Democratic socialists are mounting challenges to Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat in these competitive primaries.
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A slew of competitive Democratic primaries in New York on Tuesday are putting the spotlight on Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) in a test for his political brand and the democratic socialist movement that powered his rise.
Mamdani has put his weight behind three candidates in closely watched House races in New York City, including two who are challenging incumbents and another battling against the handpicked successor of a retiring congresswoman.
Together, the races — spanning pockets of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx — could foretell broader trends within the Democratic Party‘s base.
And they will show how the aging working-class voters who elected one generation of progressive leaders may contend with the young, growing and even further left movement now challenging those officials on issues such as Israel policy and their ties to wealthy donors or machine politics.
Here’s what to watch in Tuesday’s elections.
As the Democratic Socialists of America looks to expand its ranks in Congress, two races in New York City are exposing ideological and generational tensions between that insurgent left movement and the organizations that once represented the beating heart of the city’s left.
In uptown Manhattan and the Bronx, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is facing his most competitive challenge in his decade in office from Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student and community organizer who worked on Mamdani’s campaign and has said Espaillat has failed to deliver for his mostly working-class constituents.
Espaillat, the first formerly undocumented person elected to Congress and a powerful figure in uptown politics, has received a rush of outside spending in his behalf as he dismisses Avila Chevalier as an out-of-touch transplant to the area.
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In a battle with some similar dynamics, the retiring Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D) has backed Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president and longtime progressive, for what’s increasingly known as the city’s “Commie corridor.” But he is battling against State Assembly member Claire Valdez (D), who has painted herself as a better match for the district’s increasingly leftward tendencies even though the two candidates are almost identically aligned ideologically.
Both districts have undergone steady demographic change over the past several years, and politicos will be eyeing how each candidate performs among the more college-educated, Whiter and younger voters that overwhelmingly supported Mamdani — as well as the labor unions and Black and Latino areas that once powered the city’s left.
Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller and former candidate for mayor, has not formally received a DSA endorsement. Yet he is also backed by Mamdani, and his race against Rep. Dan Goldman (D) may feature some of the same dynamics in a downtown Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn district. The race has largely highlighted their differences on U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza.
The most closely watched primary outside New York City features three Democrats angling to challenge Rep. Michael Lawler (R) in a Hudson Valley district considered one of the party’s top targets because its voters narrowly went for Kamala Harris in 2024.
Both Democrats and Republicans once anticipated a barnburner of a primary, but neither party has a contested primary for governor this year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who was at one point being challenged by her former lieutenant governor, is unopposed; so is Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R). In a state where Republicans have not won statewide in more than two decades, Hochul is expected to have the upper hand as she seeks a second full term.
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