EDITORIAL: Foot-in-mouth moment should teach Dem leader

Oct. 22—Few things are quite so annoying as a person who makes a point that is essentially correct, but argued in such a clumsy manner that anyone listening is bound to oppose it.

Such was the case recently with Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York Democratic Party. He compared upstart Buffalo mayoral candidate India Walton, who is Black, to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, in a hypothetical scenario to argue that the state party chairman shouldn't necessarily have to endorse primary winners.

As far as foot-in-mouth comments go, this was seismic. Several Democrats in the state Legislature and congressional delegation called on Jacobs to step down immediately. Jacobs apologized, but as longtime Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told our colleague Joe Mahoney on the statehouse beat: "This is the best day the Republicans have had in quite some time."

Lost amid the hubbub was that Jacobs' point was essentially correct: that if he doesn't think Walton is the best candidate, he shouldn't be obligated to endorse her solely because of her primary win. Walton upset four-term incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in a June off-year primary that few seemed to pay attention to; Brown had won a series of lopsided reelections in the largely Democratic-leaning city, taking as much as 99% of the vote in 2009.

Walton secured victory with some 11,000 votes, giving her just 51% of the Democratic primary vote in this city of roughly 259,000 residents. Brown insists Walton didn't win a clear mandate, and plans to run a write-in campaign. Frankly, he has a point; Walton insists her primary win wasn't a fluke, and if that's indeed the case, she should have no trouble winning a competitive general election.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, reportedly considering a primary bid to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, is among those calling for Jacobs to step down. In September, he blasted Jacobs and Hochul for not endorsing Walton. But his support for her seems to be based on little more than her identity as a 39-year-old Black socialist. In September, he said bluntly "this should be a race where the governor is stumping for the first female mayor of Buffalo," and lamented that she and Jacobs "refuse to endorse the young Black female Democratic nominee for Mayor in New York's second largest city."

Not once in Williams' 178-word prepared statement was Walton's name even mentioned, much less her policy positions. This may sound old fashioned, but perhaps Buffalo voters, who haven't seen a competitive mayoral election in decades, would benefit from a serious debate about the policies that will decide the city's future, rather than simply deciding whether the candidates' identities check the correct ideological boxes.

Absent any history of racial animus on Jacobs' part, he shouldn't lose his job over a comment that was stupidly worded but had no apparent malicious intent. But Jacobs would have more credibility here if he hadn't recently endorsed Hochul for reelection as governor before any others had even declared their candidacy. Was this unnecessary gesture even that helpful to Hochul? Are there actually undecided voters out there who are swayed by a party chairman's endorsement?

Such endorsements are of dubious value, but we know for a fact that they can be a turn-off for some voters. Readers may recall the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, during which Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a longtime friend of Hillary Clinton, was accused of favoring Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders. The party didn't actually do anything significant enough to tip the race in Clinton's favor, but the perception that Democratic leaders were putting their thumb on the scale was exploited by Donald Trump's campaign — and blamed for diminishing Democratic voters' enthusiasm and turnout.

Nobody reaches a position like Jacobs' without having opinions, and if he prefers Hochul personally, that's fine. But given the overwhelming advantage Democrats hold over Republicans in New York voter enrollment numbers, the Democratic primary will likely be where our next governor is chosen. If Jacobs would rather see a Hochul coronation than a competitive race, perhaps he should keep that opinion — among others — to himself.