It's about time

From New York City to Los Angeles, many of the nation’s biggest cities have turned even harder to the left under President Donald Trump, putting pressure on local officials to embrace the leading progressive presidential candidates — or withhold their endorsements entirely for fear of antagonizing newly energized activists. It’s a drastic political shift in some places, where for decades entrenched party bosses crushed any signs of life on the left or tended to put the weight of big-city institutional support behind Democratic establishment-oriented candidates.

“The progressive, structural change agenda has captivated the grassroots, and local elected officials are the first people to notice those changes and trends and adapt,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the left-wing Working Families Party. “There is a ceiling on transactional, machine power. It’s considerable, it’s real — but there’s a ceiling on it.”

[...]

In Chicago, six democratic socialists currently sit on City Council — up from one in 2017 — and all of them have endorsed Sanders. Krasner, the Philadelphia D.A., was elected in 2017 with the aid of the pro-Warren Working Families Party and Sanders-founded Our Revolution. In New York City, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar endorsed Sanders; they all won office in 2018.

[...]

“You’re watching an election cycle in which presidential candidates have reason to want the endorsements of big-city progressive D.A.s because they’re having to answer questions at debates like, ‘Do you think people who are actually incarcerated should vote?'” said Krasner. “That’s not even a question you would have heard eight years ago."

The lack of a dominant establishment frontrunner in the primary also means there is little political debt to pay off for some city officials — and more room to support a progressive if they so wish. In 2016, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio backed Clinton, whose first Senate campaign he managed, though, to her team’s chagrin, he couldn’t help but speak positively about Sanders. De Blasio has yet to endorse a candidate after dropping out of the presidential race himself in September, but “his heart is very much with Bernie and Warren,” according to a former aide.

[...]

efore he announced that he was backing Warren, Krasner said six presidential contenders contacted him in person or over the phone. While she was courting the Working Families Party, Warren threw her weight behind a long-shot, left-wing Philadelphia council candidate, Kendra Brooks, who was bucking the entrenched local Democratic Party and running on the group’s ticket. (Brooks won in November.) Sanders has visited the city to protest the closure of a hospital and attend a summit held by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO.

“Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been very willing to involve themselves in local issues. That’s unusual,” said Larry Ceisler, a longtime Philadelphia political observer working in public relations. “In past elections, it was only the mayor who presidential candidates would call and say, ‘How about an endorsement?’”

[...]

“The reason big-city elected officials are backing progressives is because when you are in a large city, you realize the incredible need for massive government solutions,” said Monica Klein, a New York City-based progressive consultant.

  Politico