These fans don’t trust the process
Published:
Last night was another good primary night for the left wing of the Democratic party, with three House of Representatives candidates in New York City who had been endorsed by recently-elected mayor Zohran Mamdani all winning their races. In NY-7, State Assembly member Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso; in NY-10, community organizer Darializa Avila Chavlier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat; and in NY-13, former New York City comptroller and recent mayoral candidate Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman. These are all heavily Democratic districts, where both the challengers and incumbents would be likely to (or actually) have voting records well to the left of the median Democrat in Congress. While these insurgent candidates did run to their opponents’ left on some key issues – most prominently, Israel – these races are in many ways a referendum on the Democratic Party itself.