Hardliners Sweep Dem Congressional Primaries in NYC; Mamdani-backed Lawmakers Win Big
Democratic Socialists scored a stunning election-night breakthrough Tuesday, winning at least two New York congressional primaries and putting a third Mamdani-backed insurgent in position to complete a far-left sweep of the city’s Democratic House contests.
Josh Jones, the chief political strategist of The Todd Starnes Radio Show, predicted it would be a good night for the radical leftists. Watch:
Brad Lander, the former city comptroller backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, defeated two-term Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District. In the 7th District, state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, won the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez.
The victories represent a major win for Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor who has spent the cycle trying to export his movement from City Hall to Capitol Hill. They also mark a dramatic leftward lurch by New York Democrats, who rejected establishment figures and abandoned any remaining pretense that the party’s center of gravity is centrist.
Mamdani celebrated Valdez as a movement candidate, saying, “Claire Valdez stood with me on day one because she understands how change is won.” Lander framed his campaign as an assault on donor-class Democrats, saying, “My real beef with [Goldman] is that he’s not taking on the wealthy special interests and billionaires that have brought Trump in the first place.”
All eyes then turned to New York’s 13th District, where DSA-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier was trying to topple Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Chevalier, who campaigned on abolishing ICE and a sweeping socialist platform, told the Associated Press, “I think folks are really tired of politics that seems more beholden to donors.”
Republicans quickly cast the results as proof Democrats have surrendered the middle. On Fox News, Stephen Miller warned, “Look, the Democratic Party has two groups now. Radical extremists and cowards.” He added, “They have become that extreme and that dangerous.”
President Trump, campaigning in Pennsylvania, was even blunter. “Now if you look in New York, we have all communists running,” Trump said. “They’re all excited. They’re going to win their primaries.”
Sen. Ted Cruz said the socialist surge shows where Democratic energy now lives: “That’s where the money is. They’ve been radicalized.”