The polls closed at 9pm Tuesday, and it took under five minutes. At 9.04pm cheers went up in the Brooklyn bar where Brad Lander was holding his victory party, The Guardian reported: he had beaten Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District Democratic primary.
The margin was not close. The BBC put it at 65.7% to 34.1% with most votes counted.
A sweep for the mayor’s slate
Lander was one of three candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, and all three won. Claire Valdez, an assemblywoman, defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the 7th district. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student who has joined pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, unseated Adriano Espaillat in the 13th. Espaillat had held the seat for five terms and chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Lander, a former city comptroller, was also endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. He has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Goldman, a two-term incumbent, was backed by pro-Israel groups and endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Both men are Jewish.
The Gaza war ran through the campaign. Lander told his supporters he would be “one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights,” and said “Democrats are painfully divided by our differences about the US relationship to Israel and Palestine, and we have to face up to it squarely.” Kate Dalton, who volunteered for him, said she backed Lander because “he’s taken a moral stand on Gaza, and that was really important to me.”
Victory night
“What a glorious time to be a New Yorker,” Lander said, then gave a nod to the New York Knicks. He credited the win to “the people who organize” in the streets. “It was my name on the ballot today, but tonight’s victory belongs to all of you.”
Mamdani introduced him, praising a “vision of politics that is more than what we’ve seen for so long.” The two ran against each other for mayor last year before agreeing to a cross-endorsement. Earlier on Tuesday the mayor had said: “It’s not just a question of electing more Democrats. It’s a question of electing better Democrats.” All three of his candidates have vowed to “abolish ICE” and “tax the rich.”
Goldman said he had called Lander to concede. “While this is not the outcome I worked so hard for, I respect their decision,” he said. President Trump later called him “weak and pathetic.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, asked about Mamdani, said they had “agreed to strongly disagree.” He added: “A handful of primaries that go in one direction or the other, in a given state or two, aren’t going to reshape who we are as House Democrats.”
Lander, Valdez and Avila Chevalier are all expected to win in November. Establishment Democrats have warned that left-wing candidates may not appeal to swing voters in the midterms.
Sources
- Clean sweep for Mamdani-backed candidates in New York's Democratic primary
- ‘Glorious time to be a New Yorker’ as Lander’s win highlights Mamdani effect
