How New York State can answer the concerns of a restive electorate
Democrats in New York woke up after Election Day not just defeated, but directionless. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the “Empire State Freedom Initiative,” which translates to members of her administration meeting to “develop strategies” against Trump. Congressman Dan Goldman followed up with a nonbinding resolution to clarify the 22nd Amendment, which bars Trump from a third term, although the resolution has no power, no chance of passage and essentially no point.
Politics without purpose isn’t going to save democratic governance or the Democratic Party. The party has steadily lost a significant chunk of its base — voters who didn’t graduate from college, make less than $100,000 and are detached from political news. These voters generally aren’t moved by symbolic gestures of resistance. They aren’t reading the political headlines or watching the Sunday talk shows that elected officials scramble to force themselves into. Instead of recycling tired tactics of the past, Democrats need a movement driven by results, not righteousness, and it can start in New York.
Democrats still control all branches of New York State government, enabling our state to be a laboratory for bold ideas that lead the party out of the wilderness. The Governor and Legislature must pivot from performative politics dictated by ideological instincts, to enacting policies that pass a simple test: Does this tangibly improve the lives of disengaged voters without college degrees who make under $100,000?
Here’s some ideas on how New York can lead:
1. A pro-family agenda
New York's declining population is a pressing concern, and the cost of raising a family is a huge root cause. Households with young children are 40% more likely to leave New York State, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. In 2022, life became even tougher for many parents as the expanded Child Tax Credit expired while inflation reached its peak. Lower-income families had their tax refund shrink right as they were paying more for rent, gas and groceries.
A New York Families agenda could start with passing State Sen. Andrew Gounardes’ Working Families Tax Credit, which is designed to both bridge the gap created by Washington's failures and make sure the lowest income families are getting the biggest credit.
In addition to putting more money in parents' pockets, we should expand universal 3K statewide — as well as correct what has been lackluster implementation by the Adams administration and expand childcare resources for parents.
As the 5BORO Institute has pointed out, New York City alone is estimated to have lost $23 billion in economic activity as a result of parents leaving the workforce or downshifting careers to meet childcare needs. If we help families get through those first early years with more money and support, they will be less likely to leave our state — and our party.
2. Obamacare improvements
In New York State, more than 6.6 million individuals get their health insurance through the NY State of Health Marketplace. But while the Affordable Care Act has increased the quantity of people with insurance coverage, the quality of that coverage is nothing to brag about. One of the cheapest Bronze plans on the state marketplace for a family costs $1,924.35 a month with a $5,500 deductible per person. Even with a $1,080 discount for a household income of $100,000, this family would still pay over $27,000 a year before their health insurance begins covering medical bills. And after they hit their deductible, this insurance provides only 50% coinsurance on nearly all medical needs, from doctor’s visits to chemotherapy. A gold plan for families fully covers basic health options but costs over $37,700 a year — that’s nearly the equivalent of having to buy a Tesla Model 3 every year to have real health insurance coverage.
Cost aside, just finding a plan on the marketplace is painful. The interface is focused on the many caveats in how much insurance will pay for healthcare while providing almost no information on the actual healthcare being provided. Things like what doctors, hospital systems or treatments will be in your network are nowhere to be found. This lackluster system was launched by the Cuomo administration when I worked there and has never been improved, even as plan rates on the exchange have consistently gone up. Citing statistics in the face of poor personal experience is how Democrats have come to be seen as out of touch by the very voters they want to represent. Instead of defending the status quo, New York should dramatically reform its healthcare regulations and add a public option similar to Colorado's, which aims to lower premiums by 15% next year and has helped the state recoup increased federal dollars for healthcare. And New York should overhaul the online marketplace, so New Yorkers can easily judge the plans being offered.
3. Public college for all
The private college system has continued to saddle multiple generations with debt. The price of tuition continues to go up even as more Americans say the value of degrees has gone down. Democrats have focused most of their political energy on student debt forgiveness. This has proven difficult to deliver. But even worse it addresses symptoms rather than causes, further perpetuating the cycle of rising tuition, bigger loans and increasing debt for more generations. Instead, we should guide young people away from the debt trap of private colleges by offering a better alternative: world-class public universities that they can attend for free.
Free college is not a new or radical idea; until 1978, CUNY was free to all New Yorkers. In 2017, the Cuomo Administration tried to bring it back with the Excelsior Scholarship Program, touting that over 940,000 New York families had children who would now be eligible for free college. But only a tiny fraction of the students who could get free college in New York are actually using it, because it's not easy to use. Students have to fill out three different forms to apply, get kicked out if they have to pause enrollment to work to support themselves or their family and the entire scholarship turns into a student loan if they leave New York when they graduate. Last year fewer than 27,000 students got an Excelsior Scholarship, according to the most recent data.
The promise of progressive policies means nothing if the people the policies are supposed to help can’t use them. The state should remake and reform this broken program by cutting the red tape. Instead of penalties, we should create incentives like lower tax rates for those who stay or simply trust that if you give students an amazing educational foundation in New York, they will want to build their career here. The state should also increase funding for SUNY and CUNY – to make up for previous cuts, especially to CUNY — so New York students start seeing free public college as a better deal than taking on debt to attend an expensive private college. An “I ❤️SUNY/CUNY” marketing campaign targeted to young people could also be a cheap and easy way to bring more students into the pipeline.
4. Smarter taxation
Such ideas come with a price tag. In the recent past, Democrats have looked to the Occupy Wall Street chants of "tax the rich" as the go-to political answer for nearly all funding needs. But it's hard to believe in the political power of that slogan when working-class voters just elected a billionaire whose biggest supporter was the richest man on Earth. Instead, we should pursue taxation fairness by more intelligently charging industries that profit from New York's resources without adequately contributing to the state's welfare.
The cryptocurrency industry, for instance, places significant demands on our energy infrastructure, particularly upstate, to power mining operations. By regulating cryptocurrencies as securities and imposing appropriate taxes on their profits, we can generate revenue to reinvest in our communities. This approach would ensure that those who benefit from our state's resources also contribute fairly to its upkeep.
While we’re at it, let's remove the burden of filing taxes from all New Yorkers by passing new legislation to make tax collection automatic. Denmark, Sweden and Spain all provide their taxpayers with pre-filled tax returns containing information on wages, bank interest and other income sources, which taxpayers can then approve or correct. Imagine how much better March and April would be if your state government no longer made you fill out a tax return.
These proposals are by no means exhaustive, but they represent a starting point for rebuilding the coalition we've lost. New York can and should take advantage of its Democratic trifecta to test a wide range of ideas. What’s the point of having power if we fail to use it? When the pendulum swings back, we’ll be ready — not as the lesser of two evils but as a movement worth joining. Instead of telling voters what to vote against, New York State can give them something to vote for.