Post-elex predictions
William Clarke Wontner's The Fortune Teller Print, 1899
Longtime Opp Now contributor Philip Davenport reports from a hipster bar in Flatbush, NYC regarding the Silicon Valley Left's big win on 11.4. An Opp Now exclusive.
Dear Opp Now team:
I had to take the Flixbus up to Brooklyn for Election Night, just to get a first-hand look at the cultural celebration I figured was about to ensue.
So I'm sitting here in the back yard of the Bad Therapy saloon, nursing a couple of High Lifes (jeez, I love that skinny bottle) and it's 10.30pm local time. Polls have closed, Mamdani in a landslide. This party is definitely on.
No customers over 30. Probably only the bartender over 35. Lots of high fives and dancing around.
But mostly lots of selfies.
You may not be seeing this in the Valley of Heart's Delight, but the young/educated/trust-fund/non-profit-employed (if employed at all)/good looking crowd is very energized & very enamored of each other. But mostly: very left. They are way past TDS and now have SDS (Schumer Derangement Syndrome, which I just realized as I type this is also "Students for a Democratic Society"--the more things change!).
So even though I'm only reading Opp Now, The Merc, and Spotlight to know what's going on in my hometown, indulge my quick thoughts before this place turns into a madhouse.
Post-Elections Predictions
1.) More taxes.
The Measure A comfortable win will embolden more new tax measures at city and county level. Anybody who thinks they'll back off due to "tax fatigue" is kidding themselves. Former NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio once famously said (something like): "The problem isn't that there isn't enough money for our projects, it's just in the wrong hands." Let that sink in. Expect Max Tax Mahan and his new gf Ellenberg to continue to push-poll and spend their way to ridiculous transit bailouts and massive housing subsidies.
2.) Mahan The Reformer will hoist the white flag.
With Newsom's rise as the Great Trump Slayer via his Prop 50 rout, Mahan will quietly surrender his "pragmatic progressive" props, and get back under the tent of Lefty California Dems. No more kicking Newsom in the shins over his tweets. No more complaining about Newsom's presidential ambitions. No more Revolution of Common Sense. He will follow his party's ongoing tilt leftward, disappointing the moderates and centrists who helped elect him back in 2022. And he'll bring Casey, Mulcahy, and Doan along for the ride. Look for a lot more unanimous votes on lefty projects, making it look like Cindy Chavez is still pulling the Council's strings.
3.) Two roads diverge in the woods.
Moderates and centrists in the valley face a tough choice. I am assuming that the more fiscally responsible have already come to realize that hitching their cart to Mahan was a mistake, as he has shown repeatedly that he never saw a tax he didn't like. That said, Mahan is a talented pol and has some facility (even though you Opp Now guys make fun of him for it) of throwing rhetorical crumbs at moderates to unruffle their feathers. "I see your point, but I am going to vote against you" will probably work for a little while longer.
But it won't last. A lane is opening for a new centrist leader who can unite Moderate Dems, NPP's and GOP. I gather it's not the Chamber of Commerce--so you tell me who it could be.
Best and miss you all,
P.D.
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