stories of another person slashed in some gang ritual or pushed onto the subway tracks. The New York Times recently reported, 170 people [were] shot over the last four full weeks, according to police data. The last time so many people were shot over the same four-week period in New York City was 1997.

The causes for the crime surge include bail reform laws that put too many criminals back on the street, sometimes within hours of being arrested. Also, the number of gun seizures and arrests for illegal gun possessions has plummeted. Toss in Mayor Bill de Blasio ditching the 600-officer plainclothes police unit that targeted violent crime, his reversal of broken windows policing, deciding that public urination, drinking in public and riding between subway cars are no longer arrestable offenses, and you have a recipe for disaster.

All of these policies were adopted in the name of racial justice, since minorities have historically been disproportionately arrested for petty crimes. But in New York, as elsewhere, it is minority neighborhoods that have been worst hit by spiraling violence and the stand-down of law enforcement. Thats why numerous polls have shown Black voters dont want less policing; it is mainly white woke liberals who are pushing to defund the police.

Adams gets it. We must go after the gangs and over-proliferation of guns in the city, he said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Television. If we dont, we are not going to have the economic recovery, tourism, business travelers or have our offices back and running.

Adams also acknowledges that the city needs to attract and keep top earners. Yes, you heard that right. A Democrat talks sense about the importance of the people paying the bulk of the citys income taxes.

He said in a radio interview a few weeks ago: I dont join the chorus that tells the 65,000 New Yorkers that are paying 51 percent of our income tax and [are] only 2 percent of the income tax filers I dont join the chorus that states, So what if they leave?'

Thats a major shift from clueless de Blasio, who boasted last summer, We do not make decisions based on the wealthy fewThats not how it works around here anymore. Well-heeled New Yorkers got the message, decamping to Palm Beach in droves.

Adams has the guts to say what everyone knows: Successful people are fleeing because the city has become too dirty, too unsafe, and theres not an appreciation for the commitment to the city. He is right; the wealthy have options.

Adams remarks should not be controversial, but, thanks to the leftward lurch of his party, they are. Crime is rampant in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis and other places where the left is in charge; in Democrat-controlled cities and states, people are moving out.

Just how much Adams is rattling the Left can be read from a front-page, above-the-fold article published recently by the New York Times. The story hinted that Adams has improperly worked to help out campaign donors, though the author was quick to note that the former cop has never been accused of wrongdoing.

Adams has emerged as the front-runner, beating out the quixotic Andrew YangAndrew YangNew Yorkers may ditch progressivism to save their city: Will the nation follow? Jeffries endorses Wiley in New York mayor's race Yang: 'Defund the police is the wrong approach for New York City' MORE, who entered the race with great name recognition but little else.

New Yorkers know their city is in trouble. Not only did COVID-19 wreak havoc, infecting millions and sending tens of thousands of people fleeing to the suburbs, the damage may linger thanks to the success of remote working. Though Wall Street firms like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are pushing their people to come back to their offices, many businesses continue to allow their employees to work from home. Given ongoing concerns about people crowding into elevators and lawlessness in the subways, many are reluctant to return.

To be sure, Adams kowtows excessively to the unions and, in a bow to the left, has called for a two-year recovery share tax on those making over $5 million per year. He also exhibits an unrealistic affection for wind energy. But at least he talks about cutting payrolls and trimming expenses, and he has embraced charter schools in the past, which should be a prerequisite for leading New York.

New York makes up 8 percent of the countrys GDP; it is important. If voters discard failed progressive policies by selecting Eric Adams as mayor, it will send a strong message to the left everywhere. Aspiring to make New York safe and prosperous again should not set him apart, but it does.

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek

Continued here:
New Yorkers may ditch progressivism to save their city: Will the nation follow? | TheHill - The Hill

Local activists scored wins up and down the ballot in Tuesdays primary election, thanks in large part to the broader movement to reform the criminal justice system and advance police accountability.

Brandi Fisher, a prominent community organizer in the Pittsburgh area, said the energy that has propelled those causes since last summers Black Lives Matter protests was key to activists effort to boost progressive and Black voter turnout.

