In a victory for sanity, Charles Barron lost in the primary for New York’s Eighth Congressional District to Hakeem Jeffries by a whopping 72 to 28 percent margin. However, Barron declared that his defeat was actually a victory: “This is something bigger than politics. It’s a movement of the people. And we proved that tonight.” Barron insisted that he was “the best candidate,” and that he was beaten by a conspiracy:
They had the media. They called us names — the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the white media — because we were endorsed by the Amsterdam News and Black Star. We had the Wall Street corporate elite, the Democratic establishment, and the media all against us. But we put the state and nation on notice.
Charles Barron’s loss is a clear rejection of the old, bitter racial politics of New York City, and that is cause for celebration.