“I’m done.” That was James Carville’s verdict on the Democratic Party after three New York House primaries went to candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
The results came on Tuesday. Former city comptroller Brad Lander beat Rep. Dan Goldman for the nomination in the 10th district. Union organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th. In the 7th, state Rep. Claire Valdez beat Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. All three districts are solidly Democratic, so the Mamdani-backed winners are expected to win.
Carville, the Democratic strategist, reacted the next day on the Politicon podcast. He singled out Avila Chevalier, who was born to Dominican immigrants, and noted that she once said white people should not be in interracial marriages.
“Lady, I ain’t in the same party as you,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m just not.”
A call for a split
Carville said it was time for Democrats to use what he called “the ‘s’ word: schism.” For years, he said, people have told him the party is a coalition and a big tent. “And there’s just some sh*t I can’t be in the same tent with.”
He insisted that, primary wins or not, “these people are not Democrats.” His suggestion was that establishment Democrats “negotiate the terms of a schism” with the democratic socialists in the party.
Then he went further. “But I’m done,” he said. “I’m not in that f*cking political party.”
Israel was part of his objection. Carville said he is comfortable in a party that questions the policies of the Israeli government, and enthusiastic about it. What he will not accept, he said, is a party that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist. “I just can’t do that.”
Mediaite first reported his comments.
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