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      Why Georgia is Bracing for More Political Hurricanes

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyA Political Hurricane Blew Through Georgia. Now It’s Bracing for More.The country’s most hotly contested state has calmed down after months of drama, court fights and national attention (even the death threats have slowed). But new storms are on the horizon.Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, who became a target of former President Donald J. Trump for defending the validity of the state’s election results.Credit…Audra Melton for The New York TimesMarch 13, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETATLANTA — The death threats finally appeared to be subsiding, Brad Raffensperger was happy to report.“I haven’t gotten one in a while,” said Mr. Raffensperger, Georgia’s embattled secretary of state, expressing hope that political passions might be cooling off in the state — though “cooling off” is relative in the country’s most heated battleground.Not since Florida’s presidential recount of 2000 has one state’s election cycle drawn so much national — even international — scrutiny. Polarizing figures, expensive campaigns and breathless plotlines have become a seemingly permanent feature of elections here. Analysts have identified Georgia as a major bellwether of the nation’s cultural, economic and demographic realignment, as well as a prime battlefield for showdowns over such fundamental civic matters as the right to vote.When exactly did this reliably Republican and relatively sleepy political sphere become such a vital center of contention and intrigue?Why does seemingly every politically interested observer in America have — à la Ray Charles — Georgia on their mind?The landmark event was President Biden’s becoming the first Democrat at the top of the ticket to carry Georgia since 1992, in what was the most closely decided state in last year’s presidential race. Former President Donald J. Trump appeared especially fixated on the state and made it the main focus of his efforts to reverse the results of the national election. Georgia then played host to double runoff contests in January that flipped control of the Senate to Democrats.The fervor and spotlight will endure: The state is a focal point for the nation’s persistent voting rights battle, as Republicans move swiftly to roll back ballot access in what opponents say is clear targeting of Black voters with echoes of Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement.In 2022, the Peach State’s race for governor is likely to include perhaps the Democratic Party’s leading champion of voting rights, Stacey Abrams, in a replay of the 2018 grudge match between her and Gov. Brian Kemp, the Republican incumbent. One of the two Democrats who won their races in January, Senator Raphael Warnock, will also have to turn around and defend his seat next year in a race that Republicans are already eyeing as they seek to reclaim the chamber. Several local and national Republicans — including Mr. Trump — have tried to recruit the former University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker to run for the seat, which could lend another wrinkle to the state’s political story, as if it needed one.Adding to the chaos, Mr. Kemp has become the target of a vendetta by Mr. Trump, who has condemned him for not doing more to deliver (or poach) victory for him in Georgia in November. This has also made Georgia the unquestioned center of the internal disputes that have roiled the Republican Party since November. Mr. Trump has seemed intent on making the state a key stop on a revenge tour he has waged against Republicans he has deemed insufficiently loyal to him — Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger chief among them.“It just feels like a hurricane blew through here politically in the last few campaigns that just keeps carrying over,” said former Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from the state.Stacey Abrams is seen as likely to run again for governor of Georgia in 2022, in a potential rematch of her 2018 race against Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican.Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York TimesSenator Jon Ossoff, who prevailed alongside Mr. Warnock in the runoffs, said that “there’s a tension and complexity to the total arc of Georgia’s history that manifests itself in this particular moment.” That tension, he added, “is continually being expressed in our politics.”Towering stakes in a shifting statePeople tend to speak of Georgia politics these days in the most dramatic of terms: A struggle is underway “for the soul of Georgia,” and the New South in general. Every week seems to bring a new “existential battle” over some defining issue. A “foundational tension” is playing out in the racial politics of a place considered both a cradle of the civil rights movement and a pillar of the old Confederacy.Some days, state officials said, the stakes feel too high, the energy too charged and the language too extreme.“In my opinion, that’s not healthy, and that’s not what America should be,” said Gabriel Sterling, another top election overseer who, like Mr. Raffensperger, gained a national profile as Mr. Trump challenged Mr. Biden’s victory in the state with false claims of rampant voter fraud. (Mr. Trump’s phone call to Mr. Raffensperger in December, pressuring him to “find” enough votes to overturn the results, was disclosed by The Washington Post and led Georgia prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the former president.)“You’re not supposed to live and die by these elections,” Mr. Sterling said, noting that in a healthy democracy, the “normal” number of death threats directed at an official like him would be “zero.” He and Mr. Raffensperger were sitting in a tavern near the Georgia Capitol early this month, monitored by a security detail. They were unwinding after another day of pitched political battle in which the Republican-controlled legislature passed an election bill that would create a raft of new ballot restrictions.Republicans are now worried that their slipping grip on Georgia could make it a perennial swing state. Mr. Chambliss said that white suburban women, who have been the key component of the state’s Republican coalition, had defected en masse in recent years, more drastically around Atlanta than in other growing metropolitan areas around the country.Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff scored momentous victories for the Democratic Party when they won their runoff elections in January. Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York Times“The animosity toward Trump is real, and that’s a group that Republicans need to be courting in a heavy way,” Mr. Chambliss said. He added that such a goal would not be easy to achieve as long as Mr. Trump kept involving himself in the state’s politics.“A lot of us have been standing on mountaintops screaming that our margins in the suburbs have been collapsing,” said Brian Robinson, a Republican political consultant in Georgia. Much of the recent focus on those electoral shifts, he said, flowed from the tiny margin of votes separating Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump in the state. That segued to the saturation media coverage of the Senate runoffs, the Republican election challenges and, of course, Mr. Trump’s conduct after Nov. 3.