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David Freedlander is a veteran New York City-based journalist. He writes long-form features about politics  and the arts, people and ideas, and has appeared in New York Magazine, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, ArtNews, The Daily Beast, Newsweek and a host of other publications.

david freedlander Journalist
Is This Bill de Blasio’s Finest Moment?
Dec 4

Dec 4 Is This Bill de Blasio’s Finest Moment?

David Freedlander
New York, Politics, NY Mag

Every time the news came, the mayor winced. First Washington, D.C., announced its schools would start the year closed, then Los Angeles and San Diego, then Chicago.

On Behalf of the Plutocrats Kathy Wylde’s winding path from community organizer to head of the Partnership for New York City.
Nov 25

Nov 25 On Behalf of the Plutocrats Kathy Wylde’s winding path from community organizer to head of the Partnership for New York City.

David Freedlander
Curbed, New York, Feature, Politics

On Behalf of the Plutocrats Kathy Wylde’s winding path from community organizer to head of the Partnership for New York City.

An Ex-Cop for Mayor? Eric Adams Wants to Find Out.
Nov 17

Nov 17 An Ex-Cop for Mayor? Eric Adams Wants to Find Out.

David Freedlander
New York, Politics, NY Mag

“I am not the Ivy League guy in this race, you know. I mean, I am CUNY,” Eric Adams says with a laugh on a late-morning F-train back to Borough Hall in Brooklyn after a rally for more mental-health beds at a Park Slope hospital.

No One Spikes These Stories
Nov 7

Nov 7 No One Spikes These Stories

David Freedlander
Arts, Publishing, Air Mail

How Substack became home to big-name journalists who felt “the Youngs” in newsrooms were putting wokeness ahead of important ideas

Will the Unrest in Philadelphia Affect How Pennsylvanians Vote?
Oct 30

Oct 30 Will the Unrest in Philadelphia Affect How Pennsylvanians Vote?

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag

Pennsylvania National Guard troops were dispatched to Philadelphia on Friday in an effort to quell unrest there after four days of protests in the wake of the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia on Monday.

How Democrat Max Rose Is Still Taking a Stand for His Trump Country Seat
Oct 25

Oct 25 How Democrat Max Rose Is Still Taking a Stand for His Trump Country Seat

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag, New York

We had just finished the interview and hung up the phone, when a few minutes later Max Rose called me back.

Baby Jessica McClure’s Mine Drama Returns, Right into Your Home
Oct 19

Oct 19 Baby Jessica McClure’s Mine Drama Returns, Right into Your Home

David Freedlander
Daily Beast, Theater, Arts

Phillip Santos Schaffer’s “Baby Jessica’s Well-Made Play” uses the mine-fall drama that transfixed America to examine connection and empathy, with the audience in a starring role.

How Biden and Trump Pollsters See the Politics of the Supreme Court Fight
Sep 25

Sep 25 How Biden and Trump Pollsters See the Politics of the Supreme Court Fight

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag

John Anzalone was having a rare evening off from the presidential race, going out to a socially distanced outdoor dinner with his wife and another couple near his home in Montgomery, Alabama.

Corey Johnson on Why He’s Dropping Out of the New York City Mayoral Race
Sep 24

Sep 24 Corey Johnson on Why He’s Dropping Out of the New York City Mayoral Race

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag, New York

When the pandemic was first bearing down on New York City, before schools were closed or other elected officials were sounding the alarm, Corey Johnson was on the phone every night…

Everybody Hates Bill
Jun 22

Jun 22 Everybody Hates Bill

David Freedlander
New York, Feature, NY Mag, Politics

Weeks into the George Floyd protests, Mayor de Blasio has alienated his constituents, the police, and even his own staff.

Does the King of the COVID-19 Contrarians Have a Case?
Apr 16

Apr 16 Does the King of the COVID-19 Contrarians Have a Case?

David Freedlander
Vanity Fair, Arts, Coronavirus

Alex Berenson, thriller writer, former Timesman, and marijuana alarmist, thinks scientists, politicians, and the media are fueling coronavirus hysteria.

'I Just Hope This Thing Ends Soon so I Can Go Back to Hating Andrew Cuomo Again.'
Apr 2

Apr 2 'I Just Hope This Thing Ends Soon so I Can Go Back to Hating Andrew Cuomo Again.'

David Freedlander
New York, Politico Magazine, Feature, Politics

People are dying, the governor is popular, everyone is inside—suddenly the city is all upside down.

When New York Needed Him Most, Bill de Blasio Had His Worst Week As Mayor
Mar 26

Mar 26 When New York Needed Him Most, Bill de Blasio Had His Worst Week As Mayor

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag, New York

“For the vast majority of New Yorkers, life is going on pretty normally right now,” Bill de Blasio said on Morning Joe March 10

“When a Bear Is Charging at You, If You Are Not Energized, You Are Dead.”
Mar 13

Mar 13 “When a Bear Is Charging at You, If You Are Not Energized, You Are Dead.”

David Freedlander
New York, Feature, NY Mag, Politics

There are certain things you are Very Much Not Supposed to Do at times like this, and Andrew Cuomo was doing them.

Bill Doesn’t Like Mike: Mayor de Blasio’s War on Bloomberg
Feb 28

Feb 28 Bill Doesn’t Like Mike: Mayor de Blasio’s War on Bloomberg

David Freedlander
Politics, NY Mag, New York

The bad blood was bubbling up from day one, or even before. It was there when Mike Bloomberg sat unsmiling on the dais in front of City Hall on the day when Bill de Blasio was sworn in.

An Unsettling New Theory: There Is No Swing Voter
Feb 6

Feb 6 An Unsettling New Theory: There Is No Swing Voter

David Freedlander
New York, Politico Magazine, Feature, Politics

Rachel Bitecofer’s radical new theory predicted the midterms spot-on. So who’s going to win 2020?

One Year in Washington
Jan 6

Jan 6 One Year in Washington

David Freedlander
New York, Feature, NY Mag, Politics

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reshaped her party’s agenda, resuscitated Bernie Sanders’s campaign, and hardly has a friend in town.

How Bloomberg Could Win. Again.
Dec 2

Dec 2 How Bloomberg Could Win. Again.

David Freedlander
Politico Magazine, Politics

He’s getting in late. He’s out of step with his party. The news media thinks he’s a joke. All of that was true when he first ran for mayor of New York City, too.

“They Saw the World in This Dog-Eat-Dog, Manichaean Way”: The Ugly ’90s Roots of Rudy’s Bond With Donald Trump
Nov 10

Nov 10 “They Saw the World in This Dog-Eat-Dog, Manichaean Way”: The Ugly ’90s Roots of Rudy’s Bond With Donald Trump

David Freedlander
New York, Feature, Vanity Fair, Politics

Trump saw Giuliani harness racism, say-anything recklessness (“bullshit!”), and a 24-hour news cycle to win two terms as mayor of New York City. Those lessons became his blueprint.

How Trump-Country Democrat Rep. Max Rose Got to Impeachment
Oct 11

Oct 11 How Trump-Country Democrat Rep. Max Rose Got to Impeachment

David Freedlander
New York, Feature, NY Mag, Politics

Because this is a story about Max Rose, it has to at some point find him at Jody’s Club Forest, a Staten Island bar he famously frequents.

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