Mamdani-backed socialists oust establishment Democrats in NYC primaries

Ahead of this week’s closely watched Democratic Party congressional primaries in New York, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani emphasized that the party “needs to change.”

On Tuesday, the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor of the nation’s most populous city took a big step toward that goal by backing three far-left congressional candidates he supports and campaigning tirelessly to defeat more mainstream Democrats, including two incumbents.

Victories by Mamdani-backed candidates ensure that the number of pro-Democratic Socialists of America candidates will at least double in the next Congress, giving more ammunition to Republicans who continue to portray all Democrats as far-left radicals.

Progressive champion Sen. of Vermont. A decade after Bernie Sanders came close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination, and eight years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burst onto the national stage by toppling then-House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a shocking primary defeat, the far left appears even more emboldened as it takes on the center-left establishment in a high-stakes battle for the future of the party.

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Narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat, 32-year-old Mamdani-backed community organizer and democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, 71, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the first Dominican American elected to the U.S. House, called her victory a “clear mandate.”

Mamdani-backed state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, who won her primary in New York’s 7th District on Tuesday, emphasized in her victory speech: “We didn’t just win an election. We declared that this movement is durable, it’s growing, and it won’t stop as long as working people are no longer just being asked to set the table, they’re not being offered a seat at the table, they’re running the table.”

In the race to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Valdez edged the congresswoman’s handpicked candidate, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, by more than 20 points.

Mamdani, whose status as a kingmaker has been significantly boosted by his primary victories, said in a statement Wednesday that he sees “these results as a reflection of the fact that New Yorkers are hungry for a new kind of politics.” Looking at the national stage, the mayor added: “My goal is to make America a place where every American can afford

And perhaps looking at the national scene, the mayor added: “My goal is to make America affordable to every American.”

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at the pre-visit party for NYC Congressional candidate Claire Valdez at 99 Scott Studio in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on June 23, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Rep. Ro Khanna of California, one of the most visible national progressive leaders and one of the Democratic 2028 presidential hopefuls, said the results in New York City “show that we have a new party.”

“New York’s clean sweep was a political earthquake that showed voters want warriors who will shake up the system that is not owned by corporate interests, billionaires, or corrupt Trump allies like AIPAC,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told Fox News Digital, referring to the powerful pro-Israel lobby group.

The results will give the top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Representative Hakeem Jeffries, major headaches in their own backyard in New York.

Schumer, 75, who is certain to face a primary challenge from the left if he seeks re-election in 2028, repeatedly pointed to Republican President Donald Trump when asked about victories by far-left candidates.

“We have a great united party and we will stop Trump,” Schumer told reporters.

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Experts view Tuesday’s preliminary results in New York as a setback for longtime Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer in his own backyard. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Jeffries is also likely to be targeted from the left.

As the cable news interview with Jeffries played on big screens Tuesday night, the crowd at the Valdez victory party chanted “you’re next.”

“I will continue to stand behind every Democratic incumbent and, of course, continue to focus on what we really need to do for this country, which is take back control of the House of Representatives,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday.

Matt Bennett, one of the leaders of the leading center-left Democratic organization Third Way, acknowledged that “there is tremendous energy around the far left in very, very blue places like New York City” and that “they have been successful in their mission to drive incumbents or mainstream Democrats out of blue seats and make them bluer.”

But outside of New York City’s so-called “Communist corridor,” which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens where voters have consistently backed far-left and socialist candidates in recent years, more mainstream Democrats prevailed in Tuesday’s primaries.

In the high-profile showdown in Manhattan to force retiring longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, former Nadler staffer Micah Lasher came out on top.

Miles north of New York City, in the state’s pivotal 17th Congressional District, Army veteran Cait Conley won the primary and will challenge GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in a key midterm, one of a handful that will determine whether Republicans retain their slim majority in the House.

Democratic congressional candidate and Army veteran Cait Conley (left) will challenge Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the midterm elections in New York’s swing 17th Congressional District. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

In Utah, former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams defeated progressive rivals to win the primary in the newly drawn, blue-leaning 1st Congressional District. And in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., in the race to succeed longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer, Hoyer-endorsed Adrian Boafo has come out on top in a crowded and diverse Democratic primary.

Bennett said the high-profile New York City races “are not representative districts, and under Trump the far left has failed to flip a single seat in Congress from red to blue, the House or the Senate.”

“They are not doing anything to contain Trump or take back power,” he argued. “And they actually make it harder because they give Republicans very powerful ammunition to use against Democrats in swing districts, much like the GOP used ‘defund the police’ so effectively in 2020.”

Since Mamdani won the shocking Democratic mayoral primary a year ago, Republicans have used him as a cudgel to keep their House majority in this year’s midterm elections.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella argued that “Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as it gets.”

Pointing to Tuesday’s results, Marinella said, “This was the night the Democratic establishment officially surrendered to Zohran Mamdani and the socialist wing of his party. Every House Democrat in safe, competitive districts will now answer to the radicals who call the shots. And Americans should be horrified where the Democratic Party is heading.”

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Mamdani says bring this.

“We’ve heard over and over again from Republicans that they’re going to try to make these candidates the face of the Democratic Party. I tell them we’re ready for that,” the mayor said Wednesday. he said.

Tuesday’s primaries were just one episode in the ongoing struggle between the far left and the establishment. More battles lie ahead, including congressional primaries in blue-leaning Colorado next Tuesday, high-profile Democratic Senate primaries in Michigan, a gubernatorial showdown in Wisconsin in early August, and the Los Angeles mayoral general election in the fall.

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And the fight will continue after the midterm elections and the race for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination will officially begin.

“For Democrats to win nationally, they need candidates who span the political spectrum. The party has always had a big tent. But the old battle lines between progressive and moderate now matter less than insider versus outsider,” Democratic strategist Chris Moyer told Fox News.

Moyer, a veteran of many Democratic presidential campaigns, said: “More than anything else, the question of authenticity is decisive today. Too many politicians are full of bullshit, and voters have never been better at spotting fraud.”