“Everything became all about Georgia,” Mr. Robinson said. “I was getting interviewed by newspapers from Switzerland.”The transformation of Georgia’s politics is largely a story of rapidly changing demographics. Atlanta is among the fastest-growing cities in the country, its suburbs evolving from a white Republican hotbed to a more diverse and progressive population of college-educated “knowledge workers.” Metropolitan Atlanta has attracted a substantial influx of younger immigrants and transplants from more crowded and expensive cities in the Northeast and the West.Likewise, the racial makeup has shifted rapidly. “Our demography is reflective of where many states are, and where the nation is headed,” said Ms. Abrams, who added that the majority of Georgia’s population was expected to be nonwhite by the end of this decade. “Politically, Georgia reflects what happens when all of these things come together. It’s a difficult thing to navigate on a national scale, and Georgia is the living embodiment of this.”A Democratic-led push for voting rightsThe point of convergence for much of this ferment has been the protracted struggle over voting rights. Ms. Abrams, who founded the political advocacy and voter registration group Fair Fight Action, has received broad credit for helping capture the state’s electoral votes for Mr. Biden and the Senate seats for Democrats.She became a voting rights cause célèbre herself in 2018 after enduring a bitter defeat in a governor’s race marred by accusations of voter suppression against Mr. Kemp in his former capacity as Georgia’s secretary of state. Ms. Abrams has to this day refused to concede defeat; Mr. Kemp, who oversaw the purging of hundreds of thousands of Georgians from the state’s voter rolls during his tenure, denied any wrongdoing. He declined to comment for this article.Ms. Abrams said that Republicans could not match the political energy and the demographic momentum that have propelled Democrats in Georgia, other than to pursue laws that would make it harder for traditional Democratic constituencies, such as African-Americans, to vote.The legislation currently making its way through the Capitol includes strict limits on weekend voting, a measure that could significantly impede the traditional role of Black churches in fostering civic engagement. A bill that passed the Georgia Senate early this month would repeal “no-excuse” absentee voting and require more stringent voter identification measures. The state’s political patriarch, the 96-year-old former President Jimmy Carter, said this past week that he was “disheartened, saddened and angry” about the legislation.Mr. Ossoff, left, and Mr. Warnock on Capitol Hill this month. Mr. Warnock will have to run for re-election next year in a race that Republicans are targeting.Credit…J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press“We know that some version of this bill is likely to pass because Republicans face an existential crisis in Georgia,” Ms. Abrams said. By the same token, Democrats could face a crisis of their own if Republicans succeed at enacting more restrictive voting laws in Georgia and several other states with Republican-controlled legislatures.Mr. Ossoff, who at 34 is the youngest member of the Senate, said Georgia had become a textbook case of how political and generational realignment “can change power dynamics in a way that has massive national implications.”Mr. Ossoff’s life trajectory has offered him a firsthand view of these shifts. He grew up in a suburban Atlanta congressional district that was once represented in the House by Newt Gingrich, the Republican speaker, and is now represented by Lucy McBath, an African-American Democrat.Mr. Ossoff began his career as an intern for the civil rights pioneer and Georgia congressman John Lewis, became the first Jewish senator from the Deep South and entered the chamber with first Black senator to represent Georgia, Mr. Warnock. He now sits at a Senate desk that was once occupied by the fierce civil rights opponent Richard Russell and the staunch segregationist Herman Talmadge. In accordance with Senate tradition, both long-dead senators carved their initials in the desk, though Mr. Ossoff said he had yet to do that himself.Republicans haltingly plan their next movesGeorgia Republicans say it would be shortsighted to think that legislation alone can stem the state’s recent tide of red to blue. Nor is it clear whether the most powerful motivating force in their party — Mr. Trump — has in fact motivated just as many voters to support Democrats in and around Atlanta.This dynamic has extended to Trump acolytes like Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene, the first-term Republican from the state’s northwest corner, whose far-right views, incendiary language and promotion of conspiracy theories have made her the biggest new attention magnet in Congress, for better or worse. “I have always subscribed to having a big tent,” Mr. Chambliss said. “By the same token, I don’t know where some of these people who wander into the tent ever come from.”Former Senator Kelly Loeffler, the Republican businesswoman whom Mr. Kemp appointed to replace the retiring Johnny Isakson in late 2019, announced plans last month to start a voter registration group of her own, geared toward disengaged conservatives. Ms. Loeffler, who lost to Mr. Warnock, envisions the organization, Greater Georgia, as a Republican counterbalance to Ms. Abrams’s efforts.Ms. Loeffler said she had committed a seven-figure sum of her own money to seed the effort. “When I stepped out of the Senate, I heard people say consistently that ‘someone needs to do something about Georgia,’” Ms. Loeffler said.Former Senator Kelly Loeffler said she had no timetable for deciding whether she would run again for the Senate in 2022.Credit…Dustin Chambers for The New York TimesMs. Loeffler did not say precisely what “needs to be done about Georgia” whether she meant only finding new ways to reach and register conservative voters or working to support Republican-driven laws that would discourage Democrats from voting. Ms. Abrams dismissed the effort as “a shallow attempt at mimicry” and “a vile attempt to limit access based on conspiracy theories.”Ms. Loeffler said she was merely “working to ensure that voters trust the process of voting.” She leaned heavily on phrases like “transparency,” “uniformity” and “election integrity,” which critics deride as false pretenses for Republican efforts to impose voter suppression measures. “There’s no question that many Georgians did not trust the process,” she said.Ms. Loeffler’s brief foray into elective politics began in January 2020, during Mr. Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial. She immediately began running for her November re-election, in a campaign that included Representative Doug Collins, a firebrand Republican and fierce defender of Mr. Trump who continually derided Ms. Loeffler as a “RINO” (Republican in name only) who was not adequately devoted to the former president. She then spent much of her brief Senate career trying to display her fealty to Mr. Trump — an effort that included a campaign ad literally portraying her as to the right of Attila the Hun.Ms. Loeffler, 50, said she had no timetable for deciding whether she would run against Mr. Warnock in what would be a rematch for her old seat. As for what other Republicans might run, speculation has produced (as it does) a colorful wish list, from Ms. Greene to Mr. Walker. David Perdue, the former Republican senator who was defeated by Mr. Ossoff, said last month that he would not run in 2022, and Mr. Trump has been trying to enlist Mr. Collins to take on Mr. Kemp in a Republican primary bid.Mr. Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, signed his first professional football contract in the ’80s with Mr. Trump’s United States Football League team, the New Jersey Generals, and maintains a close friendship with his former boss. A native of Wrightsville, Ga., Mr. Walker is a Republican who has encouraged African-Americans to join the party, and he has not ruled himself out for 2022.He is also unquestionably beloved in his home state, and the feeling appears to be mutual, though Mr. Walker currently lives in Texas.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What to Know Now About the Newsom Recall Effort

