Mamdani-backed insurgents sweep New York primaries, toppling incumbents and shaking Democratic establishment
Three candidates supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani won Democratic congressional primaries on Tuesday, defeating two longtime incumbents and signaling a leftward shift in the party.
The insurgent candidates
Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, crushed incumbent Dan Goldman with about 66 percent of the vote in the 10th congressional district. Socialist activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, a political newcomer, ousted 10‑year congressman Adriano Espaillat in the 13th district, while Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso in the 7th.
The victory tonight belongs to all of you. It’s time for the Democratic Party to move away from dark money, crypto‑funded PACs, Wall Street, artificial intelligence, and AIPAC. People understand that.
Israel and Gaza take center stage
All three winners ran on ending U.S. support for Israel, tapping a shift in public opinion even in New York. Lander attacked Goldman’s pro‑Israel record and AIPAC funding. Avila Chevalier, a 32‑year‑old Dominican‑born Muslim, had been a leading voice at pro‑Palestinian protests after the October 7 Hamas attack and later at Columbia University. Her campaign launched with a video question:
Why should we let Adriano Espaillat vote to spend billions on bombs abroad when we in New York struggle to pay our rent and food?
Espaillat, co‑chair of the Hispanic‑Jewish parliamentary group, had called the October 7 massacre “brutal” and said Israel had every right to defend itself. Avila Chevalier also drew fire for old social‑media posts that attacked the Democratic Party and the United States itself, and she backed policies such as abolishing police, prisons and borders.
A new kingmaker
Mamdani, 34 and the city’s first Muslim mayor, threw his energized organization into the races, calling the elections a referendum on the party’s direction. At a Brooklyn victory party, supporters chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “DSA.” The mayor told the crowd:
A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement. It was the beginning.
Political consultant Jon Paul Lupo called the outcome “seismic.” When votes are certified, Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America will double the number of socialists in Congress from two to four. Down‑ballot DSA‑backed candidates also unseated four incumbent state legislators.
Broader leftward wave
Tuesday’s sweep followed a series of progressive primary victories: Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania two weeks earlier, left‑wing wins across Los Angeles, and a sweep in the District of Columbia. Commentators describe a Democratic base radicalized by the second Trump administration, more willing to break with moderate incumbents. The message, as local media report, is that primary voters reward candidates who address pocketbook issues and reject establishment ties to Israel and corporate donors.
