Politico on Sunday explained that the “bail reform” championed by Democrats across the county hurt their party — especially in New York — during the 2022 midterm elections.
“Republicans across the country campaigned on crime. Nowhere did it resonate more than in New York,” Politico’s Anna Gronewold wrote. Across the country, over the past few years, Democrats have championed wanting to defund the police and, more recently, bail reform, such as having no cash bail, which New York adopted.
Gronewold explained that the “New York Democrats knew Republicans would hammer them over public safety during the midterms” after the law was passed and, in some cases, tried to roll back some of the “bail reform” and prepared a “fact-based response to the attacks.”
However, in the end, “bail reform” hurt Democrats more in New York than anywhere else. Even though Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) had an unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York, Republicans created significant inroads across the state. GOP-aligned candidates flipped three U.S. House seats and won two open races.
“This was a nationally coordinated campaign by the Republicans, and we did not, frankly, rise to the occasion to explain to people what we did do and how the point was and still is not to criminalize poverty — it’s to criminalize criminals,” New York’s Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told Politico.
On the other hand, Democrat Democratic strategists and advocates for “bail reform” argued that the messaging failed because “No one was explicitly championing the bail laws and the reasons for them to voters,” according to Politico.
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams hold a press conference at the Fulton Street Station January 6, 2022, to announce new state-funded “Safe Options Support Teams.” (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Jason Kaplan, a senior vice…