The red wave crashes into Manhattan
The anti-trans vote by Manhattan's largest school board is part of a larger, disturbing local trend
Last week the Community Education Council for District 2, the largest district in Manhattan, passed a resolution seeking to ban trans kids in school sports. I strongly denounced the vote, which targeted vulnerable young people and did nothing to address the actual education challenges of the district.
This outrage is unfortunately not an isolated incident. It is in fact just the latest episode in a worrisome and unmistakable trend: a creeping Red Wave in and around New York City.
If you are still clinging to an image of the local GOP as a more moderate version of the national party, think again. The Republican Party in New York has now been thoroughly Trumpified.
The New York Young Republican Club, based here in Manhattan, routinely holds events with Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Marjorie Taylor Green, and alt-right figures like Jack Posebiec (who has extensive ties to white supremists).
In January the right wing activist group Moms For Liberty held a town hall on the Upper East Side, pushing an agenda to ban LGBTQ-focused books and curricula, and to block the teaching of the history of race in America.
Right on cue, the annual New York Republican Gala, set for April 4 in Midtown Manhattan, will feature as its headline guest none other than the most xenophobic governor in America, Greg Abbott.
Democrats have not paid much attention to these developments. But the national right has been cheering them on loudly, with regular coverage in Fox News.
Meanwhile, on the ground here over the last several years, conservative activists have been organizing to win seats on community education councils. They’ve had their greatest success on CEC2. While I’m proud that my two appointees opposed last week's anti-trans kids resolution, disgracefully nearly all the elected parents on the CEC voted in favor of it.
All of this is not just a problem for Manhattan or New York City. It has national implications. In 2022 our local Red Wave cost Democrats at least four congressional seats in and around New York City, providing the margin for Republicans to control the House. Even our Governor's race that year was too close for comfort.
Yes, with Trump on the ballot again in November we have to fight like Hell in all the swing states. But Democrats cannot continue to ignore mounting right wing gains in Blue States like New York.
What we’re facing in Trumpism is nothing less than a threat to the future of our republic. We need to take this threat on full force everywhere it rears its ugly head. Even here in Manhattan.