“She knows we’re coming for her.” Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, said it of Gov. Kathy Hochul, and he said it to the New York Times, days after his organization’s candidates beat establishment Democrats in Tuesday’s party primaries.
The New York Post reported on June 25, 2026 that three candidates won their races in districts covering parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx: Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, both DSA candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the progressive Brad Lander. Supporters packed Valdez’s watch party on June 23.
On a DSA call Wednesday night, Osman Chaudhary, co-chair of the chapter’s Electoral Working Group, claimed victory in sweeping terms. “We have a democratic socialist mandate in New York City,” he said. A clip of the call, shared on social media by Stu Smith of the conservative Manhattan Institute, also caught him warning would-be challengers: “Don’t even try it. We control these areas, we won by massive margins.”
The tax fight
Hochul, a moderate, endorsed Mamdani last year and has since backed his push for universal childcare and sent billions of dollars toward the city’s budget shortfall. She has refused, though, to support higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, a demand from Mamdani and the DSA during this year’s state budget talks. Crowds of DSA supporters have chanted “tax the rich” at her at public events.
A DSA representative told the Post that taxing the rich was “a top priority of our slate.” Gordillo told the Times that if Hochul wins re-election in November, she should expect the push to resume, with added pressure from DSA allies in Washington. “I think we have to show New York what it means to have three democratic socialists in the congressional delegation,” he said.
The primary was also a measure of Hochul’s own pull. All but two of the candidates she endorsed lost to DSA-backed opponents. One Democratic insider told the Post, “Everyone is furious.” Campaign consultant Evan Roth Smith put it more bluntly on primary night: “The lesson tonight is that it’s Zohran Mamdani’s party and we are just voting in it.” He predicted more challenges for the Assembly, state Senate and City Council.
Jeffries in the frame
Some on the left are now looking at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. City Councilman Chi Ossé had prepared a challenge, then dropped it after pushback from Mamdani and a narrow loss in the contest for DSA backing. Gordillo posted on X as results came in Tuesday: “Chi would have won.” Corbin Trent, a former staffer on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 campaign against Rep. Joe Crowley, said Jeffries “has a target on his back in 2028.”
State Republican Chairman Ed Cox called the DSA “the Democratic Party in New York” and said Hochul, Chuck Schumer and Jeffries were too weak to stop it.
Asked about taxes on Wednesday, Mamdani said his priorities had not changed. He also credited Hochul for her help on childcare, calling the 2-K program possible only because of “the partnership we have with Gov. Hochul.”
Hochul’s campaign declined to comment on Gordillo’s warning and pointed the Post to state Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs. He said New York Democrats were united and ready to win in November. Hochul and Mamdani appeared at several city events Thursday and took no questions from reporters.
