26 - Ross Barkan on Running for Office and the Return of Socialism to New York

The Most Interesting People I Know

Ross Barkan is an award-winning journalist and former political candidate. Ross ran for state senate in Brooklyn in 2018 (where he was endorsed by AOC). He is back to full-time journalism, with a column in the Guardian and frequent contributions to the Nation and Gothamist. He also has work in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, and the Columbia Journalism Review. In both 2017 and 2019, he was the recipient of the New York Press Club’s award for distinguished newspaper commentary. He now teaches journalism at NYU and St. Joseph’s College. He also created a popular newsletter, Political Currents, on New York and national affairs.

As always, links to his work will be found in the show notes. Ross’s Substack newsletter, Political Currents, is an amazing font of information on New York City politics.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

His experience running for state senate, the curse of fundraising, and how running for office destroys your social life, how small dollar digital fundraising is fueling left wing candidates, what a DSA endorsement means and why Ross thinks he didn’t get it, why he thinks he didn't win, what you should consider when deciding whether to run for office, how De Blasio and Cuomo bungled New York’s COVID response, how Cuomo refuses to raise taxes on the wealthy, the lack of any meaningful action to reduce the power of the NYPD, why Ross doesn’t support police abolition and why we think the case for prison abolition is stronger, Bernie’s loss and the progress the left has made in recent years, and the very exciting election of five DSA-endorsed candidates to statewide political office in New York

More about Ross:

• www.rossbarkan.com
• Political Currents newsletter
• https://twitter.com/RossBarkan

Links:

• Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the Lead. New York’s Did Not
• https://makebillionairespay.info/
• Was the NYPD Budget Cut by $1 Billion?
• Reasonable Doubt: A New Look at Whether Prison Growth Cuts Crime
• Ross’s piece on prosecutors in the Baffler: Exterminating Angels: The American myth of the progressive prosecutor
• Tiffany Cabán Eyes City Council Run, Will Launch Campaign Thursday