Democrats will win when they stop outsourcing ed policy to teachers unions

In a recent private email exchange about Zohran Mamdani’s (D) New York City mayoral candidacy, a top aide to AFT President Randi Weingarten drew parallels to what happened when teachers union-backed Brandon Johnson was elected mayor of Chicago. Since his victory, Johnson's approval rating has since plunged to the 20s.

“Winning an election," he aide warned, "does not necessarily translate into the ability to govern.”

That email diagnoses a core problem ailing today’s Democratic Party: It caves to special interests now and asks questions later.  

I type these words with sadness because I barely recognize the party that nominated Bill Clinton for president in 1992, when I worked on his campaign then worked in his White House as a young staffer.   

Not long ago, American mayors were leading the way to a future rooted in abundance, not scarcity. 

Independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (currently running for California governor) both embraced parent power, high quality charter schools, and outside-the-box solutions for children over lobbyists' demands.

I once served as deputy mayor for a now extinct species called a liberal Republican. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan challenged the interests of his own party when common sense clashed with Republican dogma. Riordan also battled teachers unions on behalf of the children of his city.

These three mayors each belonged to a different party, but they all could just as easily have been members of the Round Earth Party — a party that solves problems for people living on Planet Earth, not some imagined ideological playground populated with straw men and cartoon caricatures.

As Mamdani has begun translating his TikTok videos into policy positions, they are sounding a lot less populist and a lot more like something ripped from a generic teachers union playbook. I struggle to see the populism in opposing parent power, opposing school choice and holding back gifted students in the name of “equity.”

Here’s a lesson plan for my party: Presidents Clinton and Obama won in part because they had the courage to challenge party orthodoxy on behalf of the American people. Kamala Harris — along with every other nominee since Walter Mondale who lost in the general election — ran effectively as an avatar of party interests and outsourced education policymaking to teachers unions.

One thing I ardently agree with Weingarten about is the existential importance of winning back the White House in 2028. The Democratic Party is the last remaining bulwark between us and outright authoritarianism.

That is why the choice for Democrats must not be between ideological extremism and the status quo, both of which leave public school parents — including parents in swing states who will elect the next president — on the outside looking in when it comes to the educational destiny of their children.

The good news is that Democrats have a strong bench of kids-first reformers who are 2028 contenders, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (D), and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D).

The winning path for Democrats is a third-way reform lane that embraces Mamdani’s harsh critique of the status quo. Because he’s right that the system is rigged and the establishment is complicit, but — newsflash — he misses that teachers unions are part of that establishment.

Instead of offering solutions based on teachers union talking points, Democrats need to offer solutions that solve problems for parents and children — regardless of special interest politics. To begin, they’ve got to end the untenable hypocrisy of supporting choice and freedom for everything, except schools. And it’s long past time for Democrats to translate “high quality public schools” from a soundbite into a civil right for every child in America.  

Democrats became the party of public education because they had the courage to fight for it. For the sake of our democracy, that courage is needed again today — to challenge the establishment, stand with parents, and demonstrate that governing is about results, not hashtags. 

Ben Austin is a former staffer for Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign and founding director of Education Civil Rights Now.