Peter Sterne
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Peter Sterne
@petersterne.com
18K followers 1.1K following 4.9K posts
State Editor at cityandstateny.bsky.social. Previously @nysfocus.bsky.social, @freedom.press and @politico.com. He/him.

Email: [email protected]

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https://petersterne.com
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petersterne.com
Wow, they're actually bragging that they arrested and deported people who were not even in the supposed gang that they targeted. prospect.org/2026/01/08/m...
SPEAKING ALONGSIDE NOEM was Frank Russo, Customs and Border Protection director of field operations for New York. He said Operation Salvo surveilled businesses, residents, and “community hubs” to determine ties between individuals. Responding to a reporter’s question, he said he wanted to “make clear” that the people arrested were “loosely affiliated” with Trinitarios, which meant anything from “individuals associated with the gang to just having conversations” with them. Agents drew connections between people by, among other things, going through contacts people had in their phones. The operation worked well because the public did not know about it, he said. “The best thing about this operation is that it was done the way law enforcement loves to do it. Quietly, discreetly, behind the scenes, often under the cover of darkness. And what that did is it allowed our officers and agents to go out there to conduct surveillance to do intel-gathering operations and to arrest these individuals without any interruptions and without an impact to civilians,” Russo said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be done.”
January 11, 2026 at 2:34 AM
petersterne.com
NYC-DSA’s Bronx/Upper Manhattan branch has voted, 79%-14%, in favor of endorsing Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat in NY-13.

Now the full chapter will vote on the endorsement. More on Darializa here: www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
Good evening everyone, On Monday, 5 January, NYC-DSA's B/UM Branch held a forum at which participants deliberated whether or not to support organizational endorsement for Darializa Avila Chevalier race in New York's 13th Congressional District. The results of the poll that was sent out after the forum are as follows: "Should NYC-DSA's B/UM Branch recommend Darializa Avila Chevalier for endorsement in New York's 13th Congressional District?" YES - 79%, NO - 14%, Abstain - 7%. The next step in our chapter's endorsement process is a 1 member 1 vote poll that is open to all members in good standing chapterwide and then finally for the Citywide Leadership Committee to deliberate on whether or not to endorse Darializa in this race.
January 11, 2026 at 12:54 AM
petersterne.com
“Claire and I have something in common: a toxic ex, a real estate empire that does education on the side.” - Mahmoud Khalil (former Columbia student arrested by ICE), introducing congressional candidate Claire Valdez (a former Columbia employee)
Mahmoud Khalil speaking at the launch party for Claire Valdez in Bushwick
January 10, 2026 at 1:03 AM
petersterne.com
It says Senate negotiators are working on an appropriations package that would increase ICE funding by 10% and Dem leaders fear the optics of voting against it because they don’t want to be accused of defunding the police.
SCOOP: Senate Negotiators Eye Another ICE Funding Increase GOP pushes for "operational capacity" while Schumer and Jeffries balk at drawing red lines, fearing "Defund" optics. WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators are actively pursuing a plan to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by around 10% in the upcoming appropriations package, according to three sources familiar with the talks
January 9, 2026 at 2:37 AM
petersterne.com
Remember when they said Mamdani couldn’t win because he was so anti-Israel?

Well now the exact same people are insisting Mamdani’s win had nothing to do with Israel to try to discourage other candidates from running against Zionism. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Latimer, who was among the incumbents recently endorsed by DMFI, said in an interview he expects another left-flank primary challenge next year, driven in part by opposition to Israel. Prominent Jewish leaders in New York, though, are skeptical the posture makes much sense when most voters are focused on pocketbook concerns — an issue effectively leveraged by Mamdani. “Everybody in America wants to be Zohran Mamdani, but there’s only one Zohran Mamdani,” said David Greenfield, a former city councilmember and head of The Met Council, a Jewish charity. “The reason he won is not because of Israel, he won because of affordability.”
January 9, 2026 at 2:02 AM
petersterne.com
Next week's DSA endorsement forum will feature *both* Assembly Member Claire Valdez and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

