Three congressional candidates backed by New York City's socialist mayor defeated establishment Democrats in Tuesday's primaries, a clean sweep that hands Zohran Mamdani an outsized role in shaping the party's future, and gives Republicans fresh ammunition heading into the midterms.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old community organizer and self-described democratic socialist, narrowly toppled 71-year-old Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York's 13th Congressional District. Espaillat, the first Dominican American elected to the U.S. House and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, had held the seat for a decade. Claire Valdez, a state Assembly member aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, crushed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso by more than 20 points in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez. And Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, defeated Rep. Dan Goldman to claim the nomination in the 10th District.
All three ran on Mamdani's endorsement. All three share a platform that includes abolishing ICE, condemning Israel, and cutting U.S. arms sales to the Jewish state. And all three won despite active opposition from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who campaigned against Mamdani's candidates and lost, according to Breitbart.
Mamdani, barely six months into his tenure at City Hall, appeared at Valdez's primary night celebration and framed the results in unmistakable terms.
"Let's hear it for a politics...that will never forget working people. For a politics that is ready to write a new chapter in our party's history, and for a politics that realizes the old politics that got us to this crisis, is not the politics that's going to get us out of this crisis."
The mayor had campaigned relentlessly for all three candidates. On June 18, he and Sen. Bernie Sanders rallied supporters at King's Theater in New York City, urging early voters to turn out for the challengers. The effort paid off in every race.
The New York Post reported that the victories mirror Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 upset and could add more DSA-aligned members to Congress. That comparison understates the scope. Ocasio-Cortez won a single primary. Mamdani delivered three in one night.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. A democratic socialist recently captured the Democratic mayoral nomination in Washington, D.C., following the same playbook, running hard left in a deep-blue jurisdiction where winning the primary is tantamount to winning office.
The victory speeches were not exercises in moderation. Chevalier, who had the backing of Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul's opposition, called her win a "clear mandate" and turned immediately to immigration enforcement.
"We have to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that we abolish ICE and keep our immigrant neighbors safe."
Chevalier's record extends beyond that night's rhetoric. Fox News reported that she had past, now-deleted social media posts calling Barack Obama "evil" and Joe Biden a "war criminal." She had also previously supported abolishing the police and eliminating prisons, though she has reportedly stepped back from some of those positions. Voters in the 13th District chose her anyway.
Valdez struck a similar tone, casting the results as proof that the far-left movement is durable and growing.
"Tonight, we haven't just won an election. We have declared that this movement is durable, that it is growing, and that it will not stop until working people are no longer asked to just build the table, no longer just offered a seat at the table, but will run the table."
Lander, who is Jewish, used his victory speech to address the Israel question head-on: "You can criticize Israel and not be antisemitic. You can be an anti-Zionist and not be antisemitic." Lander had run against Mamdani in last year's crowded Democratic mayoral primary, then became one of his biggest backers in the general election, a conversion that paid dividends Tuesday night.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that Mamdani made opposition to Israel a key litmus test for his endorsements, at one point calling AIPAC "monsters" using a quote from a Marxist philosopher: "Now is the time of monsters."
The results create immediate headaches for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries, both of whom represent New York. Jeffries actively opposed Mamdani's slate and came away empty-handed. The candidates he backed, or at minimum, the incumbents his leadership apparatus was expected to protect, lost across the board in the city's contested races.
Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a progressive frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, offered a blunt assessment: the night "shows we have a new party."
That assessment aligns with earlier reporting on Mamdani's decision to back socialist challengers against fellow Democrats, a move that drew sharp criticism from party leaders at the time. Those leaders now have the results to measure their warnings against.
The AP reported that crowds at Mamdani's victory event chanted "DSA", the initials of the Democratic Socialists of America, a scene that would have been unthinkable in mainstream Democratic politics a decade ago. Two of the three winning candidates are self-described democratic socialists. The third, Lander, ran as a progressive closely aligned with Mamdani's agenda.
The National Republican Congressional Committee wasted no time. NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella issued a statement framing Tuesday as a surrender.
"Tonight wasn't just a bad night for so-called 'Leader' Hakeem Jeffries. It was the night the Democrat establishment officially surrendered to Zohran Mamdani and the socialist wing of their party. Every House Democrat, in safe and competitive districts alike, will now answer to the radicals calling the shots. And Americans should be terrified by where the Democrat Party is headed."
The political logic is straightforward. In deep-blue New York City districts, these nominees will almost certainly win their general elections. But every vote they cast, every press conference they hold, and every bill they co-sponsor will become a data point that Republican campaigns can tie to vulnerable Democrats in swing districts nationwide.
National Review's Jeffrey Blehar put it this way: "The wages of Zohranism are finally being felt. Mayor Mamdani was swept into office last November on a wave of progressive enthusiasm, and he is now flexing his muscle with endorsements of a slate of candidates in city congressional districts."
President Trump responded overnight on social media: "America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!"
Tuesday's ballot extended well beyond the five boroughs. In South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial runoff, state Attorney General Alan Wilson defeated Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette by more than a two-to-one margin. The race featured an unusual dynamic: Trump had endorsed Evette late last month, a week and a half before the initial primary, where she finished atop a crowded field. But after no candidate won a majority and Wilson advanced to the runoff, Trump issued an 11th-hour endorsement of Wilson on Friday, effectively backing both finalists.
Wilson credited that late endorsement in his victory speech.
"I believe he recognized what we've been doing. I think he saw the fight in our campaign and the energy in our campaign. I think he likes a fight. I think that's what won him over."
Wilson also picked up endorsements from Sen. Ted Cruz a week before the runoff and from Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman after both failed to advance from the initial primary. He will now seek to succeed term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster.
In upstate New York, Trump-backed businessman and former boxer Anthony Constantino won the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Elise Stefanik, defeating retired Marine Corps colonel and state Assemblyman Robert Smullen, who had the backing of the state party.
Other notable results included Micah Lasher, a former Nadler staffer, winning the race to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler in Manhattan. In New York's swing 17th Congressional District, Army veteran Cait Conley won the Democratic primary and will challenge GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in what is expected to be one of a handful of contests that determine whether Republicans hold their slim House majority.
In Utah's newly redrawn and blue-leaning 1st Congressional District, former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams defeated progressive rivals to win the Democratic primary, a rare case Tuesday of a moderate prevailing over the left flank. The broader reshaping of the Democratic Party by progressive forces, however, continues to define the party's trajectory far more than isolated moderate victories.
What happened Tuesday in New York was not a fluke. It was the product of a deliberate strategy by a mayor who has been in office for six months and already functions as a kingmaker within his party. Mamdani endorsed candidates, campaigned for them personally, brought in Bernie Sanders to rally voters, and watched all three deliver decisive wins against the party establishment.
The Democratic Party's leadership now faces a choice it has been avoiding. Schumer and Jeffries can accommodate the socialist wing and risk alienating swing-district voters, or they can fight it and risk more primary losses. Internal revolts are already flaring in other states, and Tuesday's results will only embolden insurgents who see Mamdani's model as a blueprint.
The candidates who won on Tuesday want to abolish ICE, cut ties with Israel, and expand government control over the economy. They said so plainly, on the record, on primary night. No one should pretend to be surprised when they govern that way.
When a party's voters keep choosing socialists over their own incumbents, the party isn't being hijacked. It's telling you what it is.
