Zohran Mamdani has taken his first steps towards bringing back the national Democratic Party.
New York City’s mayor took on his state’s Democratic establishment in three key congressional elections Tuesday — and in all three, he won.
Brad Lander, a former city administrator who he made an alliance and Mamdani when they were both running for mayor, they unseated two-term representative Dan Goldman in a landslide victory.
Claire Valdez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America serving her first term in the state legislature, won an open primary for the seat against the party’s preferred choice, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
The most surprising thing was the victory of Darializa Avila Chevalier, a member of the DSA who argues that deportation is a crime and supports the abolition of prisons, over the fifth-term member of Congress, Rep. Adriano Espaillat. If he now wins the general election, as expected, he could become the most left-wing member of Congress.
Mamdani had featured all three winning candidates in his spectacular “basketball ad,” aired during the New York Knicks’ championship run — naming all three as part of his “team.” The results were a testament to his political power and sway in the city — and showed once again that DSA can now take on and defeat the city’s traditional Democratic machines.
The results were also a startling demonstration of a new reality in the Democratic primaries: that record overwhelming support for Israel – which Goldman and Espaillat he was – it could be bad politically.
All three of these districts are Democratic, so Lander, Valdez, and Avila Chevalier are all close to winning their primary elections and heading to Washington next year. If that happens, Mamdani will have helped appoint three new members of the House of Representatives, giving the mayor and his movement a growing edge in New York and Washington politics.
NY-13: Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat
We will hear a lot about Darializa Avila Chevalier.
DSA activist and organizer pursuing a doctorate in sociology, Avila Chevalier he said to my colleague Astead Herndon last week that he believes “all transfers are wrong.” And he is so against being locked up that he hesitates not even speak the killers should be arrested.
However, he defeated the fifth-term member of Congress, and defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat by a single-digit margin in this district that includes parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, including Harlem.
Espaillat, now 71, was undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic as a child. After serving 20 years in the state legislature, he was elected to Congress in 2016, winning in a tight primary that divided Harlem’s Hispanic and Black institutions. He is currently the chairman of the Congress of Puerto Rico.
But his record of support for Israel helped motivate Avila Chevalier’s challenge. He was a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause who he helped organize protest of Israel’s war in Gaza on the campus of Columbia University. He too they attended the controversial pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square that took place the day after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
Espaillat and his supporters tried to paint Avila Chevalier as a mediator – a “transplant” who does not follow long-term residents. But the merits of long-established establishments are not as numerous as they once were.
NY-10: Brad Lander defeats Rep. Daniel Goldman
Lander stands apart from the three Mamdani-endorsed candidates in a few ways.
He was not supported by DSA. And he’s no political stranger from nowhere: He’s been a city council member and city controller, and he became well-known and well-liked in this district of lower Manhattan and west Brooklyn.
That representative, Representative Goldman, has held the seat for two terms. Before that, he had gained fame as an engineer senior advisor for the House Democrats to impeach President Trump for the first time, in 2019 and 2020. Then, in 2022, he won in a crowded primary for this House seat with a majority of votes.
But Goldman’s strong support for Israel became a political liability when the war in Gaza threatened much of the Democratic base. Goldman too refused to approve Mamdani during the mayoral election last year.
Lander – who, like Goldman, is Jewish – chose a different path. He condemned Israel’s action in Gaza as “genocide.” And when Lander and Mamdani were both running for mayor, “cross-validated” each, campaigning hard against the incumbent, Andrew Cuomo.
When he it didn’t end with role in the Mamdani administration, Lander set his sights on challenging Goldman instead, believing him to be out of step with his base. That assessment turned out to be correct – he beat Goldman by about 30 points.
NY-7: Claire Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso
Claire Valdez is an activist and DSA organizer who won a seat in the New York state legislature in 2024. She is also a friend of Mamdani and was very early assistant of his mayoral campaign.
So when Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D) decided to retire after serving 34 years in Congress — and hoped to choose her successor — Mamdani rejected her proposed candidates, and instead endorsed Valdez for the Brooklyn and Queens seat.
Velázquez supported Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, who had outstanding progressive credentials. His pro-union record earned him the support of the New York Working Families Party (a progressive party that gives its endorsement to some Democratic candidates) and American Federation of Teachers.
But in the end, that didn’t matter much — Valdez beat Reynoso by what was, as of Tuesday night, nearly a 20-point margin.
Israel was an issue in this race as well, albeit in a smaller way: Both candidates criticized Israel for committing “genocide,” but Valdez. he argued that Reynoso did not do so early enough.
In the end, however, it was Mamdani’s endorsement that propelled Valdez — a previously unknown figure — past the choice of the district’s longtime Congressman and much of his progressive establishment.