Valdez is clearly the DSA candidate in the race and will almost certainly get the socialist group's endorsement, but Reynoso still wants a chance to make his case.
A flyer for DSA's Jan. 14 endorsement forum, showing that both Claire Valdez and Antonio Reynoso will be considered for endorsement in NY-7.
January 8, 2026 at 10:04 PM
petersterne.com
Might be tough for folks to travel to this month's Queens DSA meeting
World map showing a pin with the location of a Queens DSA meeting on Jan. 21 The map pin is in the Gulf of Guinea, south of Ghana
January 8, 2026 at 9:09 PM
petersterne.com
This tweet from a Daily Mail reporter is especially fucked up
Tweet from Daily Mail reporter Jon Michael Raasch: HAHAHAHAHAAH * gasps* HAHAHAHAHA NYC mayoral aide Cea Weaver who says whites owning houses is racist bursts into TEARS when asked about her mother's $1.4m Craftsman home Amazing work from the @DailyMail team
January 7, 2026 at 4:27 PM
petersterne.com
Any day in New York, it could either be 9/11 or this, according to our former mayor
Screenshot from a Duolingo Spanish lesson: “We are starting a new business”
January 7, 2026 at 5:15 AM
petersterne.com
I don't think it's an "extraordinary charge" for the government of Israel to accuse someone of antisemitism. The government constantly accuses people of antisemitism for criticizing them! So it's really a pretty routine charge. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/n...
By Friday morning, Mr. Mamdani was facing direct criticism from the government of Israel, which accused him of antisemitism. It was an extraordinary charge to be leveled by the Jewish state against the new mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel. Had the Adams administration known its orders would pose a challenge for the new mayor? “Short answer: Yes,” Randy Mastro, the first deputy mayor to Mr. Adams, said in an interview on Saturday. “To rescind it comes at a cost, because it requires an explanation,” he continued, “and when there’s no rationale or explanation other than you don’t like Israel, there’s consequences for that.”
January 4, 2026 at 8:16 PM
petersterne.com
Here is AOC's statement: bsky.app/profile/aoc....

