MSNBC’s Mamdani-Cuomo Delusion and the Real Story in Arizona... And Perhaps IL-09 As Well

Social Media Isn’t A Substitute For Movement Work— & Never Will Be

I love candidates with one name (like Madonna, Zohran, Prince or Cher)— Bushra & Adelita

When you have ignorant talking heads on TV babbling nonsense with “expert” guests as uninformed as they are, audiences can be easily misled. I don’t watch much MSNBC but I was upstairs getting dressed Tuesday while people were voting in Arizona, and a pair of monkeys were talking about the contest, trying really hard to make the contest fit into the entirely unrelated Mamdani vs Cuomo frame. Their moronic point was that social media influencer Deja Foxx— who had been endorsed by the fools at David Hogg’s ‘Leaders We Deserve’— was a Mamdani figure and that tried-and-true progressive champion (supported by AOC, Bernie and the Congressional Progressive Caucus) was somehow the tired, old establishment Cuomo figure. The MSNBC talking head should be fired for her stupidity. I don’t know her name or I would include it nor do I know the name of the “expert” guest who was pushing the theory. What they could have been talking about instead was the worry that by potentially splitting the progressive vote between Adelita and Foxx, there was a bit of a chance that the conservative Democrat, state Rep Daniel Hernandez— supported by the pro-genocide coalition and corrupted Democrat Ritchie Torres— could have wound up the default winner. 

That didn’t come close to happening. Instead, Adelita won more votes than all 4 of the other candidates combined. Foxx’s 21% of the vote and Hernandez’s 14% didn’t approach Adelina’s 62%. She won every single county, not just Pima (Tucson), where she had been a county supervisor. In fact Santa Cruz County— which Hernandez used to represent— was her most successful (67%).

In any case, going forward, the Congressional Progressive Caucus will have another strong political leader in their midst, despite David Hogg’s ignorant decision to back a random, albeit young, “social media influencer” with lots of outside cash— while still staying out of the San Francisco race where Saikat Chakrabarti is battling Nancy Pelosi— the real example of a Mamdani vs Cuomi race— pointing to the uselessness and hypocrisy of his silly organization.

And speaking of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, yesterday Mica Soellner and Ally Mutnick, reporting for PunchBowl, wrote that the caucus is “launching five task forces to help House Democrats craft a winning message in 2026. The CPC will focus its new task forces on lowering costs, ending corporate greed, fighting corruption, better pay and benefits and promoting peace and security. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) will lead the ‘lowering costs’ task force, which will focus on health care, housing and education. Dave Min (D-CA) will spearhead ‘fighting corruption,’ which will look at stock trading, Supreme Court reform and money in politics. Becca Balint (D-VT) will lead ‘ending corporate greed,’ which will focus on AI, crypto, financial services and more. Emily Randall (D-WA) will lead ‘better pay and benefits,’ which will center around labor and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) will head ‘promoting peace and security,’ which will focus on diplomacy and congressional oversight.”

Aside from Adelita and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who’s running in a crowded special election in November to replace Sylvester Turner (RIP) in Houston, the CPC hasn’t endorsed anyone else yet. I hope the reports from their 5 task forces will be released soon enough to help progressive House candidates who aren’t waiting for the caucus’ endorsement. Example: Travis Terrell, who is picking up steam in his campaign to oust Mariannette Miller-Meeks in south east Iowa, told us that he’s specially interested in reading the reports from the CPC about lowering costs and fighting corruption since he’s been running heavily on both “due to corporate owned officials in both parties. Interestingly, he also told us that the more the GOP attacks him for supporting Bernie, AOC and Zohran, the more support his campaign builds momentum. “The Progressive Caucus,” he said, “is focusing on the real issues that are affecting our lives and ravaging our communities, skyrocketing costs, unchecked corporate greed, and corruption that’s rotting our democracy from the inside out. That’s exactly what I’m running on here in Iowa’s 1st district. And if we stay focused on those fights, progressives can win anywhere, even in places the establishment has written off as unwinnable.”

This all sounds familiar when it comes to the IL-09 race. IL-09, Jan Schakowsky’s district, includes the northern part of Chicago, Skokie, Evanston and several near-north suburbs. It is a diverse district with significant representation from South Asian, Asian, Muslim, and Jewish American communities. The race is crowded, featuring a hardline AIPAC candidate— state senator Laura Fine— Daniel Biss, the mayor of a Evanston who is pro-Israel but not nearly as far to the right. There is also, a Gen Z social media influencer, Kat Abughazaleh— who recently moved to Illinois, and a Gen Z elected board of education official, Bushra Amiwala. There are as many as thirteen candidates, so it will be an active race.

The parallel to the Arizona district is because of Deja Foxx and Adelita Grijalva— related but different. Like Adelita, Bushra Amiwala is a solid progressive who has been active in the community, elected to a board, and working as a progressive for eight years. Bushra, like Adelita, was born and raised in the area. Both Kat Abughazaleh and Deja Foxx are progressive social media influencers, but they lack extensive elected experience. The primary is not until March 2026. It remains to be seen whether the experienced Gen Z candidate— one with deep elected experience— will win or if the social media influencer without experience will come out on top. Or if Daniel Biss, despite the corporate and pro-Israel lean— will just wipe everyone off the map.