Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026
- James Talarico frequently argues that the primary conflict in American politics is “not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom”.
- In the South and Midwest the new term that’s the political kiss of Death is not WOKE …. It’s DIESEL.
- Virtue signaling turns off the electorate. Meeting people where they are at and what they can understand and process is what good educators do.
- Notice how corp Dems put down Medicare for all, just as our UFT leaders put down the NY Health Act, which is Medicare for all at the state level. While UFT/AFT leadership say they back Medicare All on a federal level, their true alliances are with politicians who oppose it. Watch what they do, not what they say.
The massive surprise blue wave election has driven thoughts that a similar outcome in the 2028 UFT election could drive Unity from power after 65 years in power.
I will be focusing on this issue over the next few months and how that election might compare to the one we just had. Maybe a stretch. But maybe not.
I was in Manhattan Election Day Tuesday and Wednesday and oh the smiles from everyone.Then I went back to Rockaway Wednesday evening to the sight of rotting Bruce Blakeman and Tom Sullivan signs. Sullivan was our local MAGA State Assembly candidate who I expected to win due to the incessant drum of his propaganda, but thankfully lost to Pesach Ossina, an Orthodox Jew - and the Orthodox vote came through for him from Far Rockaway. Osina, a product of the local Dem machine, is far from a Dem Socialist candidate, but some local DSA people backed him as a better alt to MAGA. That's the rational wing of the left. We don't always see rationality in the UFT. (I'm a fringe DSA member on the right of DSA - with a lot of skepticism about socialism but more skepticism about capitalism - which makes me an anarchist.)
The recent election and the commentary has sparked many thoughts. Mamdani is given credit by the left for developing a winning strategy that crosses ideological lines. Talarico, coming from a different place politically, still campaigned like Mamdani, who emphasized the billionaires and bread and butter over ideology.
Ideologists, including many in the UFT opposition, prize ideology over a winning strategy. They continue to resist trying to win. In last year's election and in this year's RTC election, the ideologists were, and are, active and the politics of building a big tent broad-based winning coalition is not primary. Yet, that's how the Dems won this election.
There was one big exception: The 2024 Retiree Teacher Chapter election where the legacy caucus Retiree Advocate switched gears and entered in an alliance with NYC Retirees led by Marianne Pizzitola who had an enormous influence on our campaign (I left RA over a year ago). It is beyond ironic that RA and some of its allies want to abandon the alliance in the upcoming election, which. makes Unity Caucus, which has been attacking Pizzitola because they want to take back the chapter and know she is a major obstacle.
In the 2025 UFT election, there were similar differences between the tri-part coalition known as ARISE (RA, MORE and New Action) and the new guys in town, ABC, which was made up of a coalition of long-time opposition and Unity defectors. Unity knows the ABC modus operendi is the bigger threat and focused their attacks - and continue to do so- on ABC.
Fix Retiree Benefits, the new gang in town (I am one of the founders) and aligned with the ABC type mantra, insists on maintaining the alliance with Pizzitola and therein lies a major difference between FRB and RA. (There are further differences but I don't have time now to get into them.)
In the 2025 UFT election, there were similar differences between the tri-part coalition known as ARISE (RA, MORE and New Action) and the new guys in town, ABC, which was made up of a coalition of long-time opposition and Unity defectors. Unity knows the ABC modus operendi is the bigger threat and focused their attacks - and continue to do so- on ABC.
Fix Retiree Benefits, the new gang in town (I am one of the founders) and aligned with the ABC type mantra, insists on maintaining the alliance with Pizzitola and therein lies a major difference between FRB and RA. (There are further differences but I don't have time now to get into them.)
You have to know your audience. And this applies to UFT internal politics. For active UFTers, the audience often starts with their own colleagues in their schools. When you have a narrow ideology and are in a school with a lot of like-minded colleagues, you can get a distorted idea of where the mainstream really is. Ideologues don't seem to hear voices they don't agree with and want to impose their own ideology even if it only garners 14% of the vote. Thus, a member-first strategy is not compatible because they, like UFT leadership, do not respect member voices because these voices might not line up with their ideology.
97% of the candidates that were part of the 2026 BLUE WAVE were NON-DSA but their campaigns often resembled the DSA method - little money and lots of boots on the ground. And expanding the electorate.
DSA had some wins for sure in liberal urban strongholds. But even their
message was one of bread and butter and that swept this country along with worsening economic conditions in deep blue, blue, and even some deep red areas. (The big loser was in the Wisconsin govt race where she lost sight of the message at the very end). All winning Dem candidates, no matter where they stood on the political spectrum used a similar message that Mamdani proved could work. When Mamdani had only 1% the first thing he did was talk to Trump voters. In the UFT election ABC was accused of lining up with fascists when they declared they were membership driven.
In the UFT, ABC and FRB are the populists who are open to listening to members and expanding the electorate, key issues in the Blue Wave.
Extra credit
This contentious interchange between the NY Times and @GinaHinojosaTX was truly amazing. Hinojosa offered one of the best explanations of populism I've ever seen. Her comments were a total rejection of Corporate Dems' neoliberal formula. Her Texas victory is a game changer.
In her interview with this SMUG NYT reporter she calls herself an economic populist… not a progressive. While still going hard on billionaires and elites.
