Mamdani’s endorsed challengers sweep primaries across New York

Mamdani-backed candidates – Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s backed congressional challengers won all three major New York City primaries, delivering a standout test win for his left-leaning movement and a clear jolt to establishment Democrats.

Primary night in New York felt like a referendum on power—who gets to decide what kind of Democrat wins next, and how hard the “establishment” has to fight when someone else picks the candidates.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani had been out on the trail with an unmistakable message at an “Our Team. Our Year” Get Out The Vote rally in Brooklyn on June 18. It was there he helped elevate the candidates he wanted in Congress. and by the time the votes were tallied. all three of his endorsed contenders had won their primaries. The sweep put his political movement’s muscle on display and dealt establishment Democrats a sharp setback as the left pushed candidates who were willing to challenge mainstream party lines.

The biggest upset came in New York’s 13th congressional district. There, Mamdani-backed candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier—an organizer who is a democratic socialist—narrowly defeated five-term incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat, 71. Chevalier’s win, called by The Associated Press, means she will represent Upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx.

Espaillat’s résumé came with heavy political weight. He was the first Dominican-American elected to Congress and chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He also entered the primary with a deep stack of endorsements from powerful elected Democrats. including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Yet despite the backing. Chevalier pulled out a tight victory. underscoring how decisively the mood can shift when a candidate’s coalition doesn’t match the campaign’s pitch.

The campaign itself framed a break with Democratic leaders. Mamdani had endorsed in three competitive House primary matchups in New York City. throwing support behind leftist candidates who were “unafraid to criticize Israel” and who pushed ambitious economic policies—positions that put them on collision course with the party establishment.

That tension played out elsewhere in the city too. In New York’s 10th congressional district, progressive challenger and former City Comptroller Brad Lander decisively unseated two-term Rep. Dan Goldman. Goldman had also been endorsed by Jeffries. The result was another blow to the preferred lane of establishment Democrats. especially in a year when the primary defeats were not subtle.

In New York’s 7th congressional district, the contest for a seat open because retiring progressive Rep. Nydia Velázquez was leaving office also reflected Mamdani’s clout. Mamdani threw his support behind state Rep. Claire Valdez. a democratic socialist. instead of Antonio Reynoso. who had the backing of Velázquez and the Working Families Party. The district heavily favors Democrats. leaving Valdez and the other Mamdani-backed winners widely expected to carry that momentum into the fall general elections.

Taken together. the sequence is hard to miss: Mamdani broke with Democratic leaders in three competitive primaries. and all three of the candidates he backed—Valdez. Lander. and Avila Chevalier—won their matchups. With three different paths to victory across Manhattan and the Bronx and into open-seat politics. the message landed not as a slogan. but as a result.

With New York’s districts heavily favoring Democrats, the bigger question now shifts to what these wins will mean once the general election matchups begin this fall—whether Mamdani’s movement simply proved it can win primaries, or whether it can translate that leverage into durable national power.

Zohran Mamdani New York primaries congressional primaries Darializa Avila Chevalier Adriano Espaillat Brad Lander Dan Goldman Claire Valdez Nydia Velázquez Hakeem Jeffries Working Families Party democratic socialist Israel policy