WATCH: Pelosi, Omar dodge questions on socialist primary wins in New York

Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) avoided answering questions about the growing influence of the socialist movement after three candidates supported by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani prevailed in the primaries.

Mamdani’s political clout was on display Tuesday night after three House candidates she supported — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander and Claire Valdez — won the Democratic primary in New York, outpacing more moderate Democrats.

Pelosi, herself a moderate Democrat, declined to answer Fox News Digital’s question about her reaction to these socialist candidates emerging victorious.

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The 20-term California congressman has never formally endorsed Mamdani, but he has endorsed a socialist candidate in 2024: California’s 5th District incumbent Dean Preston.

He also said in a 2019 interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes that he would “reject socialism as an economic system and as a full picture of the Democratic Party.”

“If people have that view, that’s their view,” Pelosi said in the interview. “That’s not the view of the Democratic Party.”

Omar, a member of the Progressive Squad, also ignored questions about the New York primary results, including whether the three socialist candidates would complicate the agendas of House Democrats and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries if they are elected to Congress.

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Representative Ilhan Omar speaks at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis on January 28, 2026. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Although Omar has never officially identified as a socialist, she has supported many policies related to socialism and is also supported by the Democratic Socialists of America.

While Pelosi and Omar walked away without responding, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., welcomed the arriving lawmakers.

“I think the Democrats in New York have chosen three new Democrats to join our caucus, and I look forward to them joining,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.

When asked about the three candidates’ criticisms of Israel, Johnson argued that the candidates were against the Israeli government rather than Israel.

“They weren’t anti-Israel. They were against the Israeli government,” Johnson said. “The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has done a great disservice to the nation and people of Israel.”

Lander, who is also Jewish, said in his victory speech: “You can criticize Israel, but you cannot be antisemitic. You can be anti-Zionist, but you cannot be antisemitic.”

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST GROUP SUPPORTING MAMDANI CONDEMNS THE ceasefire in Gaza, CALL FOR MORE RESISTANCE AGAINST ISRAEL

Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander speaks at an election eve rally in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on June 22, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The three leading winners criticized Israel’s military action in Gaza, making the issue a defining point of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

Johnson then noted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship with President Donald Trump and condemned both their roles in starting the war with Iran.

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“People there will have the opportunity to correct the mistake they made,” Johnson said. “Just as the American people have the opportunity to correct the mistake we made in electing Donald Trump, who was unfortunately led to war by Benjamin Netanyahu.”

He continued: “People don’t like this war, and they don’t like the policy of the Israeli government that brought us into this war.”