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In today’s CapCon:
Read what Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie had to say Thursday about the wins made by democratic socialists in Tuesday’s primaries.
New York’s Medicaid director testified before Congress Thursday about the state’s oversight of the program. Here’s what happened.
Hochul is winning a key voting bloc that had sided with Blakeman last month, according to a new Siena poll released Thursday.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, soon to be in Congress, was akin to ‘a camp guard in the concentration camp.’ Here’s what Lander said in response.
New York is cracking down on “hustlers” at airports who offer unlicensed rides to passengers and then extort them for cash. Here’s how.
Names in today’s CapCon: Carl E. Heastie, Mike Gianaris , Amir Bassiri, Brett Guthrie, Kathy Hochul, Bruce Blakeman, Brendan Lyons, Brad Lander, Dan Goldman, Zohran Mamdani
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie Thursday (Jim Franco/Times Union)
🗣️ How Heastie feels about Tuesday’s primary results, including the democratic socialist surge
The state Assembly is set to have at least five new members next year who are democratic socialists after Tuesday night’s primaries.
That will place their ranks in the chamber in double digits. It’s still a small share — about 10% — of the 103 Democrats who dominate the chamber but it’s a significant jump compared to the numbers they have now.
It should also be noted that most of the incumbent Democrats, many of which won, who faced primary challenges Tuesday night didn’t have challengers who identified as democratic socialists.
But there’s now an expectation that the influx of new members of a certain ideology could shift the dynamic among Democrats at the state Capitol.
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who visited Schenectady Thursday to tour a forthcoming grocery store that’s receiving $2 million in state aid, said he doesn’t think that will be the case.
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