Brad Lander wants Dan Goldman's congressional seat. Goldman already has the seat. Both men are Democrats. Both men have labor union endorsements. The unions did not coordinate this.
Picture a conference room in lower Manhattan where union reps realize they've pledged support to two candidates running against each other in the same primary. Someone asks if anyone read the emails. No one read the emails. They never read the emails.
Lander pulled Bernie Sanders and some mayor named Zohran Mamdani into this fight. Goldman is reportedly "fighting for his political life," which means he might have to get a different job still making six figures. The horror. The absolute carnage.
Here's what's happening: Progressive wing wants Lander. Moderate wing already gave Goldman the seat in 2022. Labor unions backed both because labor unions back Democrats the way retail traders back companies they saw mentioned in a Reddit thread. No research. No coordination. Just vibes and a vague sense they're doing something important.
The race is "splintering" the labor alliance, according to people who believe labor alliances are not permanently splintered by default. These are the same people who think the Democratic Party has coherent policy positions and that Congress does things besides argue about which congressman gets which office.
Goldman's probably fine. Lander's probably fine too. One of them wins a primary, then wins the general by forty points because it's New York, then spends two years renaming post offices and tweeting.
But sure, let's pretend this matters. Let's pretend labor unions endorsing two Democrats in the same race represents some kind of existential crisis rather than standard operational incompetence. Let's pretend your portfolio cares which interchangeable coastal liberal wins a House seat that hasn't flipped parties since the Truman administration.
The unions will be fine. They'll back whoever wins and pretend they wanted that person all along, exactly like you do when your meme stock finally crashes and you claim you were only in it for the tax loss harvesting.
Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash
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