And screenshots of tweets/statements from Chris Van Hollen, Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib
Statement from Chris Van Hollen: "The American people did not ask for this act of war to bring about regime change in Venezuela - nor did Congress authorize it. President Trump has put our troops in harm's way, and he has not provided a clear, fact-based rationale for these actions, nor the long-term strategy following these strikes. This Administration owes the American people and the Congress immediate answers. This act of war is a grave abuse of power by the President. The Trump Administration is repeating the worst mistakes of our past and endangering American lives - and their motive for doing so is a farce. Trump seized Maduro and his wife just weeks after he pardoned former Honduran President - and notorious convicted drug kingpin - Juan Orlando Hernández. Maduro is a dictator, but his regime did not pose the immediate threat necessary to warrant U.S. military action on foreign soil without Congressional approval. This is not about demolishing a dictatorship, as we've seen Trump cozy up to dictators around the world. This is about trying to grab Venezuela's oil for Trump's billionaire buddies. Congress must not abdicate its constitutional authority and allow control of the world's most powerful military to fall into just one set of hands." Statement from Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump has, once again, shown his contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law. The President of the United States does NOT have the right to unilaterally take this country to war, even against a corrupt and brutal dictator like Maduro. The United States does NOT have the right, as Trump stated this morning, to "run" Venezuela. Congress must immediately pass a War Powers Resolution to end this illegal military operation and reassert its constitutional responsibilities. Trump's attack on Venezuela will make the United States and the world less safe. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine. Trump and his administration have often said they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world. Trump campaigned for president on an "America First" platform. He claimed to be the "peace candidate." At a time when 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our healthcare system is collapsing, when people cannot afford housing, and when Al threatens millions of jobs, it is time for the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end this military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to "run" the United States. He should not be trying to "run" Venezuela. Trump’s illegal and unprovoked bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president are grave violations of international law and the U.S. Constitution. These are the actions of a rogue state. The American people do not want another regime change war abroad.
January 3, 2026 at 7:25 PM
petersterne.com
Is it that difficult to conceive of someone with actual ideological commitments, who supports unions not for transactional reasons but because they genuinely believe in workers' power? nymag.com/intelligence...
Yet Mamdani is not acting like a mayor without debts. Even though he wasn’t supported by labor unions and many other left-leaning civic organizations in the primary, he had been their champion regardless. He didn’t get the teachers-union endorsement, but he still favored getting rid of mayoral control of schools, something mayors dating back to Bloomberg have fought vigorously for, since its alternative was an era of community school boards that was rife with dysfunction and graft and left a mayor powerless in the face of, for example, a bus-drivers strike. He wasn’t the first choice of the municipal-workers union but still pledged to oppose a proposal to switch city workers to a health plan that budget experts say is necessary to save the city $1 billion. He has called for 200,000 units of affordable housing to be built in the city, but despite not being endorsed by the building trades, he has said they should be built with union labor, which would drive up the cost of construction. (“He says he wants to build 200,000 units of affordable housing, all with union labor,” said one prominent developer. “I think he is going to be lucky to get 50.”) “It’s one of the strangest things I have seen,” said David Schleicher, a professor at Yale Law School and an expert on municipal policy. “He has no particular reason to follow the line of the teachers union or the building trades or any other union, but he seems to be doing it anyway.” It’s hard to shake the sense that Mamdani has come into office treating perceived ideological allies — including unions — as sacred, whether or not they’ve thrown their full support behind him.
December 30, 2025 at 6:13 PM
petersterne.com
Randy Mastro, top lieutenant to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current Mayor Eric Adams, offers "advice" to NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani: www.nydailynews.com/2025/12/28/h...
As the top deputy in two different mayoral administrations, including under current Mayor Adams, I feel uniquely qualified to offer some advice to our Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani. Full disclosure: I did not vote for him and do not support his socialist agenda. But I always root for our city to succeed, so I offer this advice in that spirit. First and foremost, running a city as complex as New York isn’t just about ideology. To paraphrase our greatest mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, “there is no Republican or Democratic” — or Socialist — way to pick up the garbage.” At its core this job is about delivering basic city services. So our incoming mayor should be focusing on appointing his core government operations team — none of whom has been named yet, only “interim” holdovers from the Adams administration until Mamdani ultimately names permanent successors — instead of making symbolic appointments like a deputy mayor for “economic justice.” Yes, Mamdani ran on affordability, but the highest priority for any mayor should be to keep our city safe. The Adams administration achieved massive reductions in major crime, including the lowest rate of shootings in city history. And Mamdani has wisely reappointed Adams’ police commissioner. Next, he needs to put his campaign’s anti-police rhetoric behind him. He needs to show he is committed to public safety and supports the work the NYPD does to keep us all safe. No mayor has succeeded who saw crime rise on his watch. Mamdani should keep Adams’ commitment to fund 5,000 more cops. Classic tweet from @hotgirlhala: “this does not help your cause” - guy who hates you and your cause
December 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
petersterne.com
This is a good sign for the NYC left and the movement that supports Mamdani, since it suggests he's refusing false choices and unnecessary compromise. nymag.com/intelligence...
Mamdani’s revolution, in this moment before he takes office, has two defining qualities. The first is the well-known movement-building skill of the man. Out of nowhere, he has become the center of the political universe in New York and redefined what is possible in American politics. The second is a certain sense of unreality — a tension between what he promises he will do and what the normal laws of political physics would seem to allow. It’s true of the big question: Can he really lower the cost of living in New York City? And it’s true of all the thousands of smaller ways in which he will attempt to do that and manage the city in the meantime. In our interviews, the mayor-elect conspicuously avoided acknowledging the kinds of basic trade-offs that are the DNA of the office he is about to assume. Does Mamdani want more affordable housing, or does he want affordable housing that is more expensive to build because it’s built with union labor? Does he want free infant–to–5-year-old child care, or does he want those child-care workers to be paid the $30 living wage he has proposed for the city? The answer is he wants both, he wants everything, he wants it all at once.
December 29, 2025 at 11:49 PM
petersterne.com
Fall? It’s December 29th
Screenshot from Panera app: What’s new at Panera? Fall-ing for Salad Dip into Fall
December 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
petersterne.com
incredible metaphor for the state of the industry lol
Quote tweet from me: There is almost no better journalism job I can imagine for a lefty NYC-based editor than this. The quoted tweet has been deleted.
December 22, 2025 at 5:51 PM
petersterne.com
Zohran Mamdani endorses his “friend and fellow DSA member” Diana Moreno for Assembly District 36.
Diana Moreno and Zohran Mamdani in Athens Square Park in Astoria
December 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM
petersterne.com
Gibbs said that this is an issue of clashing cultural norms – that he's being punished for not code-switching.

And I tend to agree. This isn't about harassment so much as enforcing certain middle-class (white) cultural norms of professionalism. gothamist.com/news/mamdani...
December 19, 2025 at 10:04 PM
petersterne.com
Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs was sanctioned for making "sexually explicit remarks" during a floor speech memorializing the late Rep. Charlie Rangel. gothamist.com/news/harlem-...
The statement in question came during a speech Gibbs gave in May after the death of former Rep. Charlie Rangel. Gibbs said on the floor that his late mother was enamored with both Rangel and Rangel's predecessor, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. “My mother was a big fan of Adam Clayton Powell, the congressmember, and she would tell me often that Adam Powell made her moist,” Gibbs said, according to an official transcript. “And then when Charlie won the seat — had the seat, she said Charlie made her wetter. I don't know what that means, but that's the way she felt about Charlie.” Gibbs said in an interview that he didn’t mean to offend anybody.
December 19, 2025 at 10:00 PM
petersterne.com
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the leading GOP candidate for NY governor, just announced that she is DROPPING OUT of the governor's race and will NOT RUN FOR RE-ELECTION to Congress.