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCalifornia TodayWhat to Know Now About the Newsom Recall EffortFriday: Have questions about the effort to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom from office? Here are the answers.Priya Arora and March 12, 2021, 8:45 a.m. ETGov. Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, saying, “We will not be distracted from getting shots in arms and our economy booming again.” Credit…Etienne Laurent/EPA, via ShutterstockGood morning.As Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address on Tuesday, it was hard not to see in it an attempt to defend his tenure against recall efforts that are gaining steam.“We won’t change course just because of a few naysayers and doomsday-ers,” Mr. Newsom said in an empty Dodgers Stadium on Tuesday. “So to the California critics, who are promoting partisan power grabs and outdated prejudices, and rejecting everything that makes California great, we say this: We will not be distracted from getting shots in arms and our economy booming again.”With less than a week until the deadline for supporters of the recall to collect the 1.5 million signatures required to validate the effort, Mr. Newsom may benefit from progress on the fronts where he is facing the most criticism: pandemic restrictions on businesses and school reopenings.[Read more about the State of the State address.]On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Unified School District and teachers’ unions reached an agreement to reopen schools for most students in the coming weeks. The district has been the only one of the nation’s 10 largest school districts not to bring back a significant number of students.And while the recall effort began with those critical of the stop-and-go lockdowns of last year, several more counties have reached the less restrictive red tier this week, meaning that indoor dining and gyms, museums and other businesses could soon reopen in several parts of the state.“I really believe he’s done a very good job under very trying circumstances,” former Gov. Gray Davis said last week about Mr. Newsom. “I can’t remember a governor since World War II who’s had so many things to deal with at the same time.”Here’s an updated look at where the recall effort stands and what comes next.How many signatures does this recall have?According to the state’s most recent report, as of Feb. 5, supporters of the effort to recall Mr. Newsom had submitted roughly 1.1 million signatures, including 798,310 signatures that had been verified by county officials. But of those, only 668,202 signatures were valid, meaning they belonged to a registered California voter.Supporters of the recall claimed to have gathered 1,927,000 signatures as of March 3, but all signatures must be verified by the state.How many signatures are needed to trigger a recall?For the recall to move ahead, proponents must submit 1,495,709 valid signatures to county election officials by March 17, the court-determined deadline, which was extended because of the pandemic. The number of signatures required is 12 percent of the votes cast in the most recent election for governor, the 2018 race when Mr. Newsom defeated the Republican businessman John Cox.How will we know how much the recall effort costs?The state’s Department of Finance will work with the Secretary of State’s office and county election officials to estimate the cost of a recall election. Once that happens, the estimate goes to top state officials and then the Joint Legislative Budget Committee has 30 days to review and comment on the costs before the signatures are officially certified.When would a recall election occur?If enough signatures are certified to trigger a recall, the state’s lieutenant governor is required to set an election between 60 and 80 days from the date of certification. That could be extended to 180 days if it would allow the recall election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election.[Read more about the recall election process in California.]Who might replace Newsom if he is recalled?Kevin Faulconer, the Republican former mayor of San Diego, is one of the highest profile contenders to replace Mr. Newsom. Two other Republicans — the conservative activist Mike Cernovich and John Cox, who lost to Mr. Newsom in 2018 — have also announced plans to challenge the governor.(This article is part of the California Today newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox.)Here’s what else to know todayVaccine recipients waited in an observation area after getting their doses in Los Angeles this week.Credit…Lucy Nicholson/ReutersPresident Biden directed states to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccines by May 1 in an effort to speed up the inoculation campaign and reopenings. [The New York Times]Here’s what to know about California’s reopening.An independent report commissioned by the Los Angeles City Council found that the L.A.P.D. mishandled the George Floyd protests last summer. The report faulted the department for lack of planning, illegally detaining protesters and its chaotic and overly aggressive response. [The New York Times]California regulators are ordering car insurers to refund money to car owners in the state, accusing them of overcharging customers during the pandemic. [The Wall Street Journal]Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office is withholding data on gun violence from a state-funded research institution evaluating California’s firearm regulations. The office also is directing universities to destroy records previously released by the agency. [Sacramento Bee]Mr. Becerra’s office has challenged the Guenoc Valley Project, a sprawling development in a wildfire zone north of San Francisco. But residents want it built anyway. [San Francisco Chronicle]Catch up on Democrats’ fight to get Mr. Becerra, along with Mr. Biden’s other cabinet picks, confirmed.California Republicans are already fighting over who’s best positioned to take Mr. Newsom’s job. [Politico]Michael Tubbs, the former mayor of Stockton and an advocate for a universal basic income, is joining the Newsom administration as a special adviser. [The Associated Press]Read a conversation with Mr. Tubbs from last year.A wild car chase near Diamond Bar with a 9-year-old girl in the back seat began as a road rage incident — and ended in a tense standoff. [CBS]As companies and investors increasingly say they are focused on climate and sustainability, Bitcoin’s huge carbon footprint could become a red flag. [The New York Times]A new study found that the kelp forests along Northern California have almost entirely disappeared. [San Francisco Chronicle]Before the pandemic, the crowds that flocked to Diamond Head State Monument had a negative effect on both the surrounding community and the visitors themselves. Hawaii is now reevaluating visitation levels and entrance procedures.Credit…Marco Garcia for The New York TimesCalifornia sends more visitors to Hawaii than any other state. But two-thirds of Hawaii’s residents say they don’t want tourists to return, according to a recent survey. The state is using the pandemic-related travel collapse as a way to rethink tourism and the way it welcomes visitors. [The New York Times]Willa and Charles Bruce were among the first Black people to settle what would become the city of Manhattan Beach, but the city shut down their resort in 1924. Now, the Bruce family wants their land back. [The New York Times]Watch a short video about Bruce’s Beach from last year.And finally …Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, BTS, Harry Styles, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion will be among the performers at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.Credit…Julio Cortez/Associated PressThis year, awards season is a moment to take a close look at the institutions giving out the awards for their tendency to give far fewer of them to women and people who aren’t white.That’s true for the Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammys, set to take place on Sunday night. The show will address a music industry that has been especially pummeled by the pandemic. It’ll feature a mix of live and taped performances.And the Weeknd, hot on the heels of a critically lauded Super Bowl performance, said he’ll boycott the awards “from now on.” He joins a growing group of Black artists, including Drake, Frank Ocean and Kanye West, who have publicly rebuked the Academy.California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here and read every edition online here.Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter.California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Cuomo Faces More Calls for His Resignation as Crisis Deepens

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Harassment Claims Against CuomoWhat We KnowCrisis DeepensAttorney General’s InvestigationCuomo’s ResponseAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCuomo Losing Power and Allies as Crisis DeepensGov. Andrew Cuomo faced more calls for his resignation, and a Republican congressman and Trump backer, Lee Zeldin, said he was exploring a challenge to him next year.State lawmakers in Albany reached a deal to impose limits and additional oversight on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic-era powers.Credit…Pool photo by Seth WenigJesse McKinley, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Published More

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      Cuomo Could Be Compelled to Testify in Sexual-Harassment Inquiry

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Harassment Claims Against CuomoWhat We KnowCuomo’s ApologySecond AccusationThird AccusationMayoral Candidates ReactAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCuomo Could Be Compelled to Testify in Sexual-Harassment InquiryThe attorney general’s investigation into the governor will give her far-ranging subpoena powers to request documents and call witnesses.Gov. Andrew Cuomo is navigating one of the most perilous periods of his more than 10 years in office.Credit…Patrick Dodson for The New York TimesMarch 2, 2021Updated 8:18 a.m. ETWhen a team of outside investigators begins to examine sexual harassment allegations lodged against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, its scope may be far broader than first anticipated.The team, which will be hired by Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, will have far-reaching subpoena powers to request troves of documents and compel witnesses, including the governor, to testify under oath.The independent inquiry may also scrutinize not just the sexual harassment accusations made by two former aides last week, but potential claims from other women as well.In the end, which is likely to be months from now, the investigators will be required to produce a final report, the results of which could be politically devastating for Mr. Cuomo.“The end game is that a report that found him culpable would bring pressure to bear on him personally, on his regime, on the Legislature to act,” said Nina Pirrotti, a lawyer who specializes in employment law and sexual harassment cases. “But I don’t exactly know how it will play out.”Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, is navigating one of the most precarious and uncertain periods of his more than 10 years in office, just months after he had emerged as a national leader early in the coronavirus pandemic.The governor is facing a federal probe into his administration’s decision to withhold data on nursing home deaths, a scandal that has led to calls for impeachment and has spurred state legislators to seriously consider curbing the emergency powers they granted him at the beginning of the pandemic.But the harassment accusations could be even more damaging for a governor who has prided himself on advancing protections for women in the workplace.The first accusation came from Lindsey Boylan, who used to work for his administration. Ms. Boylan published an essay on Wednesday that detailed a series of unsettling encounters she said she had with Mr. Cuomo, including an instance when she said he gave her an unsolicited kiss on the lips.Then, on Saturday, The New York Times published an article about Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former entry-level staffer in the governor’s office who accused him of asking invasive questions, including whether she was monogamous and had sex with older men. She said she interpreted the remarks as sexual advances.Mr. Cuomo’s office denied Ms. Boylan’s allegations at the time. On Sunday, following Ms. Bennett’s account, Mr. Cuomo issued a statement in which he denied propositioning or touching anyone inappropriately, but apologized for workplace comments that he said “have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”On Monday, following a public back-and-forth over who would conduct the investigation, Ms. James received the governor’s authorization to open an inquiry under a section of state law that allows her office to “inquire into matters concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice.”The claims from both women are now at the center of that investigation, the contours of which are still materializing but could prod deeply into the inner workings of the governor’s office and how sexual misconduct allegations are handled there.Mr. Cuomo’s office has indicated that the governor’s office would “voluntarily cooperate fully” and that it had instructed all state employees to do so as well.Investigators will ultimately produce a public report, which is bound to include a summary and analysis of their findings, maybe even recommendations. Experts said the civil inquiry could look at whether Mr. Cuomo violated the state’s human rights laws and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a federal law that protects against harassment because of a person’s sex.“These women do have the option, potentially, to bring claims against their employer, the State of New York, for Governor Cuomo’s conduct,” Ms. Pirrotti said, adding that the facts in the report could help victims recover economic and emotional distress damages.As investigators corroborate details, she said the inquiry could “widen and widen” to include other sexual harassment claims that might surface during the investigation. On Monday, a third woman, Anna Ruch, came forward and said that she was “confused and shocked and embarrassed” when Mr. Cuomo asked to kiss her at a wedding reception.In a referral letter on Monday to the attorney general, Beth Garvey, a special counsel and senior adviser to the governor, said the inquiry would broadly look into “allegations of and circumstances surrounding sexual harassment claims made against the governor.”Ms. James, a Democrat, said her office would oversee “a rigorous and independent investigation” but would hire a law firm to spearhead it, a move that many saw as an attempt to avoid any appearance that politics would influence the investigation. The governor endorsed Ms. James’s run for attorney general in 2018, and she has been rumored as a potential candidate to challenge Mr. Cuomo in a primary next year, when he would be up for re-election.Ms. James had not selected an independent law firm as of Monday.Letitia James, the state attorney general, has said her office will hire a law firm to spearhead the investigation.Credit…Mary Altaffer/Associated PressLawyers from the firm would be deputized and will have the power to subpoena witnesses, as well as any documents, records, papers and books relevant to the investigation. Failure to comply with a subpoena could result in a misdemeanor.Kevin Mintzer, a Manhattan-based lawyer who has represented numerous women in sexual harassment cases, said that while there was no single way to conduct an investigation like the one Mr. Cuomo will face, he would expect it to proceed along the same lines used by those run by plaintiffs’ lawyers like himself and by companies undertaking internal inquiries.First, Mr. Mintzer said, investigators are likely to assemble any relevant documents, including emails and text messages that bear not only the accusations brought by Ms. Boylan and Ms. Bennett, but also on those made by any other potential accusers. Then, Mr. Mintzer said, witness interviews could follow, as investigators decide who they want to speak with formally and under oath.At some point, the focus of the probe will turn directly to Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Mintzer said, though that is likely to happen only once investigators are fully versed in the case.“Before they question the governor — an event of obvious significance — they will be well prepared with what the documents and other people have said,” said Mr. Mintzer.The contents of the report are likely to determine Mr. Cuomo’s fate, but some state legislators have already signaled that impeachment proceedings could be considered.“We’ll wait for the report, but I do believe that something needs to be done ultimately and whether or not the governor can continue is an open question,” State Senator Michael Gianaris, a Democrat and deputy majority leader in the upper chamber, told NY1 on Monday.Some critics have also raised questions about the governor’s potential influence over the investigation.Some noted that, under state law, the governor would be required to receive a weekly report on the investigation. The law also says the governor must countersign any checks used to pay for the inquiry, which the Legislature is supposed to provide funds for.“I think Letitia James is independent, but the way the structure is set up, it’s hard to retain independence when you have to report to the governor and the governor is involved with the finances,” said State Senator Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Island and a former prosecutor. “It’s especially perverse when it is the governor himself who is under the microscope.”Mr. Kaminsky has introduced legislation to allow the state attorney general to independently commence criminal investigations without a referral, likening it to the authority local district attorneys possess. “It’s not revolutionary,” he said.Ms. Garvey, the special counsel to the governor, told Ms. James in the referral letter that the governor would waive the weekly reports “due to the nature of this review.” Mr. Kaminsky, however, questioned whether such an exception was permitted under state law.It is not clear how long the investigation might take. Mr. Mintzer said that the timeline would likely be driven as much by political considerations as by legal issues.“This is a matter of immense public interest and people want to get to the bottom of it,” he said, “and I’m sure that will be the mandate from the attorney general.”Jonah E. Bromwich and Alan Feuer contributed reporting.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Cuomo Under Fire Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Harassment Claims Against CuomoWhat We KnowCuomo’s ApologySecond AccusationFirst AccusationMayoral Candidates ReactAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNew York TodayCuomo Under Fire Over Sexual Harassment AllegationsMarch 1, 2021Updated 5:07 a.m. ET [Want to get New York Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.]It’s Monday. [embedded content]Weather: Chance of light rain, turning blustery tonight with a slight chance of snow showers. Alternate-side parking: In effect until Mar. 28 (Passover). Credit…Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesFor much of the past year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s profile appeared to be rising. His daily news conferences during the pandemic drew a national following and provided a foil to President Trump’s dismissive response to the crisis. Some Democrats mused about putting Mr. Cuomo on the presidential ticket.Now, a scandal unfolding over allegations that he sexually harassed aides has cast a cloud over the three-term governor’s tenure, drawn calls for an independent investigation and prompted some politicians to suggest that Mr. Cuomo should consider resigning.The allegations come as Mr. Cuomo’s administration already faces a federal inquiry over its handling of nursing homes in the pandemic. A number of accusations of bullying behavior have also recently surfaced from lawmakers and former staff members.[Private conversations are starting to unfold about who might be best positioned to challenge Mr. Cuomo in next year’s gubernatorial elections.]The allegationsA 25-year-old former aide to the governor, Charlotte Bennett, accused Mr. Cuomo on Saturday of sexual harassment, saying he told her in June that he was open to dating women in their 20s and spoke to her in discomfiting ways about her own experience with sexual assault.On Wednesday, another aide, Lindsey Boylan, described several years of uncomfortable interactions with Mr. Cuomo, including an invitation to play strip poker on a government airplane.Mr. Cuomo’s responseMr. Cuomo has denied Ms. Boylan’s allegations.In an initial response to Ms. Bennett’s allegations, Mr. Cuomo said that he believed he had been acting as a mentor and had “never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate.”On Sunday, the governor went further, acknowledging that “some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation” and apologized.His promise of an investigation also underwent revisions: He first said on Saturday that he would appoint a former federal judge, Barbara Jones, to lead an inquiry into the allegations, but backtracked after critics pointed out the judge’s close ties to one of the governor’s longtime advisers.Then he said he would ask Letitia James, the state attorney general, and Janet DiFiore, the chief judge of the court of appeals, to “jointly select an independent and qualified lawyer” to review the allegations.But Ms. James and others said the plan did not empower her to do an investigation with subpoena power.Late Sunday, Mr. Cuomo again changed course, saying in a statement that Ms. James alone would be responsible for choosing an outside investigator and granting subpoena power to that person.From The TimesHe Won a Varsity Letter at 16. He Finally Got It When He Was 79.She Was Seen as a Victim in the Sarah Lawrence Cult Case. Now She’s Charged.Cuomo’s Crisis and Republicans Clash: 5 Takeaways from the Mayor’s Race3 Injured in Manhole Fire and Explosion in ManhattanWant more news? Check out our full coverage.The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.What we’re readingA man who spent more than 40 years working in subway token booths died while riding a train home from work. [Daily News]A carriage horse that was euthanized after collapsing in Central Park last year, prompting protests from animal rights’ activists, probably had a genetic muscular disease, according to an examination released by the drivers’ union. [N.Y. Post]When wedding receptions resume in New York in two weeks, guests can dance only with members of their immediate party, household or family seated at the same table, according to new guidelines. [N.Y. 1]And finally: The women who shaped the New York Public Library In 1929, when Jennie Maas Flexner helped launch the New York Public Library’s first “Reader’s Advisory Office,” a novel service that would help readers find books based on their interests or desires, the library made a deliberate attempt to not tell the press. Too many people might overwhelm the library’s staff, officials reasoned. “The aim has been from the first, because of staff limitations, to serve the reader who comes rather than to reach great numbers of people,” Ms. Flexner wrote with a colleague in a 1934 report.In the decades since, such services have become widespread, a consequence of Ms. Flexner’s efforts at the New York Public Library, where she worked until her death in 1944. She is one of 20 New York librarians the public library will highlight this month, Women’s History Month.Five librarians will be highlighted every week. In addition to Ms. Flexner, this week’s list includes:Augusta Braxton: Ms. Braxton was hired in 1937 as a children’s librarian and worked for the library for nearly 40 years. In 1953, she became the first Black librarian in an administrative position at the New York Public Library and pushed the library to showcase books that better portrayed people of color.Pura Belpré: She was hired in 1921, becoming the first Puerto Rican librarian at the New York Public Library. She pushed the library to carry Spanish-language books and held bilingual storytelling sessions.Esther K. Johnston: She joined the New York Public Library in 1916 and became acting head of the library’s branches in 1943 when her predecessor was called away to serve in World War II. She was officially appointed to the position in 1947, becoming the highest-ranking female librarian in the country.Genevieve Oswald: Ms. Oswald joined the public library in 1944 and founded its dance collection. She never stopped advocating for dance to be considered a legitimate field of study, despite being told to “go off and have babies” at one point.It’s Monday — turn the page.Metropolitan Diary: Frothy Dear Diary:I had a job at a cafe on the Upper East Side. When I was first hired, the owner taught me how to froth milk for the perfect latte using very cold milk and a small metal cup.One very busy morning I was making lattes by frothing the milk directly in the paper to-go cups. This was a huge faux pas, but also a great time saver.After the morning rush ended, I noticed that the small metal cap that screws onto the nozzle and directs the steam was missing.I checked the counter and the floor, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually, I realized that it must have fallen into a drink. My mind filled with an upsetting thought: What if someone swallows it and chokes?As closing time neared, I was moping behind the bar when a woman stepped one foot into the cafe, shook a to-go coffee cup like a maraca, pulled out the missing cap and placed it on a nearby counter.“Thought you might want this back,” she said.— Danielle MannoNew York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com.What would you like to see more (or less) of? Email us: nytoday@nytimes.coMonAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Andrew Cuomo Is Under Fire. Can He Be Defeated?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAs a Weakened Cuomo Looks to a 4th Term, Challengers See OpportunityThe growing uncertainty over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s political fortunes is a sharp turnaround from last year, when some supporters dreamed of a presidential bid. Potential challengers have noticed.Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration is facing a federal inquiry into its handling of nursing homes in the pandemic.Credit…Pool photo by Seth WenigFeb. 26, 2021Updated 12:25 p.m. ETAs Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo confronts one of the most seemingly perilous moments in his decade as governor, private conversations are beginning to unfold about what it would take to mount a viable challenge against him next year, and who might be best positioned to take him on.The New York City public advocate, Jumaane D. Williams, has had conversations with allies in recent weeks about the possibility of seeking higher office. Party insiders hang on every public utterance of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, searching for signs of her future ambitions.Progressive activists and operatives are trading a flurry of texts, calls and tweets, glued to each fresh controversy unfolding around the governor, and speculating about what the political landscape would look like if he ultimately does not seek a fourth term in 2022. He and his team have said that he intends to run.Those discussions are in their earliest stages, and in some cases are rooted more in hopes than current realities. But they illustrate a growing sense of uncertainty around Mr. Cuomo, marking a striking turnaround from last year, when some Democrats dreamed of putting him on the presidential ticket.“Everybody who has ever wanted to be governor has started to go, ‘Oh, what do I need to do if this thing opens up?’” Bill Hyers, a veteran Democratic strategist who managed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s successful 2013 campaign, said this week. “There’s a lined-up coalition who want to defeat him. If he takes two more steps backward, then his challenge will be credible.”Mr. Cuomo’s administration faces a federal inquiry and legislative backlash in Albany concerning its handling of nursing homes in the pandemic. A number of accusations of bullying behavior have surfaced from lawmakers and former staff members, pushing questions of his temperament into public view.On Wednesday, a former aide issued a detailed on-the-record accusation of sexual harassment, prompting some officials and New York City mayoral candidates to call for an investigation. His team denies the allegation.And this week, a Marist poll found that his approval rating had dipped below 50 percent, though other polls have shown him in a much stronger position with Democrats.The governor’s unsettled future burst into public view at a news conference on Wednesday, where Mr. de Blasio — who has a toxic relationship with Mr. Cuomo and major political challenges of his own — did not rule out a run for governor, in response to a question from The New York Times. A former de Blasio staffer recalled that several years ago, the mayor would mention the idea of challenging Mr. Cuomo as one eventual possibility (though the mayor has middling approval numbers in his own city and little demonstrated support outside it).On the Republican side, Representative Tom Reed, a co-chairman of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, has said that he is “seriously considering” a run, and party activists and officials have mentioned other possible contenders, including Representatives Elise Stefanik from the North Country and Lee Zeldin from Long Island. Their records of strong support for former President Donald J. Trump would be a major liability in a statewide race.Representative Tom Reed, a Republican co-chairman of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, has said he is “seriously considering” running for governor.Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesNational Republicans are aware of the challenges of running in heavily Democratic New York, barring significant weakening of Mr. Cuomo, but they are watching possibilities for that race closely, they say.Any serious threat to Mr. Cuomo would be more likely to emerge in a Democratic primary.“Any elected official that does not respond to the mandate of the people deserves a primary, myself included,” State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a sharp critic of Mr. Cuomo’s, said in an interview late last week. She said she did not believe Mr. Cuomo had responded to that mandate.“Right now, his leadership is not hitting the mark,” she said. “And I think that New York deserves the best leadership, and we don’t have any more time. We are out of time, with below-average leaders who refuse to have integrity.”Asked if she would consider running for governor herself, she replied, “No, not today.” As for next year, she insisted that “that is not even what I’m concerned with right now,” as she navigates the needs of her Bronx and Westchester district, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.Certainly, even Mr. Cuomo’s biggest detractors are cleareyed about just how difficult it would be to challenge the governor.He defeated his last two primary opponents by around 30 percentage points each. He is a ruthless campaigner with a huge war chest and a lengthy record of achievements, and he has significant strength in communities of color. Many New Yorkers harbor good will toward him for his efforts to reassure the state in the early months of the pandemic, and it is unclear how much the turbulence of recent weeks resonates with voters now, much less how it will play out next year. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is in his last year in office, would not rule out a run for governor in 2022.Credit…Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images“In the past there have been many challenges that started with perceived fanfare, that ended in a fizzle,” said Jefrey Pollock, Mr. Cuomo’s pollster. “The governor’s record as one of the most progressive governors in the country is the thing that’s going to carry him to re-election, to first a primary victory and then victory in the general.”Democratic strategists eager to challenge Mr. Cuomo have a particular focus on who could connect with Black voters, a constituency that has been vital to Mr. Cuomo’s success in the past.Ms. James, who released a major report about how the Cuomo administration undercounted nursing home resident deaths tied to Covid-19, is the first Black woman to hold statewide office. She has led a number of progressive charges in office, and she has generated significant discussion among liberal leaders and strategists.People who have known her over the years see her as politically risk-averse and are skeptical, at this point, that she would challenge Mr. Cuomo, who has been a key ally.But a number of strategists note that the position of attorney general has often been a launching point for governor — as it was for Mr. Cuomo — and believe she would be formidable if he was not running, or if there are drastic changes to his political fortunes. A spokeswoman for Ms. James declined to comment.“I do know that there are others who say that attorney general stands for ‘aspiring governor,’’’ Ms. James said in an interview with The New York Times DealBook/DC Policy Project this week, saying she did not view her role as a “political job.”“At this point in time, my focus, again, is representing the interests of the citizens of the great State of New York,” she said.Then there are a number of prominent progressive state legislators who have clashed with Mr. Cuomo for years, like Ms. Biaggi, who has been an especially visible critic of his handling of the nursing homes controversy.State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, one of the most outspoken Democratic critics of Mr. Cuomo, also would not rule out challenging the governor next year.Credit…Desiree Rios for The New York TimesState Senator Jessica Ramos, another Cuomo critic, is also mentioned in some circles as a potential contender. But in a phone call on Thursday, she alluded to the significant financial hurdles any challenger would face.“We definitely need a true progressive governor, and I would love to see working people in New York coalesce around one candidate,” she said. “The part I think is a very serious challenge is when it comes to fund-raising, when we’re trying to represent those who have nothing.”Some progressives are also discussing the future of Mr. Williams, the public advocate, who is running for re-election this year but has spoken with allies about the possibility of running for governor or lieutenant governor. Mr. Williams, who lost a 2018 bid for lieutenant governor by around 6.6 percentage points, has been thought to be more likely to pursue that post again if he runs for another office. The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader, said that he cornered Mr. Williams on the subject ahead of an event honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.Jumaane Williams is running for re-election this year as the New York City public advocate, but may consider a run for higher office in 2022.Credit…Mark Lennihan/Associated Press“In my office, getting ready to go out, I said to Jumaane, ‘You thinking of running for lieutenant governor again?’” Mr. Sharpton said. “He just smiled, didn’t deny, didn’t agree.”But allies have reached out to Mr. Williams in recent weeks about running for governor, too, according to a person familiar with the conversations.“The activists and folks like us would be very excited to see someone like Jumaane Williams run for governor,” said Jonathan Westin, who leads the progressive group New York Communities for Change. “If he ran, he could really give him a run for his money in a lot of Black and brown neighborhoods across New York.”Many strategists, officials and others looking at the race don’t expect the potential primary field to take shape for some months, and Mr. Cuomo’s many defenders across the party remain bullish on his chances.“Anybody is vulnerable, but anybody who primaries him does so at their peril,” said Keith L.T. Wright, the leader of the New York County Democrats.But as scrutiny over Mr. Cuomo’s behavior mounts, there remains the broader question of whether others in Albany may begin to turn on him — as they turned on ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer when he was in the midst of a scandal — or if ultimately many Democrats will close ranks.“In order for him to be vulnerable, you’ve got to come with the candidate,” Mr. Sharpton said. “There is a lot of bad press, but I don’t see the candidate.”Dana Rubinstein contributed reporting.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Gov. Phil Murphy Unveils N.J. Budget Plan With No New Taxes

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesRisk Near YouVaccine RolloutNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHow New Jersey Averted a Pandemic Financial CalamityA $44.8 billion spending plan unveiled Tuesday by Gov. Phil Murphy calls for no new taxes and fully funds the state pension program for the first time since 1996.Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey released a $44.8 billion budget on Tuesday that shows better-than-expected revenue projections.Credit…Pool photo by Anne-Marie CarusoFeb. 23, 2021Updated 3:07 p.m. ETIt has been five months since New Jersey officials issued warnings about a coronavirus-related financial calamity. The dire outlook contributed to lawmakers’ decisions to increase taxes on income over $1 million and to become one of the first states to borrow billions to cover operating costs.But the doomsday forecast has since brightened considerably, officials said, enabling the Democratic governor, Philip D. Murphy, to unveil a $44.8 billion spending plan on Tuesday that calls for no new taxes, few cuts and tackles head-on a chronic problem — the state’s underfunded pension program — for the first time in 25 years.The governor also said there would be no increase in New Jersey Transit fares.“The news is less bad,” the state’s treasurer, Elizabeth Maher Muoio, said. “I wouldn’t say it’s good, but it’s less bad.”The governor’s election-year financial blueprint relies on better-than-expected revenue from retail sales and high-earners, who have lost fewer jobs during the pandemic than low-income workers and are reaping the benefits of a prolonged Wall Street rally.The $38 billion that New Jersey and its residents have received in federal stimulus funding, a short-term extension of a corporate tax and a $504 million windfall from the so-called millionaire’s tax also helped, Ms. Muoio said.The release of New Jersey’s proposed 2022 fiscal year budget comes as Congress continues to debate President Biden’s $1.9 trillion virus relief package. The proposed package includes considerable funds for states and municipalities as well as grant and loan programs for small businesses.Other states have seen similarly strong signs of an economic rebound even as cases of the virus have spiked nationwide over the last several months and the nation’s death toll surpassed 500,000 on Monday.Earlier this month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that large sectors of the economy were adapting to the pandemic better than originally expected and that December’s economic aid package had helped.Mr. Murphy, who is running for re-election in November, said the spending plan was designed to not only enable the state to scrape through the pandemic, but to help it emerge stronger.“This is the time for us to lean into the policies that can fix our decades-old — or in some cases centuries-old — inequities,” the governor said Tuesday in a budget address, which he delivered virtually.A key pillar of the budget is a proposal to fully fund the state’s public sector pension obligations for the first time since 1996.The state has not set aside the full amount of its pension obligation for 25 years, leading $4 billion in extra debt to accrue over time, Ms. Muoio said. Under a deal brokered with the Legislature, Mr. Murphy had been on track to fully fund the state’s share by the 2023 fiscal year. But the spending plan released on Tuesday sets aside $6.4 billion for the pension system, accelerating full funding by a year.“New Jersey is done kicking problems down the road,” the governor said. “We are solving them.”Under the plan, the state’s surplus, which proved to be a vital resource during the first wave of the pandemic, would not grow, officials said, but would remain at about the same level it was at the end of 2020.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      The Virginia G.O.P. Voted on Its Future. The Losers Reject the Results.

