by Amie Parnes - 08/21/25

In the end, Democratic strategist Anthony Coley said, the numbers amount to trust with voters and “a larger problem with the Democratic brand.”

“Voters have run away from the party for a variety of reasons but trust — or the lack of it — tops the list,” Coley said. “Too many voters just don’t trust the Democratic Party to deliver on issues they care about.”

by Amie Parnes - 08/18/25

“In interviews with The Hill, some Democrats have expressed frustration with their party’s emphasis on decreasing crime rates instead of focusing on the way voters feel walking the streets of their city.

“These crime statistics, as impressive as they are, are no substitute for how people feel and what they see, and Washington residents still feel like crime is too high and too pervasive, and … that reality has created this opening for Donald Trump,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley, who resides in the nation’s capital.

“Now that is no excuse for this political stunt he is trying to do, but from a raw political perspective, you never want to give your political opponent an opening to address a real concern that your constituents have.”

by Glenn Thrush - 08/16/25

Many in Washington, particularly in communities of color otherwise hostile to the president, remain anxious about public safety.

“A lot of people on the ground still feel that crime is out of control,” said Anthony Coley, who served as a spokesman for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “That has created an opening for this president to pull off a raw political stunt.”

by Raquel 'Rocky’ Harris - 08/13/25

MSNBC contributor, Anthony Coley, jumped in to compare Trump’s mission to his attempt to censor the severity of the Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol. He also added that ultimately, in order to improve one’s history, you must learn from past mistakes.

“The American story is both glorious and painful — it has warts. You don’t lift up and highlight the glorious parts and bury the warts,” Coley explained. “You tell the full American story in all of its truth. What this guy is doing is trying to turn the Smithsonian into a propaganda machine. He is trying to rewrite history, just like he did on Jan. 6. If you think really about what he tried to do with pardoning all of these, the criminal defendants, the people who were serving jail even for abusing and killing police officers, he’s trying to rewrite the narrative — of both — his narrative and American history….This is dangerous. It’s chilling, and I think every American who supports honest truth telling and fact telling should be concerned about this.”

by Alexander Hall - 07/22/25

“A lot of things can be true here,” Coley, who is now an NBC News contributor, said. “So he was 81 years old, and he did take two trips back and forth from Europe. I give him that. That’s not why he lost the race, though.”

“You can have the best message in the world, you can have the best policy agenda in the world, but at the end of the day, if you don’t have a trusted messenger, somebody that voters think can go the distance, somebody who has stamina, then you’re gonna lose,” he continued. “And that’s what happened on the presidential level in 2024.”

by Amie Parnes - 07/01/25

The remaining months of the mayoral race will also be instrumental for Mamdani and his support from key Democratic players, strategists say.

“I’m looking to see what the business community does next,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley. “Do they rally around a third-party candidate? Do they meet with Mamdani and explain, in stark terms, that his proposals are pie in the sky and that folks he’s targeting with these draconian tax increases will just leave New York altogether?”

“Mamdani’s many promises rely on tax increases on the finance and real estate sectors, among others,” Coley added. “He’ll be up the proverbial creek if these types of businesses and family offices, and other high-income individuals, further accelerate their exodus from the city to lower-taxed locales like Florida.”