Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named Rafael Espinal—who once helped kill off New York’s infamous Cabaret Law—as Commissioner of the city’s $150 billion media and entertainment sector. The former Bushwick councilman and Freelancers Union president returns …
Claire Valdez, newly launched in her quest to succeed retiring Representative Nydia Velázquez in New York’s 7th Congressional District, landed a showy blessing from both Mayor Zohran Mamdani and United Auto Workers boss Shawn Fain—an omen, perhaps, for her hopes of welding socialists and unions into a single voting bloc. Whether her pro-labor, Medicare-for-All pitch will sway larger unions—and not just familiar comrades—remains something of a union organizing drive itself.