It's a remarkable fall from grace for Stefanik. x.com/EliseStefani...
While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family. I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to Save New York. However, as we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York. And while many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom. I believe that being a parent is life's greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don't further focus on my young son's safety, growth, and happiness - particularly at his tender age.
December 19, 2025 at 9:11 PM
petersterne.com
Landlords are threatening us with a good time (selling their rent-stabilized buildings to the city) gothamist.com/news/zohran-...
New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos, whose lobbying group represents owners of rent-stabilized apartments, said “thousands” of landlords would take Mamdani up on the offer to sell. “If the city chooses to purchase these buildings, they will gladly do so,” Burgos said.
December 17, 2025 at 7:09 AM
petersterne.com
The Post wrote "exposed" a random DSA guy who is one of 400 people on Mamdani's transition committees because he insulted the NYPD on Twitter and praised Karl Marx: nypost.com/2025/12/15/u...

If you're scandalized that a socialist likes Marx and dislikes the NYPD, then I don't what to tell you.
A member of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition and top fundraiser for his campaign once celebrated vile anti-NYPD chants and called for America to be “punished for its sins,” The Post has learned. Jack Gross, a far-left activist with deep ties to the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, repeatedly espoused far-left ideologies online and even praised Karl Marx, the 19th-century revolutionary who helped found communism. Gross, who helped raise more than $20,000 for the Mamdani campaign, wrote on social media in June 2020 that it was “beautiful” when New Yorkers yelled “NYPD suck my d–k” — a common refrain heard during the George Floyd protests that summer. “I must admit I do believe America is a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins,” he wrote a few months later, before his account went dormant.
December 16, 2025 at 5:47 AM
petersterne.com
Meet City & State's newest creation: the Zobubu!
City & State magazine cover featuring a "Zobubu" – which is like if NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was a purple Labubu
December 15, 2025 at 4:53 PM
petersterne.com
Very interesting to see the New York Post take an apolitical clickbait angle ("this common appliance could ENDANGER YOUR LIFE") rather than a reactionary political angle ("liberal politicians want to BAN YOUR STOVE") on this story. nypost.com/2025/12/11/h...
New York Post headline: Common appliance in a third of US homes is increasing your risk of lung cancer and diabetes — as New York considers ban
December 12, 2025 at 4:46 PM
petersterne.com
Michael Lange reports that City Council Members Althea Stevens, Pierina Sanchez and Kayla Santosuosso received permission from Crystal Hudson to back Julie Menin for speaker once it was clear that Hudson could not win. www.michaellange.nyc/p/how-julie-...
As Menin and her allies, specifically emissaries from influential labor unions, called around to persuadable Council Members, many of whom were green to the Speaker’s race, the urgency of the message, and the fear of emerging empty-handed (without a chairmanship, a position on the powerful budget and taxation committee, or even discretionary funding) proved devastatingly effective. This dynamic was especially pronounced with newer(ish) members: Yusef Salaam of Central Harlem, Shanel Thomas-Henry of East Elmhurst, and Ty Hankerson of Southeast Queens. Perhaps most devastatingly, Lower Manhattan’s Christopher Marte and Harvey Epstein, both members of the Progressive Caucus, had given their left-leaning colleagues an impression of openness to Hudson. Marte, as reported by City and State, even joined a conference call arranged by The Working Families Party “to discuss strategy and urge consolidation” among the non-Menin candidates, only to abandon the coalition in the days thereafter. The defection of Epstein, widely supported in a competitive primary by the city’s progressive institutions, was seen as particularly suspect. Hour by hour, as Menin solidified more and more commitments from her colleagues, Hudson’s already slim path evaporated entirely. Before the knowledge of her defeat became widespread, a handful of progressive, Hudson-friendly holdouts — Pierina Sanchez and Althea Stevens of the Bronx, and Kayla Santosuosso of Southern Brooklyn — received permission from Hudson and other stakeholders to place their names on Menin’s list, so as to extract whatever concessions remained.
December 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM