
Secretary of state race stirring
Rausch's interest in serving as the state's top elections official wouldn't be coming out of left field: The Needham Democrat is pushing several election reform bills this session, including wide-ranging legislation that would 'make several sorely needed improvements to voting access and elections infrastructure,' according to the bill summary.
Secretary of State Bill Galvin hasn't officially said whether he'll seek another term, but multiple #mapoli observers we checked in with expect him to run again next year. Galvin broke the record to become the longest-serving secretary of state in Massachusetts when he won his eighth term in 2022.
Galvin has fended off a series of primaries from younger, more progressive challengers in recent years — mostly recently from the NAACP's Tanisha Sullivan in 2022 and from then-Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim in 2018.
Raucsh has been steadily padding her campaign coffers in recent months — she had more than $113,000 on hand at the end of June. But that's likely to be far less than Galvin, who had more than $1.8 million in his campaign account at the end of last month.
GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Meanwhile in New Hampshire …
A group of prominent Democrats in the Granite State is launching a campaign to bring Democrats with national profiles to the early primary voting state with an eye toward 2026 — and 2028.
Rep. Ro Khanna will kick off the town hall-style series Aug. 31, and more meetings are in the works for the fall, organizers told Playbook. Jim Demers, a longtime Democratic strategist and former New Hampshire state representative, is leading the effort along with New Hampshire state Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, state Rep. Alexis Simpson, and Democratic National Committee members Bill Shaheen, Donna Soucy and Joanne Dowdell.
The goal isn't just to draw presidential hopefuls to New Hampshire amid a battle over the state's longtime 'first-in-the-nation' primary status, though some involved are pushing to bring the long-standing tradition back to New Hampshire.
While some of the speakers 'may see it as an audition for 2028,' Demers told Playbook, 'I think we really see it as an opportunity to make the voters aware that the Democratic Party is alive and we have leaders who are willing to stand up on the issues they care about.'
The conversations, hosted at St. Anselm College in Manchester in conjunction with the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, will have two parts: A reception where voters can meet and lob questions at the visiting politician and a traditional town hall.
TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey has no public events. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll testifies on the Mass Ready Act, Healey's infrastructure bond bill, at 1 p.m. at the State House. Sen. Ed Markey hosts a press conference announcing the reintroduction of the State-Based Universal Health Care Act at 9:30 a.m. in D.C. Rep. Ayanna Pressley hosts a press conference to launch a Community Safety Agenda at 2 p.m. in D.C. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu kicks off the third phase of a program that uses city-owned land to create homeownership opportunities at noon in Dorchester.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@politico.com.
DATELINE BEACON HILL
CASH DASH — A group of lawyers and energy executives is hosting a 'Clean Energy Leaders for Maura' fundraiser Thursday in Boston, per the invite.
Among those listed on the host committee: Alicia Barton, the CEO of Vineyard Offshore, an offshore wind company founded by the same team that established Vineyard Wind; Dan Berwick, the CEO New Leaf Energy; and former Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone, now president of The Alliance for Climate Transition. Suggested donations range from $250 to $2,500.
— Healey cost-cutting plan gets cool treatment from Mariano by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: 'The top House Democrat will need to 'think long and hard' about Gov. Maura Healey's request for additional cost-cutting powers over the state budget as Beacon Hill braces for potential fiscal upheaval. Ten days after Healey rolled out her budget vetoes and new legislation designed to prepare for federal funding cuts, House Speaker Ron Mariano said he and his team had not yet talked much about what kind of response they will offer.'
MORE — Gov. Healey had quasi-public agencies in mind amid push to expand budget cutting powers by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: 'As [Gov. Maura] Healey signed a $61 billion yearly spending plan earlier this month, she also filed legislation to grant her more authority to slash spending across all of state government instead of just the executive branch that she oversees. Her office argued that Massachusetts could face fiscal troubles as a result of actions taken by President Donald Trump over the past seven months. After an unrelated event at the State House Monday, Healey said the same budget-cutting rules that apply to executive branch agencies should apply to quasi-public agencies.'
TRAVEL LOG — After her office declined to share details while she was away, Gov. Maura Healey told reporters Monday that she spent the last week in France with her family and returned Saturday. More from the Boston Herald.
— Drought management not included in Healey's $3 billion environmental bond bill by Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon.
WHAT'S ON CAMPBELL'S DOCKET
— Campbell, state AGs sue Trump over $6.8B in frozen school funds by John L. Micek, MassLive: 'Democratic attorneys general and two governors from two dozen states sued the Trump administration on Monday, arguing the Republican White House unconstitutionally froze more than $6 billion in public school funding. The loss of the cash, previously approved by Congress, threw a wrench into summer and after-school programs across the country, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell and several of her colleagues said during a news conference. The Bay State's share came out to $108 million, according to the Healey administration.'
THE RACE FOR CITY HALL
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll are endorsing Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne for reelection, according to her campaign. Ballantyne is 'the proven leader we need at the local level to support our administration's efforts to reduce the cost of housing, grow our economy, tackle climate change and increase opportunities for all,' Healey and Driscoll said in a statement.
— Longtime New Bedford City Councilor Linda Morad to retire by Colin Hogan, The New Bedford Light:.
— Bike lanes are a hot topic in the race for Boston's top office by Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez, WBUR.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
— Study shows MBTA costs way up since spending control board disbanded by Matthew Medsgar, Boston Herald: 'The cost of running the MBTA has climbed dramatically since the phase out of the agency's Fiscal and Management Control Board, according to a new study by the Pioneer Institute. While the study acknowledges that there have been notable improvements to the reliability of subway service and that many of the MBTA's notorious 'slow zones' have been repaired and removed, the system's operating costs have nevertheless grown by leaps and bounds since the control board was eliminated four years ago.'
FROM THE DELEGATION
— Moulton calls on Democrats to reboot ahead of midterms by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: 'U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said Democrats need to rebrand their message to focus on the economy, immigration reform and other issues that matter to voters, if they hope to regain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. Speaking to a gathering of business leaders Monday at the New England Council's 'Capitol Hill Report,' the Salem Democrat said the party's brand is damaged and needs to be rebuilt if it hopes to win control of Congress to push back against President Donald Trump's second-term actions.'
FROM THE 413
— Will SBA reopen office in WMass? Lawmakers have questions by Daniel Jackson, The Springfield Republican: 'The head of the U.S. Small Business Administration told lawmakers last month that the agency is looking to reopen an office in Western Massachusetts after cuts in March closed the office in Springfield. The lawmakers, however, remain skeptical. Last week, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told fellow senators the fate of the Springfield SBA office was one of several matters where he could not get full answers from the agency. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, said in a statement Monday the agency lacked a concrete plan to reopen the office.'
— Candidates emerge for town election in Amherst by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'A week after nomination forms for the Nov. 4 election became available at the town clerk's office, and as of Tuesday, eight residents have pulled papers to run for Town Council, which has three at-large seats as well as two seats in each of five districts. For councilor-at-large, incumbent Mandi Jo Hanneke of Foxglove Lane, has gotten nomination papers. Also getting papers are current District 2 Councilor Lynn Griesemer, of Flat Hills Road, Andy Churchill, of Pomeroy Lane, who chaired the Charter Review Committee and previously served on the School Committee, and Dillon Maxfield, of North Pleasant Street, who ran for a council seat seven years ago and has been on the town's Board of License Commissioners.'
— Pittsfield narrows its open container law and sets limits on flag displays on city property by Maryjane Williams, The Berkshire Eagle.
THE LOCAL ANGLE
— Lax oversight of assisted living facilities may have left Gabriel House vulnerable by Marin Wolf, Jason Laughlin and Ava Berger, The Boston Globe: 'The Gabriel House assisted living facility did not perform fire drills or train workers in evacuation procedures and was also understaffed and poorly maintained, according to a current and former employee interviewed in the aftermath of the fatal fire there that killed nine residents. … Advocates for the state's seniors said there are longstanding concerns about lax oversight of assisted living facilities, which offer some personal assistance but not the type of intensive medical care provided at nursing homes.'
