Mamdani-backed primary wins expose Democratic rift before midterms
The New York mayor's allies beat establishment Democrats in House and state races, prompting sharp reactions from party leaders and Republicans.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed candidates swept several New York Democratic primaries Tuesday, giving the first-term mayor broader reach in Congress and Albany, the Associated Press reported. The results have sharpened a fight inside the party over whether a democratic socialist message can help Democrats win the November midterms.
According to AP, the 34-year-old New York City mayor backed three congressional candidates who defeated establishment favorites, including two incumbents. Five additional candidates he supported won state legislative races.
Mamdani said Wednesday that he wants to carry his political approach beyond New York, according to AP. He said working people are struggling nationwide and argued that putting them back at the center of Democratic politics would matter in November and after.
Party leaders split over the message
Senior Democrats moved quickly to limit the national meaning of the results, AP reported. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said efforts to make New York a national model would fail and said the city’s politics would be irrelevant by November.
Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas, a vice chair of the New Democrat Coalition, told AP that democratic socialists were not trying to win difficult general-election races or seats that Democrats need to flip. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also restated his opposition to Mamdani’s slate, while saying he and the mayor have a good working relationship.
Progressive Democrats read the same results differently. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania told AP the winners should be congratulated and welcomed into the party. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who campaigned with Mamdani and his allies, said voters in New York and elsewhere are tired of establishment politics.
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, identified by AP as a possible presidential contender, said Democrats would be foolish to ignore the results. He said voters were asking the party to be bolder in both policy and tactics.
Incumbents and favored successors lose
AP reported that former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman, a two-term incumbent and former lead lawyer in Democrats’ first impeachment of Donald Trump. Darializa Avila Chevalier, described by AP as a democratic socialist who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, beat Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Antonio Reynoso, the preferred successor of Rep. Nydia Velazquez, lost to Assembly Member Claire Valdez, another democratic socialist, according to AP. The Mamdani-backed congressional candidates supported abolishing ICE, accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and called for higher taxes on wealthy people, AP reported.
Lander told AP that voters are angry and want elected officials who show whom they are fighting for. He said voters want representatives focused on issues that affect working people’s lives.
Republicans see an opening
Republicans also seized on the New York results, AP reported, saying they would tie Democrats in competitive races to Mamdani and his allies. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio called the results a socialist uprising inside the Democratic Party and warned Republicans to respond.
Trump told reporters Democrats were moving to the “radical left” and called Mamdani’s choices “really communist,” according to AP. He also pointed to Goldman’s loss, saying Democrats had gone further left than the former impeachment lawyer.
Mamdani rejected concerns that his victories would damage Democratic chances in the fight for control of Congress, AP reported. He said Republicans would try to make his allies the face of the party and said they were prepared for that fight.
Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont told AP that Democrats must respect voters’ choices while finding a way to combine different views inside the party. He said the party’s challenge is to focus those views on helping people gain more economic security.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.