New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of democratic socialist candidates toppled three incumbent House Democrats in Tuesday’s congressional primaries, drawing warnings from party members about the direction of the Democratic Party heading into November’s midterm elections.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and a five-term incumbent, was defeated by Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community activist who previously helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Rep. Dan Goldman, a two-term incumbent, lost to former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. State Assembly Member Claire Valdez, another Mamdani-backed candidate, defeated the handpicked successor of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez.
All three of Mamdani’s candidates have pledged to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, described Israel’s military operations in Gaza as genocide, and called for broad tax increases.
“A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement. It was the beginning,” Mamdani told supporters at a victory party in Brooklyn Tuesday night, as the crowd chanted, “DSA! DSA!”
Lander vowed in his own victory speech to abolish ICE and called Israel’s operations in Gaza “genocide.” He also referred to “Trump’s fascism.” Lander was acquitted earlier this month on charges stemming from a protest inside a building housing an immigration court.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) responded with sharp criticism, telling Fox News the wins represented a “dirtbag left” takeover of the party.
“These are just good, traditional kinds of Democrats you would expect in New York City now,” Fetterman said. “And now this has just become the dancing days of the dirtbag left. Some of these candidates are outrageous. You have candidates, they’re ‘abolish ICE,’ ‘abolish the police,’ ‘abolish the border.'”
Fetterman also accused Mamdani of “grieving a Hamas sniper,” a reference to an Al Jazeera cameraman the Israeli Defense Forces identified as a Hamas militant killed in a recent IDF strike in Gaza.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who campaigned against Mamdani’s candidates, sought to minimize the results.
“We have agreed to strongly disagree,” Jeffries said of Mamdani. “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 questioned whether Fetterman still belongs in the party.
“I’m not sure if Fetterman is in our party anymore, to be honest,” Lander told CNN.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) called for party unity without directly condemning the results. “If you want to heal a country, you can’t be picking fights,” Booker said. “Our party is not homogeneous.”
