One month since an exhilarating election

One month ago, the voters of NY-10 made me the Democratic nominee for Congress. I had not envisioned being on-air on CNN when the race was called, but I got to spend the rest of the evening celebrating (check out the video our team put together). A month later, I remain profoundly grateful to our incredible team and supporters, humbled by the faith New Yorkers have placed in me, and – most of all – energized for the urgent fights ahead.

It’s been an exhilarating time to be a New Yorker. The Knicks championship run and the World Cup reminded us over-and-over how the diversity, grit, creativity, and team spirit of our city can captivate the world. And even with those beautiful games in the rearview mirror, I find reminders all the time. Just this past week, from the ethereal “soundbath” at Brooklyn Botanical Garden to a picket line where Rosa was one of the strike captains, I’ve been reminded anew why I love this place so much.

The spirit that’s moving in this city – on Election Night, I called it solidarity – offers a path forward to a future so much better than the grim, selfish, zero-sum world that Trump and AI oligarchs are offering. To have any chance to secure that future, we’ve got to get busy both fighting to win House and Senate Democratic majorities in November and preparing the boldest agenda to deliver for people once we get there.

The victories of progressive candidates here in New York (and across the country in Colorado, California, New Jersey, and elsewhere) have attracted a lot of attention. Trump and his minions have taken to referring to us as “communists,” though of course they and their apparatchiks are the ones corrupting our government and abducting our neighbors. But there’s been plenty of debate within the Democratic Party as well. As we head toward the fall’s elections, we can’t let MAGA Republicans distract or divide us. We need simultaneously to heed the call of voters for bolder Democrats, and to unify around some clear, broadly-shared principles.

On Election Night, I outlined themes to guide Democrats through this fall and beyond:

1. We have to fight, hard and visibly, against a system that most people have rightly concluded is rigged against them.

2. We have to focus, relentlessly, on delivering for working families — on housing, health care, child care, on jobs that pay enough to afford a life with dignity.

3. We cannot compromise on anyone’s humanity, in the five boroughs, across red and blue states, in Israel and Palestine, and across the world. We should help people why it’s better to be human, to be a good neighbor, than it is to be a fascist, or an AI.

In just the few weeks since then, we’ve seen some signs of how that’s possible. Senator Warren’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed Congress overwhelmingly and became law. It’ll cut red tape, boost housing supply, expand homeownership, and put the first restrictions in place on the expansion of private equity ownership. Despite Trump’s authoritarian temper tantrum, the bill united progressive Democrats, moderate Democrats, and Republicans in the effort to deliver homes for people – about as basic as our politics gets.

And last week, in a vote that I believe was shaped in part by our election wins, over 100 House Democrats voted for Thomas Massie’s amendment to suspend aid to Israel. That would’ve been unthinkable as recently as a few months ago. It’s a sign our leaders know they need to catch up to a party base that is pleading for Congress to stop funding Netanyahu’s wars. You may have seen me talking about Israel and Palestine, and the role of U.S. and of American Jews, on CNN with Dana Bash, on NewsNation with Batya Ungar-Sargon, with Peter Beinart, with JStreet, with Ha’aretz, or in an exchange of letters with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove. You almost certainly won’t agree with me on everything here – but I’m trying hard to help us have a better conversation about these issues.

I’m working hard to be a constructive force in the dual-track effort to win a bolder Democratic Party and a strong House majority. Like AOC, I’ve made clear I look forward to voting to elect Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker on the first ballot, to show the unity necessary for a real opposition party – but also that I plan to follow the example she set when she came in as a freshman, when she sat in Nancy Pelosi’s office to demand bolder action. Voters are fed up with a broken status quo, and we better be ready to change it. In that spirit, I explained to NPR listeners what democratic socialists are pushing for, and why the effort “to extend democracy into more aspects of our lives - into workplaces and communities and schools and health care - so folks have more say over their lives” fits firmly within our party.

You can see that dual-track effort in the endorsements I’ve made since winning. To keep pushing our party forward, I endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race. I first met Abdul through our dear friend Ady Barkan, who died of ALS while courageously crusading for Medicare for All. I know there is no one who will work harder than Abdul to finish Ady’s fight. And as with Mayor Mamdani, while Abdul and I don’t have identical views on how to ultimately achieve peace, justice, and freedom for Palestinians and Israelis, we share the belief that the rights and safety of Jewish and Muslim people are inextricably intertwined, from the Midwest to Midtown to the Middle East.

Closer to home, and to help show the unity we need, I joined Congressmember Pat Ryan up in Kingston for his re-election campaign kickoff a few weeks ago (along with Governor Hochul, Attorney General James, Comptroller DiNapoli, and many others). Ulster County is not exactly a place you’d expect to see me, but I’m all-in the effort to win back the House and support my soon-to-be colleagues. (As it was a week after July 4th, I also talked about the underappreciated connections between the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the Battle of Brooklyn in August 1776, and the drafting of the New York State Constitution in Kingston in April 1777). As I said at his event, the line right now isn’t between progressives and moderates. It’s between fighters and folders – and if you’re a fighter (like Pat Ryan is), then we need to unite in common cause and defeat the fascists corrupting our government and rigging our economy.

Because we’re reminded everyday of what we’re up against. Trump’s illegal, reckless war in Iran is again spiraling out of control. Pete Hegseth testified this week that the war has now cost American taxpayers $37.5 billion. Every dollar of which would’ve been better spent here at home on housing, childcare, and healthcare. Not to mention the mass devastation and lives lost as a result of this President’s violent impulses. Our party could be a lot louder and a lot bolder in forcing this war to come to a quick end.

The morning after the election, after thanking voters at the 7th Avenue subway stop, I headed back to immigration court for a courtwatching shift, to keep bearing witness to this administration’s cruelty. This month, I’ve witnessed sweet little kids be separated from their parents and held in custody – without a lawyer or anyone to guide them through a convoluted legal process that is tilted against them at every turn. I was literally at the hearing for a three-year-old girl who our government has kept separated from her mom for more than 10 months. More and more, ICE has been using kids as “bait” to arrest and detain their relatives. You don’t have to be a parent to realize how devastating or evil this is. You just have to be a human. The cruelty is mind-boggling.

In my Election Night speech, I frequently pivoted back to the theme of solidarity. About how it’s the force we need to beat our biggest foes. That remains a guiding light for me and this movement we’re growing together. We won a big fight on June 23. But there’s still a marathon ahead of us. To materially improve the lives of working people. To end the inhumanity of Trump’s deportation machine. To stop funding illegal wars and human rights violations. To grow a unified Democratic Party bold enough and strong enough to do all of it. To win a city, a country, a democracy, worthy of everyone who lives here.

That’s why we fought so hard to win the election one month ago. And that’s what we’ll be fighting for, shoulder-to-shoulder, in the months ahead.