2 far-left anti-Israel candidates win NYC primaries in stunning sweep for Mamdani

NEW YORK — Two anti-Israel candidates backed by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, Claire Valdez and Darializa Chevalier, won their Democratic Party congressional primaries in New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning sweep for candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

In addition to Valdez and Chevalier, Mamdani had endorsed Brad Lander, a Jewish leftist and Israel critic who also won his primary race.

Mamdani campaigned heavily for the three candidates, who all made anti-Israel rhetoric a prominent focus of their campaigns.

Their wins indicated that Mamdani’s upset win in last year’s mayoral race was not a one-off and will likely extend the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) movement’s reach in Congress.

The three candidates are the presumed winners of the November general election in their Democratic districts.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition

by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn Borough president, by a wide margin of around 56 percent to 36%, in New York’s 7th Congressional District in parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

Both Valdez and Reynoso are progressives, but Valdez leaned more into anti-Israel discourse during the campaign and benefited from Mamdani’s star power.

Valdez attacked Reynoso for not accusing Israel of genocide early enough and falsely suggested Reynoso had received funding from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

Chevalier’s win was the most clear-cut example of the DSA’s insurgent rise in the Democratic Party.

Valdez won the primary for a seat that will be vacated and had legislative experience in the New York State Assembly, but Chevalier lacked political experience and upset the centrist incumbent Adriano Espaillat.

Chevalier, 32, is a doctoral student and a longtime anti-Israel activist at Columbia University. Espaillat is a moderate and the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus with deep ties to the district.

Chevalier led Espaillat 49% to 46%, with most votes counted, in New York’s 13th Congressional District, in upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

The anti-Zionist Chevalier won the race despite her history of extremist rhetoric against the US, Israel and Democratic Party leaders. The district is also more working class and racially mixed than the DSA strongholds in western Queens and Brooklyn.

Chevalier attended a rally celebrating the October 7, 2023, terrorist onslaught in Israel the day after the attack, has posted online that “Israel doesn’t exist” and has backed Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

She has also called for abolishing police, prisons and borders. In an interview last week with the New York Editorial Board, she refused to say whether murderers should be incarcerated.

Asked in the interview if she had engaged with any pro-Israel constituents, she named the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace.

The progressive group Broadway Democrats said that, during a meeting, Chevalier had “point-blank refused” to condemn Hamas and the October 7 attack, and had instead turned “the question into yet another attack on Israel.”

She repeatedly attacked Espaillat for his past support for Israel during the campaign, despite Espaillat calling the war in Gaza “horrific” and accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes.

She will likely be one of the most far-left candidates ever elected to Congress.

The wins show that Mamdani’s rise was not a product of his political abilities alone, but part of a larger movement in New York City and Democratic Party politics.

The results also showed that the DSA’s antagonism toward Israel, a central part of its platform, can be a winning strategy in the city, home to the world’s largest Diaspora Jewish population.

There are currently only two DSA members in Congress — New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib — meaning the wins from Valdez and Chevalier will likely double the far-left movement’s Congressional representation.

At a victory party for Valdez, Mamdani took the stage to chants of “DSA” from the crowd.

“This is your victory,” he said. “A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement — it was the beginning.”

Pro-Israel candidates pick up wins

Also in New York City on Tuesday, the pro-Israel incumbents Ritchie Torres and Grace Meng were declared the winners of their House primaries.

Torres, in New York’s 15th Congressional District in the Bronx, trounced his leftist opponent Michael Blake.

With 88% of the vote counted, Torres had 72%, compared to Blake’s 22%.

Meng, in New York’s 6th Congressional District in Queens, led Chuck Park 57% to 43%, with 84% of votes counted.

Outside New York City, the pro-Israel House representatives George Latimer, in Westchester County, and Tom Suozzi, on Long Island, won their primaries.

Latimer ran unopposed while Suozzi had 80% with nearly all votes counted.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a moderate, defeated Drew Warshaw, who had campaigned on a pledge to divest from Israel.