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THIS IS THE MOMENT DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR YEARS  
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Antonio Delgado
July 30, 2025
The New York Times
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_ A chance to prove it's more than a party of outrage and opposition,
but one that will deliver for the working and middle classes without
fear of reprisal from concentrated wealth or corporate power. _

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After months of hand-wringing and finger-pointing, Democrats are still
learning how to navigate a political landscape dominated by Donald
Trump’s Republican Party. With Democrats locked out of power in
Washington, the burden has shifted to the state and local levels to
prove that we can govern.

Republicans have given us an opportunity to do just that. This month,
Republicans in Washington — including every Republican
representative from New York — voted for a morally bankrupt piece of
legislation that slashes social safety net programs, cuts taxes for
the ultrawealthy and provides $75 billion in new funding to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. President Trump pushed these
policies simultaneously for a reason: so that he can scapegoat
immigrants for the economic pain his agenda will bring to everyone.
The problem isn’t scarcity — it’s greed.

This is the moment Democrats have been talking about for years: a
chance to prove we’re more than a party of outrage and opposition.
If we can’t deliver now, when the stakes are highest, we don’t
deserve the trust of the people we claim to represent. It’s time to
offer Americans more than sternly worded social media posts and
podcast interviews.

So far, we’re failing that test. Our leaders are falling into the
same trap Democrats have routinely found themselves in since 2016.
These crises need to be taken on in a way that is bold and unafraid
and that delivers for the working and middle classes without fear of
reprisal from concentrated wealth or corporate power.

 

First, let’s be clear about how Mr. Trump’s law will affect New
York: 1.5 million
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Yorkers could lose health insurance, while over a million
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lose access to nutrition assistance. Many will lose access to both. By
some estimates, these cuts will cost the state $10 billion per year
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Hospitals will almost certainly close, especially in rural areas, and
emergency rooms will be flooded. People, including children, will go
hungry.

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New York has one of the largest immigrant populations in the country.
Too many of our friends and neighbors are afraid to take their
children to school, buy groceries or go to pray. New funding will only
expand Mr. Trump’s sprawling deportation machine that rips parents
from their children, locks asylum seekers in for-profit detention
centers and stalks immigrant communities with impunity.

If you listen to Gov. Kathy Hochul, you’d think there’s nothing
New York can do to fight back. Consider her response to Republicans
slashing Medicaid and SNAP: “No state can backfill the massive
cuts.” It’s simply not true that New York can’t afford to
protect our most vulnerable citizens.

Our state, if an independent country, would be the ninth-largest
economy in the world. We also have the largest wealth inequality gap
of any state. The money is there, but the political will is missing.
There are serious policy options out there, but Ms. Hochul has ruled
out
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taxes on the ultrawealthy and big corporations. The Invest in Our New
York [[link removed]] campaign includes a series of
revenue proposals that could raise tens of billions of dollars
annually. Democratic leaders should be putting ideas like these on the
table, including an overhaul of the over $10 billion we give away
annually through so-called economic development incentives to select
businesses with no real return on investment.

The same dynamic is playing out on immigration. Ms. Hochul bemoans the
fact that “renegade counties
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throughout New York are cooperating with ICE on immigration
enforcement — all the while pretending that there’s no mechanism
to stop it. Right now, ICE is deputizing police officers across our
state to carry out immigration raids. The New York for All Act
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end this practice, but the governor won’t commit to supporting it.

In New York, the legislature is not currently in its regular annual
session. But the governor has the constitutional authority to call a
special session and work with Democrats to pass legislation that makes
up for draconian budget cuts and protects our immigrant communities.
That should happen now.

If you want to understand why New York — and virtually every other
state — is drifting to the right, observe how so many in the
Democratic establishment confuse triangulation with leadership and
treat stability as a virtue in and of itself. There’s a chasm
between what we say and what we deliver. We continue asking voters to
show up while we refuse to show up for them.

What makes this situation all the more frustrating is that we just saw
what it looks like to connect with voters on the most important issue
of the day: affordability. In June, Zohran Mamdani pulled off one of
the biggest upsets in New York’s modern political history.
Establishment Democrats have been talking about affordability for
years and have very little to show for it. Mr. Mamdani got through to
New Yorkers on the very same set of issues. Instead of lecturing them,
he took the time to actually listen to what voters were feeling. He
had the courage to directly engage with people, and then brought a
laser focus on the issues that they care about. As a result, he
shattered turnout records and brought out young voters in droves. It
should have been a major signal to the establishment.

Instead of embracing Mr. Mamdani’s success, as I have, many top
Democrats have kept their distance.

To date, party leaders seem more interested in clinging to power than
delivering for the people. Better to maintain an unsustainable
economic status quo than be mislabeled a Communist, the thinking goes.
Better to avoid being called soft on “illegals” than to do the
hard work needed to truly protect hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers
living in fear under Mr. Trump’s dragnet.

Mr. Trump’s appeal isn’t rooted in policy; it’s rooted in style.
He uses delusional bravado to cosplay as a rebel against a broken
system that both parties helped to rig. The Democratic
establishment’s timid, survivalist politics can’t compete with
that. You can’t beat an immoral agent of chaos with risk aversion.
You beat him with moral clarity — the kind that’s willing to
sacrifice corporate donations, political comfort and maybe even your
own career for the sake of the greater good. Mr. Trump doesn’t win
because people love his ideas. He wins because people stop believing
in what Democrats have to offer.

Right now, Democrats have an opportunity to take the fight where it
should have been taken long ago. Republicans may control Washington,
but Democrats run New York. If we want to win back Congress and the
White House, we need to deliver real leadership in the places where
Democrats have been trusted to govern. New York has the resources, the
power and a responsibility to fight back.

_Antonio Delgado is the lieutenant governor of New York. He is running
to be the Democratic nominee for governor._

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