Rep. Pat Ryan takes a stand

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Jul 10, 2024 View in browser   By Jason Beeferman Rep. Pat Ryan, of the Hudson Valley, has become the latest Democratic member of congress to call on President Joe Biden to step aside and hand the Democratic nomination for president to someone else. | Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images ALBANY, IN A MINUTE: Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado wants President Joe Biden to step down as the Democratic nominee — putting him at odds with his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul. “He can add to his legacy, showing his strength and grace, by ending his campaign and making room for a new leader,” the Democrat said in a statement posted to X. Hochul has been a prominent Biden surrogate, sticking by him amid growing calls for him to end his bid for a second term following a poor debate performance. BYE-BYE BIDEN?: The dominoes are falling for Biden to step aside. Upstate Rep. Pat Ryan has become the latest member of congress to call on Biden to step aside and hand the Democratic nomination to someone else, hours after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi dodged the question of whether Biden should stay as the nominee. “For the good of our country, for the future of our kids and grandkids, I am asking Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming election and deliver on his promise to be a ‘bridge’ to a new generation of leaders,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Poughkeepsie Journal. Ryan made the decision, he said, after watching fireworks over the Hudson at West Point and thinking of his children’s and nation’s future. But before that, he had been hearing concerns from many of his constituents about the president’s ability to beat Trump in November, he wrote. As more and more Democrats rebuff Biden publicly and privately, New York has become a breeding ground for brewing resistance. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Joe Morelle said they want to see a different top of the ticket in a private Sunday conference call, though Nadler a day later told POLITICO he strongly supports Biden. Ryan has now echoed the call for Biden to step down publicly, and Rep. Ritchie Torres penned a winding post on X that called for an “unsentimental analysis of the cold hard numbers” when deciding the nominee, but stopped short of calling on Biden to step down. “What matters is not how we feel but what the numbers tell us,” Torres wrote. To be fair, New York’s heaviest hitters on the Hill are still supporting the prez publicly. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries say they're still with Biden, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez broke her alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America and reiterated her firm support for Biden on Monday. But the fear among New York Democrats of a Biden-lead ticket is real. As our colleague Nick Reisman reports this morning, some Democrats in true-blue New York are concerned they’re now living in a “battleground state” where congressional Democrats in swing districts — like Ryan — are in danger with a Biden-led ticket. And while the Cook Report still classifies New York as solidly Democratic, down-ballot candidates and their supporters are worried about a repeat of 2022, when the GOP seized enough House seats to tip the balance of power in their favor. “If I’m a Democrat in some of these suburban races, I’d run the hell away from Joe Biden,” former Nassau County Executive and Democrat Laura Curran told POLITICO. Through it all, Biden has repeatedly said he isn’t going anywhere. When asked for comment on Ryan’s announcement, Biden’s campaign pointed to the letter the president issued to congressional Democrats on Monday, as well as the extensive support Biden has received on Capitol Hill. "I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end,” he wrote in the letter. Many Democrats, New York’s Rep. Nydia Velazquez, strongly stood by him: “I support Joe Biden, and it is time to focus on reelecting him in November,” she wrote on X. In the wake of Ryan’s statement, other swing district Democratic candidates Josh Riley and John Mannion’s positions had not changed as of this afternoon. Ryan’s opponent, Republican Alison Esposito, had been calling on Ryan to come out of the woodwork and speak out on Biden’s declining “cognitive and physical ability to continue” as president. “I believe this is all political grandstanding and an attempt to make a last minute gameday change in order to win an election because to stay in power,” Esposito told Playbook. She didn’t buy his story about having a change of heart after attending the West Point July 4 celebration. “I don’t know what one would have to do with the other?” she said. “You looked at the fireworks in the sky and then decided that you're going to lose the next presidential election because your policies are abysmal?” she quipped. — Jason Beeferman   Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.     From the Capitol Kenneth Zebrowski, previously an Assemblymember from Rockland County, announced he is leaving his post early to take a job with a lobbying firm. | New York State Assembly ZEBR-OUT-SKI: Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski announced that his retirement from elected office will start today. He’ll be joining Albany lobby firm Brown & Weinraub. “Obviously this is a tough decision for me to make on a personal level, but also tough because I was leaving something that I truly loved,” Zebrowski said. “I have relished the opportunity to both serve in the Legislature in the state of New York and also represent the community I grew up in.” Zebrowski announced in January that he wouldn’t be seeking another term. He’s held a Rockland County seat since he won a 2007 special election to replace his late father. There won’t be another special this time around — the current law on these votes mostly prohibits them from occurring if a vacancy is created after April 1 in an election year. That means the Democratic majority in the Assembly will fall to 101-to-48 for the remainder of the year — just over the 100 votes needed for a supermajority. Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate after Tim Kennedy was elected to Congress in April. The November race to succeed Zebrowski will feature Clarkstown Council Member Patrick Carroll on the Democratic side against Republican Ronald Diz, a retired NYPD detective. The district has had a roughly 20-point Democratic edge in the past. — Bill Mahoney and Jason Beeferman MONEY WOE$: More New Yorkers are concerned with the cost of gasoline and housing, a consumer sentiment report released today found. And the overall way New York residents feel about the economy has been flat since the first quarter of the year, the poll found. But the housing worries persist: 71 percent of New Yorkers said the cost of housing has had an impact on their personal finances, an increase from 67 percent at the start of the year. Cost-of-living issues are especially potent in an election year, and Democrats in Albany for the last year have insisted they want to tackle those concerns. Addressing those manifested itself with Hochul withdrawing her support for the congestion pricing toll program and backing a sweeping plan to expand housing, which the governor successfully pushed through the Legislature. — Nick Reisman IN OTHER NEWS... — HAKEEM TO SPEAK WITH BIDEN: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has told lawmakers in private meetings that he'll relay concerns regarding the president's electability to Joe Biden. (POLITICO) — ADAMS-CONNECTED PAC GOES NATIONAL: Mayor Adams helped raise $1.3 million for a group called Striving for a Better New York, helping New York candidates. Now his ally Al Cockfield has been sending money to candidates around the country. (POLITICO) — CASI-NO: Supporters of The High Line, the elevated walking path on Manhattan's West Side, are attempting to thwart a proposal to build a casino in Hudson Yards. (The New York Times)   Follow us on Twitter Jason Beeferman @JasonBeeferman   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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