Three congressional candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won Democratic primaries on Tuesday. The sweep, in a night when voters also cast ballots in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina, gave the Democratic socialist mayor a clear win for his first big political gamble.
Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, comfortably beat Representative Dan Goldman. Claire Valdez, a state lawmaker and former union organizer, defeated Antonio Reynoso in the 7th District, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Reynoso had the backing of the retiring Representative Nydia Velazquez. In the 13th District, covering Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated Representative Adriano Espaillat, a five-term incumbent who chairs the congressional Hispanic caucus.
“What a glorious time to be a New Yorker,” Lander said at his election night party in Brooklyn, where Mamdani joined him. Mamdani then went to Valdez’s watch party. “The old politics that got us into this crisis is not the politics that’s going to get us out of this crisis,” he told the crowd.
The races ran on specific fights. Lander and Goldman split sharply over Israel policy. Avila Chevalier campaigned for reform of police, prisons and federal immigration enforcement. Mamdani had endorsed the candidates earlier in the year, and all three are now all but certain to win in November.
Schlossberg falls short in the 12th
In the race to succeed Representative Jerry Nadler, Jack Schlossberg, 33, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, lost. Micah Lasher, a longtime New York politician who calls himself a “nerd”, won the 12th District primary. The field also included George Conway and Alex Bores, whose campaign became the center of what observers called an “AI civil war.” Lasher is the heavy favorite in November.
President Donald Trump posted about the results late Tuesday. “Weak and pathetic Congressman Dan Goldman just lost, BIG!” he wrote, adding that people “didn’t like him illegally targeting President TRUMP.” Goldman served as lead counsel to House Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment.
Swing districts
Moderates held their ground where the House majority will be fought over. On Long Island, Representatives Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen beat back primary challenges. In the Hudson Valley’s 17th District, Cait Conley, a former White House counter-terrorism official and Army combat veteran, won a competitive primary to face Republican Mike Lawler. The district is one of three in the country that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 but elected a Republican to Congress. “No one is coming to save us,” Conley said. “We are the cavalry.”
On the Republican side, Anthony Constantino, whom Trump endorsed, won the 21st District primary over state assemblyman Robert Smullen, who had local party backing. The seat belonged to Elise Stefanik.
Elsewhere, Adrian Boafo won the Maryland primary to succeed the retiring Steny Hoyer. Alan Wilson won South Carolina’s Republican runoff for governor, and former congressman Ben McAdams won a Democratic primary in Salt Lake City.
Sources
- Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City
- A leftward lurch? What to know about the Democratic primaries in New York