RELATED — Fall River mayor on fatal fire at assisted living facility by Lisa Mullins, WBUR.
— Newton mayor defends yellow line decision ahead of Italian festival by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: 'It wasn't a full 'mi scusi' from Newton's mayor in the wake of LineGate, but she did admit that the city 'missed the mark in communicating' about the decision to remove the red, white, and green street lines ahead of this week's Italian festival. Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has been facing heat from residents after the city in the middle of the night ordered workers to paint the road lines on Nonantum's Adams Street yellow. … Before the city painted the reflective yellow center lines, Fuller said the city gave the OK for Festa volunteers to repaint the tricolors on Adams Street — moved over by 12″ or 18″ next to the double yellow center lines. The mayor stressed that the decision for yellow lines on the two-way street was for public safety.'
— 7 police officers placed on leave after Haverhill man's death by Jill Harmacinski, The Eagle-Tribune: 'Seven city police officers are now on paid leave amid the continuing investigation into the death of Francis Gigliotti, 43, who died while being restrained by police Friday evening. The seven officers were not identified by Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker, who confirmed they were placed on leave after speaking with Haverhill police Chief Robert Pistone early Monday evening.'
— A city-owned grocery store in Worcester? Councilor wants to look into it by Afton Pratt, Telegram & Gazette.
— Brockton settles whistleblower lawsuit with schools assistant CFO by Chris Helms and Jacob Posner, The Brockton Enterprise.
HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Ariel Zirulnick, David Lippman, Jon Hurst, Stefanie Coxe and Allison Godburn.
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Newsweek
4 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump To Release Billions In Frozen Funds: What To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. More than $5 billion in frozen education grant funding to the states will be released in the coming weeks, according to the Department of Education. The money, which was used to found a range of initiatives including teacher training and English language programs, was suspended by the Trump administration on June 30 pending a review by the federal Office of Management and Budget. Newsweek contacted the Department of Education for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours. The Context The announcement follows weeks of lobbying from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers concerned about the impact the funding suspension would have on their districts. Lawsuits aiming to get the money unfrozen had been submitted by 24 states and the District of Columbia along with a separate group of teaching unions, school districts and parents. What To Know On Friday, the Department of Education spokesperson Madi Biedermann said the funding had been unfrozen and would begin being paid out next week. The money was part of a larger sum of nearly $7 billion that had been approved by Congress for education spending and was due to be released on July 1, but that the Trump administration announced it had placed a block the previous day. On June 30, the Education Department announced the spending was under review with the Office of Management and Budget saying it would investigate whether it had previously been spent supporting a "radical left-wing agenda." President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on July 25, 2025 in Prestwick, Scotland, UK. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on July 25, 2025 in Prestwick, Scotland, UK. Andrew Harnik/GETTY The money had been earmarked for a number of services including migrant education, English language programs and adult education with $2.2 billion committed to teachers' professional development. On Friday the administration said there would be "guardrails" in place to ensure the released money wasn't spent "in violation of executive orders or administration policy." Earlier this month the Supreme Court ruled the Department of Education can go ahead with its plan to lay off nearly 1,400 workers. The Trump administration reportedly considered abolishing the Department of Education in its entirety earlier this year. What People Are Saying In a post on X, Nebraska House Republican Don Bacon wrote: "Exciting news to announce! All frozen education funding for the upcoming school year have been released." Referring to the payments on Friday at the National Governors Association's summer meeting Education Secretary Linda McMahon said: "I would think now that we've reviewed them … a year from now, we wouldn't find ourselves in the same situation." Addressing The Washington Post Democratic Senator Patty Murray said: "This administration deserves no credit for just barely averting a crisis they themselves set in motion. "You don't thank a burglar for returning your cash after you've spent a month figuring out if you'd have to sell your house to make up the difference." Speaking to Axios Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said: "The programs are ones that enjoy long-standing, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children, which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies, and programs to support adult learners working to gain employment skills, earn workforce certifications, or transition into postsecondary education." Skye Perryman, president of the Democracy Forward campaign group, said: "While this development shows that legal and public pressure can make a difference, school districts, parents, and educators should not have to take the administration to court to secure funds for their students." What Happens Next Payments from the frozen funding should start going out next week according to the Department of Education.