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Virginia G.O.P. Voted on Its Future. The Losers Reject the Results.In a sign of the Trump era’s lingering alternate realities, Republicans in the struggling state party are refusing to move forward with a new system for choosing nominees.State Senator Amanda Chase, a Trump loyalist who has recently been required to sit in a plexiglass box during Senate sessions after refusing to wear a mask, is one of the top Republican candidates for governor in Virginia.Credit…Ryan M. Kelly/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETARLINGTON, Va. — The Republican Party of Virginia has voted four times since December to nominate its candidates for this year’s statewide races at a convention instead of in a primary election. But in a sign of the Trumpian times of denial and dispute in the G.O.P., nearly half of the party’s top officials are still trying to reverse the results.The refusal of these Republicans to admit that they have lost, or to agree on a set of nominating rules, has fractured a state party already in upheaval: Republicans haven’t won a statewide election since 2009, and they now find themselves with legislative minorities for the first time in a generation. Even the broken windows at the state party’s Richmond headquarters haven’t been fixed for months.Just a month after former President Donald J. Trump left office, Virginia’s drama is the first state-level boomerang of his legacy. State Republicans have internalized the lesson that there is no benefit to accepting results they don’t like, and the result is a paralyzed party unable to set the date, location and rules for how and when it will pick its 2021 nominees for statewide office, including the race for governor.The intraparty dispute has scrambled longstanding political alliances and left Virginia Republicans in the awkward position of defending stances that were once anathema to a party that has been redefined by the Trump era.“It’s very much about not accepting the results and trying to change the rules and game the election,” said former Representative Tom Davis, a moderate Republican who won seven terms in Congress from a Northern Virginia district. “The reality now is even when Republicans pull together, they have a hard time winning, and when they’re divided, they have no shot of winning.”The party’s decision on Dec. 5 to hold a May 1 convention rather than a June 8 primary was widely seen as an effort to stop Amanda Chase, a firebrand state senator who calls herself “Trump in heels,” from claiming the party’s nomination for governor.While Ms. Chase or other candidates could win the nomination with as little as 30 percent of the vote in a field with three other major candidates and several lesser contenders, a party convention would require a nominee to win support from at least 50 percent of delegates.Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who cannot serve consecutive terms, has prohibited most large gatherings in Virginia.Credit…Steve Helber/Associated PressBut with the coronavirus pandemic raging and Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who under Virginia law cannot serve consecutive terms, having for now prohibited most gatherings of more than 10 people, there was little chance Republicans could conduct an in-person convention of several thousand people. Changing the party’s rules to conduct a so-called unassembled convention at dozens of sites across Virginia requires approval of three-fourths of the State Central Committee’s members — a threshold so far impossible to meet because those holding out for a primary have refused to compromise.“The fact that there’s a minority faction who lost that are standing in the way of a safe convention to try to get the primary that they couldn’t win fairly — that says a lot about them,” said Patti Lyman, the Republican national committeewoman for Virginia. “All their arguments can be boiled down to: We lost, and we don’t like it.”Some proponents of a convention are arguing in favor of ranked-choice voting, a system that has been pushed elsewhere by progressives. Those making the case for a primary argue that it makes it easier for voters to participate. The dispute threatens to undercut Republicans’ already-uphill fight in this year’s elections and prolong Democratic control of the state.The party’s squabble centers on a crowded group of Republican contenders for governor that includes one candidate each from the G.O.P.’s Trump and establishment wings, along with two wealthy wild cards. The major candidates include Ms. Chase; Kirk Cox, a former State House speaker, who is the favorite of the party’s elected state legislators; Pete Snyder, a millionaire technology executive who lost a bid for the lieutenant governor nomination at a party convention in 2013; and Glenn Youngkin, an even wealthier former chief executive in private equity who is a newcomer to politics.In past intramural skirmishes, conservative Virginia Republicans have pushed for conventions to give a larger voice to the most hard-line party activists. In 2013, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II won the nomination for governor at a convention after his social conservative allies boxed out more moderate candidates who preferred a primary.But the current disagreement has more to do with derailing Ms. Chase and Mr. Youngkin, who threatened to blanket the state with tens of millions of dollars of television advertising ahead of any primary.Allies of Mr. Snyder have pushed for a convention by arguing that Mr. Youngkin would buy the election if it went to a primary.“I’m going to run hard and win the Republican nomination regardless of the method of nomination,” Mr. Snyder said. “It’s time for the Virginia G.O.P. to decide the rules.”There is little establishment support for Ms. Chase, who last month was censured by her State Senate colleagues and stripped of committee assignments after she called the rioters at the Capitol “patriots.” She has recently been required to sit in a plexiglass box after refusing to wear a mask during Senate sessions. Ms. Chase has called it her “square of freedom.”Mr. Cox, for his part, prefers a primary but has written two letters to State Central Committee members emphasizing his official neutrality in the primary-versus-convention debate.“They need to resolve it as quickly as possible,” Mr. Cox said. “We need to know the process. But I’ve been very adamant about not weighing in.”Kirk Cox, a former State House speaker, and Delegate Todd Gilbert at the State Capitol in Richmond, Va.Credit…Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch, via Associated PressVirginia Republicans face a Feb. 23 deadline to inform state elections officials whether they intend to hold a primary. The state G.O.P. chairman, Rich Anderson, warned in a Jan. 25 letter to committee members that an in-person convention would be impossible and that an unassembled convention could not proceed if supporters of a primary refused to budge from their no-convention stance.If neither side shifts, wrote Mr. Anderson, who through an aide declined an interview request, the party’s nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general will be chosen by the 72-member State Central Committee, “which will take on the perception of party bosses huddled in a smoke-filled back room.”The inability to organize a nominating contest has brought ridicule to a disorganized party aiming to win a statewide election for the first time in 12 years. John Fredericks, a radio talk show host who was the Virginia state chairman for Mr. Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, has organized bingo games to mock the party’s marathon Zoom meetings, which have each lasted four to eight hours.“To be four months away from the nomination and not have a process is terribly embarrassing and shows an unwillingness to compromise for the good of the party,” said former Gov. Bob McDonnell, the last Virginia Republican to win a statewide election. “Every passing day hurts whoever our eventual nominee is for myriad reasons.”Sixteen minutes after The New York Times emailed State Central Committee members asking questions about the Republicans’ internal nomination battle, the party’s general counsel, Chris Marston, who is also Mr. Snyder’s campaign compliance lawyer, emailed committee members asking them not to speak to reporters.Mr. Marston’s stated reason for avoiding media scrutiny is a lawsuit Ms. Chase filed in federal court challenging the party’s decision to hold a convention. But courts have long given political parties wide latitude to set and enforce their own rules for choosing nominees. Few outside Ms. Chase’s immediate circle of supporters believe her lawsuit, which has a hearing scheduled on Friday, will succeed.Ms. Chase, who was still arguing with less than a week left in Mr. Trump’s presidency that he could yet be inaugurated for a second term, said Thursday that she “doesn’t trust conventions,” which she said unfairly limit voting access for members of the military and others who can’t make it to an in-person site.“If we’re going to win as Republicans, we need to include more of the electorate who vote Republican instead of less,” she said. “Stop creating so many obstacles for people who would normally vote.”Ms. Chase this week won support for her primary push from Mr. Youngkin. During an interview with a Charlottesville radio station on Tuesday, Mr. Youngkin, whose supporters want a primary, said it was “not fair” that the party had created uncertainty for the candidates in its nominating process.“Boy, can I sympathize with Senator Chase on her frustration,” he said. “Here we are on February the 16th, we have an election in November, and we don’t even have a plan to select our candidate. I mean, this is absolutely amazing to me.”As Republicans across the country struggle with how much Mr. Trump should influence the direction of the party and whom it nominates for key races in 2022 and eventually for president in 2024, Virginia’s Republicans remain mired in their procedural fight.Those pushing for a primary say they won’t give up.Thomas Turner, a State Central Committee member who is chairman of the Young Republicans of Virginia, said he was hearing regularly from grass-roots Republicans who were dismayed with the decision to hold a convention and looking for him to keep trying to overturn it.“I am still wanting a primary because I do believe that is the best way to pick a candidate,” Mr. Turner said. “I will fight for that until the end.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More