People say, Oh, Black people do not vote. But we know very well that Black people do vote. It's just that often their vote doesn't equate to change or better quality of life for them. They don't see it, said Fisher, who leads the Alliance for Police Accountability. And so we wanted to give people something that directly impacted them.

With the backing of groups like Fishers, Democrat Ed Gainey toppled incumbent Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto in the primary for Pittsburgh mayor, setting Gainey up to become the first Black person to lead the city. Peduto had drawn sharp criticism from activists for the way city police handled the local racial justice protests last summer.

Turnout was clearly a factor in Gainey's win. Over 39 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the race, compared to only 25.4 percent when Peduto last ran for re-election in 2017.

Tuesday also featured a strong showing by a handful of progressive-backed contenders for the Democratic nomination to serve on the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Those candidates have embraced justice system reforms that aim to reduce incarceration. Four of the local Democratic trial judge candidates are Black, and six are women.

If they prevail in November, the number of Black judges on the common pleas court would nearly double, increasing from four to seven, while the number of women would rise from 14 to 20. There currently are 44 judges serving on the court, with nine seats up for election. All but two of the open seats will be vacated by white men. The other two were held by white women whove already stepped down.

Aside from boosting a diverse field of progressive candidates, a coalition of grassroots organizations, including Fishers, used the election to address criminal justice issues head-on: They proposed two ballot questions restricting the use of solitary confinement at the Allegheny County Jail and banning no-knock warrants in the city of Pittsburgh. Both measures won handily Tuesday.

Those initiatives were central to motivating voters who were likely to support activists favored candidates, Fisher said. She noted that police practices and conditions of incarceration are especially meaningful to Black people, who are disproportionately likely to get caught up in the criminal justice system.

We need people to vote. We need people to vote for judges. And people don't normally vote for judges. People dont normally know who is running for judge to even vote for [them], Fisher said. The ballot initiatives were our way to give people something that would help change their quality of life. And with that, we figured that they would come out to vote for those changes.

Taken together, "This election is the story of an ascendent movement for justice that came to define an election cycle," said a post-primary statement from Unite!, a political committee that helped organize support for many of the candidates and causes on Tuesday's ballot.

Its very striking that you had a number of candidates very explicitly campaigning on a reform platform and that that was successful," said Alicia Bannon, managing director of the Brennan Center for Justices Democracy Program. "That's a real change in the discourse compared to a lot of other judicial elections.

Historically, tough-on-crime rhetoric has been widespread and very effective in judicial elections, Bannon noted.

An-Li Herring

Bannons organization advocates for greater racial, gender, and professional diversity on the bench. Courts today are predominantly white and male at both the state and federal levels. Nearly half of the state supreme courts, for example, have no justices of color, the Brennan Center reported in April.

Homogeneity on the bench, Bannon said, undermines the publics trust in the fairness of the justice system.

Courts have a tremendous impact on people's lives, Bannon said. They're hearing criminal cases. They're hearing cases that can involve people's financial stability, their rights, their freedom. And if the judges that are hearing these cases don't look anything like the communities that are being impacted by their decisions, then that's a real crisis for our court system.

While research is mixed on whether the demographics of judges make a difference in their decision-making, studies have shown they have an impact in cases involving affirmative action, sexual harassment and discrimination, and voting rights.

And, Bannon noted, Those studies [suggest] it wasn't only the diverse judges who were ruling differently. It was their colleagues as well, because judges learn from each other.

Attorney Tim Lewis, who served as a judge on the federal trial court for Western Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the 1990s, said a wide range of perspectives among judges is essential to fostering a marketplace of ideas in judicial deliberations.

Ideally, judicial decision-making is driven by the facts and the law that applies to the case before any particular judge. But we know that there are nuances that arise in various cases, Lewis said.

For example, he added, someone from a particular community whether it's a Black community, whether it is a rural community, whatever it might be may have a different understanding of certain issues that affect that community that could be meaningful in making a decision on sentencing or on any number of the many issues that come before judges."

And the stakes are high, Lewis said, because the exchange of ideas between judges offers the best way to approach dealing with systemic racism within the judicial system.

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Criminal Justice Was Key Rallying Point For Progressives Who Triumphed In This Week's Primary - 90.5 WESA