How do you know that the IDC—the eight-member junta composed of turncoat Democrats who ensure GOP control of New York's state Senate—is finally feeling the heat? Because they're now engaged in rebranding so comically desperate, it's worthy of Arrested Development. At a town hall held earlier this month by one of the newest members of the IDC, which in real life is short for "Independent Democratic Conference," Brooklyn state Sen. Jesse Hamilton handed out flyers claiming the initials actually stand for "Immigrant Defense Coalition."
You're guffawing, sure, but here's the real punch line: Republican Majority Leader John Flanagan, who only runs the Senate thanks to the support of his buddies in the IDC, stated flat out that the Senate is "not doing the DREAM Act," which would allow undocumented students to receive financial aid for college from the state. It's been a top priority of immigration advocates for years and would easily pass but for the GOP—and the IDC. Some "immigrant defense coalition" they are.
Hamilton was inspired to this act of chutzpah because his meeting was besieged by anti-IDC protesters, who seem to finally be gaining some traction on a few different fronts. An organic resistance movement has sprung up since Election Day, and it’s got the entire IDC in its sights. Another new defector, Queens state Sen. Jose Peralta, was one such target at a recent constituent meeting of his own. What’s more, a top party operative in the borough publicly called Peralta out and suggested he might look for someone to challenge him in next year's primary.
Various IDC members have responded by simply accusing mainline Democrats of being racist. Said a Peralta spokesman, "In Queens, when it comes to Latinos, this is the type of sugar cane plantation style politics that the Queens political machine will resort to keep dissent quiet." Hamilton himself hit a similar theme, claiming, "The people outside here protesting about Trump are the same people who won't send their kids to school with us or live next to a shelter. They're mad about Trump, but when it comes to diversity in their own backyard, they don't want it."
It's an absurd charge, not least because the leader of the mainline Democrats—who would become majority leader if the party regained control of the Senate—is Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is African-American. So are the members of the IDC racist because they're helping to keep Flanagan, a white guy, in power, instead of elevating a black woman? No one on the Democratic side is hurling that accusation, but they sure as hell could.
But the IDC's frantic response is another sign of its weakened standing, and as even Hamilton seems to grasp, Trump actually has quite a bit to do with it. Grassroots progressives are furious at any Democrats who would enable Trump in any way, and rank-and-file Senate are starting to understand how powerful a cudgel Trump can be against the IDC. There's no Democratic primary electorate in New York where taking Trump's side is going to be a positive.
However, it's a long way from here to there. A huge part of the reason for the IDC's enduring success (such as it is) is due to the fact that the faction's leader, state Sen. Jeff Klein, is an eager shill for corporate interests and can raise huge sums of money to protect his caucus. (Campaign finance restrictions are very lax in New York—another reform the Senate has thwarted.) Another is that far too many arms of the progressive movement, especially organized labor, have been all too content to play ball with the IDC instead of rising up against them.
Indeed, in 2014, Klein and another IDC member, Tony Avella, both survived primaries from mainstream Democrats, and the fact that unions and other liberal groups largely sat out those contests played a major role (shamefully, some unions even backed Klein). That sorry state of affairs would need to turn around before any IDC senators could be dislodged. However, in addition to the Trump factor, several of the IDC's newest recruits could be a lot more vulnerable, including Hamilton, Peralta, and especially Marisol Alcantara, who last year only won an open-seat primary with just 33 percent of the vote.
And Alcantara could receive a very stiff challenge from one of her former opponents. Former New York City Councilman Robert Jackson, who finished a very close third with 30 percent against Alcantara last year, is considering a rematch, according to a spokesman. Crucially, reports the Village Voice's Ross Barkan, Jackson and the second-place finisher, Micah Lasher, have agreed not to run against one another this time. In a one-on-one race, then, Alcantara would be starting out from a rather small base of support, and could easily be, as Barkan puts it, the most vulnerable member of the IDC.
But even if Democrats can cut down the ranks of the IDC with a few successful primaries, Klein would still hold the balance of power in the Senate. And he just got a little more breathing room for the moment since it looks like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a prime enabler of the IDC, won't call a special election to replace former Sen. Bill Perkins, who just won a seat on the New York City Council. That means Perkins' seat would stay vacant until November.
Once Perkins' seat is filled (assuming it doesn't go to the IDC), Democrats would need to defeat some combination of eight IDC members and Republicans in order to win back the chamber, without losing a single seat of their own. That's a tall task, especially because they'd also need to woo back another deserter, Democratic state Sen. Simcha Felder, who is not part of the IDC but instead outright caucuses with the GOP.
Consequently, the more likely path back to the majority would involve the IDC returning to the fold, but so far, Klein's had little incentive to do so. However, if anti-Trump rage can take down a few of his minions, he might be more inclined to head back to the bargaining table while he still holds some leverage.