USA Today
33 minutes ago
- USA Today
Department of Justice wants to inspect swing state voter rolls
The Justice Department effort has targeted battleground states. It follows a March executive order. The Department of Justice is going state by state to scrutinize how officials manage their voter rolls and remove ineligible voters. The effort is so far focused on battleground states and follows President Donald Trump's widely challenged executive order in March that sought to create new requirements to register to vote and backed a range of voting policies long supported by Republicans. In nearly identical letters to state election officials in Minnesota, Nevada and Pennsylvania, the Department of Justice asked them to describe how they identify people who are felons, dead, nonresidents or noncitizens, and how they remove them from their voter lists. A letter to Arizona officials said the state should be requiring people who have driver's license numbers to register to vote using that number instead of the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. The Department of Justice said the office should conduct a review of its voter file. The department also sued Orange County, California for not providing enough identifying information in response to a records request; and filed documents in support of lawsuits brought by the right-leaning group Judicial Watch that say Illinois and Oregon have not been not removing enough people from their voter rolls. 'It is critical to remove ineligible voters from the registration rolls so that elections are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud,' said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement that a spokesperson provided to USA TODAY. She said the department would 'vigorously enforce' federal law that requires states to 'conduct a robust program of list maintenance.' From 2024: Republican Party sues over absentee ballots, voter rolls in battleground states Several of the states in question have competitive elections in November 2026, when all seats in the House and one-third of the seats in the Senate are on the ballot. Minnesota has a race for an open Senate seat. Arizona and Pennsylvania have multiple competitive House races, and there will be a tight race for a House seat in California that includes part of Orange County. Americans are more likely to get struck by lightning than to commit in-person voter fraud, according to a study from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan good government group based at New York University. 'I do think this is part of a broader effort number one to lay the groundwork for attempts to overturn election results that they don't like in 2026,' said Jonathan Diaz, the voting advocacy director at Campaign Legal Center. 'So they can cook up some story about how these states' voter rolls can't be trusted and so we can't trust their election results if Democrats win.' Trump's March executive order alleged that previous administrations didn't do enough to keep noncitizens of the voter rolls and said having accurate voter rolls protects voters. What DOJ wants from the lawsuits In Orange County, the Department of Justice wrote in a federal lawsuit in June that the Attorney General received a complaint about a noncitizen receiving a ballot, and that the department requested five years of data on how the county removes noncitizens from voter registration rolls. The county provided information but redacted identifying numbers and signatures, among other things, according to the lawsuit. The Department of Justice says that's illegal, and wants the federal court to force the county to provide the full information. Diaz said the Department of Justice in general is 'asking for a lot of very specific data about individual voters, which normally would not be necessary.' He said that information is much more specific than what states would provide to political campaigns or journalists, who often obtain voter registration files. The Department of Justice also asked Nevada and Minnesota for copies of their statewide voter registration list with both active and inactive voters. Inactive voters generally have not voted in recent elections and are put on the inactive list to preserve their registration while queuing them for future removal. Diaz said the requests read "like a fishing expedition." He predicted that the Department of Justice may find a human error, such as a noncitizen who checks the wrong box when getting their drivers license and registers to vote, and then "make that a referendum on the entire electoral system." 'They are looking for anything they can find so they can yell about noncitizen voting or dead people voting or whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is," Diaz said. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a right-leaning organization that advocates for government transparency, said many states are not doing enough to maintain clean voter rolls. He said his organization has sued multiple jurisdictions over the years to get about 5 million names removed from voter rolls, including in New York City and Los Angeles. Fitton said a voter registration list is 'a pool of names from which someone with problematic intent can draw to engage in fraud. And the appearance of dirty voting lists undermines voter confidence and participation.' The conservative Heritage Foundation alleges there have been about 1,600 cases of voter fraud over a period of many years. That compares to more than 150 million people voted in the 2024 presidential election alone. Fitton acknowledged that showing up to vote in another person's name requires a level of "chutzpah" that "might be a step too far to even political fraudsters." He posited that it'd be easier to impersonate a dead voter, but concluded: "All that is speculation. The law requires the names to be cleaned up, and it's not being done." In its federal lawsuit in Oregon, which the Department of Justice is backing, Judicial Watch alleges the state has too many people on its voter rolls in comparison to its voting-age population, and wants the federal court to force the state to develop a new removal program. Oregon contends that the organization doesn't have the right to sue and hasn't proven it's been harmed, which are both necessary for the suit to move forward. In Illinois, Judicial Watch says that 11 counties removed no voter registrations between November 2020 and November 2022, and 12 other counties removed 15 or fewer during the same time period. The suit does not allege that anyone voted illegally, but questions whether so few voters could have moved or died. The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment on pending litigation. 'When Illinois voters cast their ballots, they should be confident that their vote is given its due weight, undiluted by ineligible voters,' the Department of Justice wrote in its July 21 filing in the case. 'This confidence is the bedrock of participatory democracy.'

34 minutes ago
Some of Mamdani's platform is surprisingly similar to Bloomberg's, experts say
He proposed free crosstown buses. He pushed for steep tax hikes on the wealthy—including an 18.5% property tax increase— insisting none of his rich friends threatened to leave the city over higher taxes. He championed millions to build supermarkets in long-neglected neighborhoods. And under his plan, city workers could give privately raised cash to New Yorkers booking dental appointments or keeping their children in school. These progressive policies, however, are not from New York City's Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Experts said they were from Michael Bloomberg, New York's billionaire former Republican mayor and a prominent supporter of Andrew Cuomo's run for mayor. As Mamdani reshapes the city's political map, some experts told ABC News a striking parallel is emerging. Behind the labels of "socialist" and "technocrat," both men share aligned goals: taxing the rich during crises, promoting expansive transit ideas, and bold plans to bring fresh food to low-income communities. Still, experts said, even when policies overlap, most New Yorkers do not see them as similar. They point out many people know Mamdani as an organizer who has posted that capitalism is a form of thef t; Bloomberg as a businessman who built a fortune managing the free market that Mamdani is critiquing. Mamdani identifies himself as a democratic socialist and has stated, "I don't think that we should have billionaires." Bloomberg is one of the richest people in the world. Neither Mamdani nor Bloomberg provided statements to ABC News. Mamdani recently acknowledged in a private meeting with business leaders that he hopes to emulate Bloomberg on a few issues — even as he draws fire from many in the business community, sources familiar told ABC News. "There's a resistance from a lot of powerful forces ... And it doesn't have to do with Mamdani's politics, it has to do with the fact that he doesn't come from them," Democratic strategist Peter Feld told ABC News. Bloomberg spent $8 million backing Cuomo's failed bid to become the Democratic nominee for mayor. "If you said which of these things go together, you probably wouldn't pick Bloomberg and Mamdani," Christine Quinn, the former city council speaker who helped Bloomberg pass key policies, told ABC News. "But when you peel away at the onion, there's a lot of similarities." Free buses As early as 2007, Bloomberg spoke about his public transit goals, telling WABC, "If you were to design the ultimate system, you would have mass transit be free and charge an enormous amount for cars." During his 2009 re-election campaign, Bloomberg proposed making some Manhattan crosstown buses free of charge. An archived screenshot from his campaign website states, "The MTA should eliminate fare collection..." At a campaign event, he called the MTA "bloated" and "inefficient." The New York Times contrasted observers calling the proposal "radical," and a Regional Plan Association official saying it "captured people's