Senate Gives New York Young Democrats a Stomach-Turning Lesson in Actual Politics

Young New York Democrats are having a rough summer. November 4 is long gone, and with it the street-flooding enthusiasm that the Year of Obama inspired.

Now, with local politics topping the agenda, they are facing a serious letdown. An independent mayor elected twice as a Republican is cruising toward a third term. And Albany, having finally been conquered, for the first time since long before any of them were born, by their Democratic Party, is a smoldering wreck.

The State Senate Democrats, who recently lost their majority in a botched coup, have been particularly disappointing.

“It was going to be a new day, a new way of doing things,” said Matthew Silverstein, the 27-year-old president of the New York State Young Democrats said. “The back-and-forth antics of everything that’s happening [in Albany] is just very disappointing,” he added. “It’s not showing leadership.”

Al Benninghoff, 28, president of Manhattan Young Democrats, said, “A lot of our membership is very frustrated, especially because we’re putting a good face towards getting marriage equality passed.” 

“I can’t tell you how many people are asking what kind of B.S. is going on up there,” Silverstein.   

Benninghoff does, however, see one upside to what he dubs “the quagmire” at hand. Young Democrats in New York City, typically more knowledgeable about city and national politics than state politics, are getting a brutal, character-building lesson in how Albany really works.

“This has been educational for members,” he said. “They’re learning how the State Senate actually operates and what power it has.”

 “When things run smoothly,” he added, “no one pays any attention.”