Zohran Mamdani Is the Democrats’ New Kingmaker
Unlike more cautious elected Dems, the socialist mayor of New York City is spending his political capital – and can’t seem to stop winning. Democratic voters are behind him.
Several months ago, with primary elections coming up, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America decided to make them a test of strength. Mamdani endorsed three candidates for Congress, and both he and NYC-DSA worked overtime campaigning and fundraising for them.
The election was Tuesday, and the result was a clean sweep for Mamdani’s candidates. His friend Brad Lander easily defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th district, while Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso for an open seat in the 7th district. In a shocking upset, former Mamdani campaign volunteer Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a five-term incumbent and the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the 13th district.
Mamdani and his DSA allies are proving to be something of local kingmakers – and fairly cutthroat ones too. Espaillat endorsed Mamdani for the general election in the mayor’s race, while Nydia Velázquez – the 7th district’s retiring incumbent, who supported Reynoso – endorsed Mamdani for the primary.
For Mamdani, playing nice with establishment Democrats is evidently not as important as building up his political power base and putting allies into key positions.