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 New Yorkers could lose health insurance, while over a million could lose access to nutrition assistance. Many will lose access to both. By some estimates, these cuts will cost the state $10 billion per year. Hospitals will almost certainly close, especially in rural areas, and emergency rooms will be flooded. People, including children, will go hungry.
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 raising taxes on the ultrawealthy and big corporations. The Invest in Our New York 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” 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 would 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 upset 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.
Mr. Delgado is the lieutenant governor of New York.
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