imaginations." A Mamdani campaign pillar calls for free fares on all bus lines. After piloting a fare-free program on five lines as an assemblymember, Mamdani compared it to Kansas City and Boston's free programs. Cuomo's bus plan for mayor includes evaluating the "expansion of a fare-free bus pilot program" that Mamdani championed, and expanding a 50% discount on public transportation for low-income residents. Regional Plan Association's Kate Slevin, who served in city government under Bloomberg, said she "can't remember other mayoral candidates" with a similar plan for free buses. Slevin told ABC News, "When it comes to fares, those are the only two I can remember." After Bloomberg won, a transportation website reported he removed the proposal from his website. The plan was never implemented. Both men faced criticism over feasibility - the MTA controls bus fares. Mamdani has not publicly highlighted Bloomberg's old bus proposal, but he's aware of at least one Bloomberg transportation initiative: in a recent video about expanding dedicated bus lanes, he said, "It's not a new proposal, Mayor Bloomberg suggested it in 2008." Taxing the wealthy After 9/11, during New York City's financial crisis, Mayor Bloomberg increased property taxes by 18.5%, short of his original 25% push. Months later, Bloomberg raised sales and income taxes. Single filers earning over $100,000 were among those impacted. "[Bloomberg] knew that to make New York livable, you had to raise taxes, and he put that as a priority, rather than to simply cut the budget and vital services," NYU Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, Mitchell Moss, told ABC News. "Taxes were not a peripheral part of his fiscal policy. They were a central part." In a 2007 USC speech, Bloomberg reflected, "As a last resort, we even raised property taxes and income taxes on high-earners," recalling backlash, saying "raising taxes didn't make me the most popular..." In response to concerns New Yorkers may leave, Bloomberg told WNYC: "I can only tell you, among my friends, I've never heard one person say I'm going to move out of the city because of the taxes ... Not one." Former Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to raise taxes on the wealthy to fix subways, but was not successful. Mamdani proposes permanent additional 2% tax increases for earners making over $1 million and raising corporate taxes. Bloomberg framed his hikes as temporary, specifically tied to emergencies. However, even Bloomberg acknowledged that his tax revenue supported broader ambitions. "Mike Bloomberg raised taxes following 9/11 out of fiscal necessity, not ideology," Ed Skyler, a senior executive at Citigroup and former deputy mayor for Bloomberg, told ABC News. At USC, he said increases, "allowed us to close the huge budget deficits, balance the books and continue investing in the future: building new schools, revitalizing old industrial areas, creating the largest affordable housing program in the nation, supporting our cultural institutions, parks, libraries, and universities, and expanding world-wide advertising to attract businesses and tourists." Food policy for low-income communities Under Bloomberg, starting in 2009, dozens of FRESH grocery stores opened. Many are still operating today. The program offered public subsidies to private grocery operators to boost access to fresh food in underserved neighborhoods. Quinn, then city council speaker and a key player in passing the program, said they always asked: "how do we use the powers of the city of New York to jolt the private sector into action?" Bloomberg frequently sought to merge public and private efforts—through initiatives like his Green Carts program —which supplied permits for vendors selling fresh produce in "food deserts," and Health Bucks, which enabled discounted food to be purchased at farmers markets. Mamdani proposes one municipally owned, nonprofit grocery store in each borough, offering goods at wholesale prices. On " Plain English," Mamdani said his plan would cost less than FRESH. CUNY School of Public Health Professor Nevin Cohen said he believes Mamdani's plan would cost less than Bloomberg's, too. He wrote a piece titled " Guess What? Government Is Already in the Grocery Business," mentioning existing markets in Madison and Atlanta. Mamdani's idea isn't new to the city. Former Mayor Fiorello La Guardia created the first public market network and several still remain today. Under Bloomberg, one such market—Essex Market—was rezoned and relocated to a new, modern space. Cohen said Bloomberg and Mamdani's plans "are not just similar. They actually had the same underlying goal." Cohen said, "Bloomberg very much intervened in the market" and sent an old advertisement of Bloomberg, dressed as a nanny, labeled, "You only thought you lived in the land of the free." Quinn also notes that many of Bloomberg's plans faced resistance, but once implemented, became part of the city's fabric. "What is radical on Monday often becomes widespread by Wednesday," Quinn said.