NY primaries show anti-establishment anger as Mamdani’s picks win

NEW YORK CITY – Three candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani swept to victory in Democratic congressional primaries on June 23, a sign that the coalition which powered the New York City mayor to a surprising victory in 2025 is gaining strength. 

Some of the city’s most established political figures were toppled in races that highlighted divisions within the party over ideology, Israel and immigration.

Former New York City comptroller Brad Lander defeated two-term Representative Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th congressional district, while New York state lawmaker Claire Valdez won in the 7th district in Queens and Brooklyn. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organiser and graduate student, defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary in New York’s 13th congressional district.

The June 23 congressional primaries were viewed as a test of the political strength of Mamdani, who has been in office less than a year but is already trying to reshape New York’s Democratic power structures.

In stepping in to key races to back candidates who shared his views, he strained ties with other longstanding Democratic leaders.

It was a gamble that appears to have paid off. The mayor’s victories on June 23 seem certain to further unsettle his opponents, including wealthy residents of the city who have recoiled at his tax policies and some Jewish voters who have been angered by his outspoken criticism of Israel.

“We live in Zohran Mamdani’s New York now,” said Evan Roth Smith, a founder of political consulting firm Slingshot Strategies. “For all the insider drama, the determined opposition, the millions of dollars that have gone to thwarting him and his political movement, the voters really like Mayor Mamdani.”

The victories for Valdez and Avila Chevalier were the latest gains for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who have drawn increasing political power from voter discontent about rising rents, costly childcare and stagnant wages.

The DSA has two members in Congress – Queens Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib – but is trying to expand its political power at the local and national level.

At a watch party hosted by Avila Chevalier, people were chanting “DSA” over and over as she inched ahead of Espaillat.

Republicans quickly signalled that they plan to nationalise some of the positions taken by Mamdani’s winning allies, in a bid to tie Democrats in swing districts across the US to some of the more controversial policies espoused by the ascendant Democratic socialists.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said June 23 marked “the night the Democrat establishment officially surrendered to Zohran Mamdani and the socialist wing of their party”, adding that “every House Democrat, in safe and competitive districts alike, will now answer to the radicals calling the shots”.

When Mamdani prevailed in the mayor’s race in 2025, he was carried to power on the back of a surge in voter participation in primaries, especially among younger voters.

After signs of tepid turnout in early voting on June 23, some progressives wondered whether there were limits to any Mamdani coattail effect – but those concerns turned out to be unfounded.

Beyond the marquee congressional primaries, Mamdani also racked up wins in state legislative races, with five other candidates he had endorsed winning their respective campaigns, including Aber Kawas, Eli Northrup, Illapa Sairitupac, Samantha Kattan and Brian Romero.

Seven of eight state legislative candidates endorsed by DSA were winning their races late on June 23.

Valdez, who is all but certain to win her deep-blue district in November’s general election, will be taking over a progressive stronghold that had been represented by Nydia Velazquez since 2013.

Velazquez, who endorsed borough president Antonio Reynoso, said she thought it was “too soon” for Mamdani to break with the Democratic coalition that had helped propel him to power.

A former union organiser and first-term state assembly member, Valdez pledged to strengthen unions, pursue a federal jobs guarantee and advance a Green New Deal-style agenda. She has also emphasised immigrant rights and support for Palestinians.

“Claire is a real testament, not just to progressive politics, but what it looks like to build the kind of organising infrastructure over the course of years to have stable wins,” said Katie Sims, 27, a field director for the Sunrise Movement who attended a Valdez victory party in Brooklyn on June 23.

Democratic division over Israel played a major role in the New York races. Valdez raised questions about whether a new super political action committee (PAC) supporting Reynoso had ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The American Federation of Teachers later said it backed the new super PAC and would not collaborate with AIPAC. 

Avila Chevalier took aim at Espaillat’s support from AIPAC.

Immigrant detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also became an issue during the campaign.

Avila Chevalier criticised Espaillat for not fighting to protect pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained by ICE in 2025.

Lander was arrested at Federal Plaza while protesting to demand access to detention cells.

The race in the district where Lander prevailed, which includes the city’s financial centre and affluent neighbourhoods just across the East River, was an at-times bitter contest in the heart of Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn that centred on the candidates’ attitudes towards Israel and their progressive bona fides. 

“Democrats are painfully divided by our differences about the US relationship to Israel and Palestine, and we have to face up to it squarely,” Lander said during his victory speech. “Our party needs to admit that Joe Biden’s ‘hug Bibi’ strategy was a catastrophic mistake. I believe it made us complicit in genocide.”

Mamdani, who appeared at a victory celebration with Lander shortly after the race was called, had endorsed Lander early in the race. 

Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, has held the seat since 2022, when he beat a large field in an open contest after the district’s boundaries were redrawn.

Before running for Congress, Goldman helped lead the 2018 impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. He has one of the most liberal voting records in Congress. 

Separately, in a race where Mamdani had not made an endorsement, State Assembly member Micah Lasher was projected to win the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th congressional district, defeating a crowded field to succeed retiring Representative Jerrold Nadler.

Lasher, 44, had won 39 per cent of the vote with more than 95 per cent of ballots counted late on June 23, according to Decision Desk HQ.

A one-time aide to Michael Bloomberg who has been endorsed by the former mayor and owner of Bloomberg, Lasher’s competitors included assemblymember Alex Bores, Kennedy family scion Jack Schlossberg and attorney George Conway. BLOOMBERG