Mamdani’s primary win in NYC has CA progressives hopeful

The surprise win of a progressive candidate in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary is serving as an indication for some California progressives that they could have a shot at winning key offices in upcoming elections.

As CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu explains, earlier this month New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani defeated eight other candidates including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose affiliated political action committee raised a record-setting amount of money. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, and progressives in California have considered his victory as evidence that their stances on universal health care, taxing the rich and boosting the economy with climate-related jobs could resonate with voters.

The sentiment comes as some liberal California elected officials have shifted closer to the center in recent years, and in March critics on both sides of the political aisle slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom for making what they saw as a disingenuous appeal to conservatives with his podcast.

Despite an overwhelmingly Democratic populace, voters in November also passed a measure to stiffen penalties for drug and theft crimes and rejected progressive policies that would have expanded rent control, ended forced prison labor and raised the minimum wage. President Donald Trump also increased his vote share in nearly every county, and Republicans flipped three seats in the state Legislature. 

So what is it about Mamdani that California voters may find appealing?

One factor could be that Mamdani appealed to young voters about affordability issues, writes Stella. His proposal to freeze rent helped him garner 46% of the vote in renter-heavy neighborhoods. While most of California’s likely voters are homeowners, courting renters and younger voters to show up on Election Day could prove beneficial for progressives.

• Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California: “Progressives and Democrats and Republicans would all be very foolish not to be courting the youth vote. The problem is that they all do a generally pretty bad job of courting the youth vote.”

Read more here.

A federal judge issued an order Friday directing federal immigration enforcement agents to temporarily halt carrying out immigration raids in Los Angeles without “reasonable suspicion,” write CalMatters’ Wendy Fry and Sergio Olmos.

A coalition of immigration and civil rights groups and local government agencies filed the class action lawsuit earlier this month, accusing federal authorities of violating constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The coalition argues that federal agents conduct warrantless stops on people who simply appear to be Latino, and deny them due process rights to access to counsel.

The judge’s order prohibits agents from using four rationales, either alone or in combination, for conducting detention stops: “Apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a particular location (e.g. bus stop, car wash, tow yard, day laborer pick up site, agricultural site, ect), the type of work one does.”

The ruling does not prohibit the federal government from obtaining search warrants and carrying out workplace raids.

The Trump administration filed an appeal of the Friday ruling on Sunday, court records show. A hearing on whether this temporary restraining order may turn into a longer preliminary injunction is expected in the coming weeks. 

Read more here.

Wendy also reports on how a California district court judge last week ordered officials at a San Diego immigration detention center to provide crucial assistance to a deaf asylum seeker who has been detained for more than four months.

The detainee, identified as Avirmed, arrived in the U.S. in February after fleeing Mongolia and seeking asylum from persecution because of his disability. Border officials transferred him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he was placed in detention at the for-profit Otay Mesa Detention Center. Since his proceedings and detainment, Avirmed has not had access to a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter, according to the Disability Rights Legal Center.

The judge’s order directs officials at the detention facility to provide Avirmed with an appropriate interpreter. Immigration authorities were also ordered to redo two assessments, including a mental health review, that could affect Avirmed’s asylum request.

Avirmed’s case underscores the difference in border policies between Trump and President Joe Biden. Under Biden, asylum seekers who were not threats to public safety were often released on bond. Under Trump, some asylum seekers are detained while their cases move through immigration court, leading to record-high detention numbers. 

Read more here.

Honey bee colonies vital to California’s agriculture are collapsing. CalMatters’ video strategy director Robert Meeks and I have a video segment on my story about an Assembly bill that aims to establish a health program for bees as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

And check out another video from CalMatters’ Tara García Mathewson and Robert about the concerns surrounding California colleges’ usage of an artificial intelligence detection software. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.