Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a risk by backing left-wing allies in NY's congressional primaries. It paid off

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Jun 24, 2026

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NEW YORK — After throwing himself into a high-risk test of his political power, Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged from primary day triumphant as all three of the candidates he backed posted impressive victories in New York congressional primaries.

Claire Valdez resoundingly defeated Antonio Reynoso by a whopping 26 points in the 7th District. Darializa Avila Chevalier edged out Adriano Espaillat by a margin of about 2,000 votes in a shocking win over the incumbent in NY-13. And Brad Lander trounced incumbent Dan Goldman, collecting almost double the votes of his opponent, in NY-10. The results were unofficial.

Mamdani — just months after his own decisive general election win — played a high-profile role in the races as he pushed for more left-wing allies taking on Democratic establishment stalwarts.

“This is your victory,” the mayor told the crowd at Valdez’s victory celebration in Bushwick. “… A year ago it was not the end of a political movement — it was the beginning.”

“It’s time for working people to be back at the heart of our politics. These are the champions who will do it.”

The wins cement Mamdani’s status as a powerful kingmaker amid the democratic socialist movement’s growing footprint in New York City politics. The mayor was highly involved in the races, campaigning alongside the candidates, rallying with them and running advertisements with them.

“We haven’t just won an election,” Valdez said in her victory speech. “We’ve declared that this movement is durable, that it is growing, and that it will not stop until working people are no longer asked to just build the table — no longer are offered a seat at the table, but will run the table.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the mayor criss-crossed the city sporting a Knicks-style T-shirt emblazoned with the three preferred congressional candidates. He accompanied Avila Chevalier to her East Harlem poll site at around 7:30 a.m., greeted voters in Ridgewood and Clinton Hill with Valdez later that morning and rallied on the Lower East Side with Lander around 11:30 a.m.

“I think what we see in these candidacies is a referendum on whether the kind of leadership we have is the one that is serving the people of the city,” Mamdani said at the stop with Lander. “As Brad often says, it’s not just a question of electing more Democrats, it’s a question of electing better Democrats.”

This level of involvement surpassed that of previous mayors. Eric Adams, Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg generally weighed in on other races both less frequently and with less visibility.

“Tim Walz put it best, which is that political capital is something that you build, so that it’s something that you spend,” Mamdani said of the risks while out campaigning on Sunday, paraphrasing the Minnesota governor.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has promised to grow the movement while in office. Valdez and Avila Chevalier are also members of DSA, while Lander is not. The former city comptroller, however, ran to the left of incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman, attacking him for his support of the state of Israel.

While Mamdani secured his mayoral victory last November with a record number of votes, the rate of turnout Tuesday hovered at about half of that of last year. Drizzling rain and less public interest in the races could have played a factor.

About 420,000 people voted by 6 p.m., per the Board of Elections.

That meant that each vote was all the more meaningful to the candidates. During the stop in Clinton Hill, a woman named Debbie approached the mayor, flanked by Valdez. She was confused about which district she fell into and the candidates that appeared on her ballot. Mamdani hunkered over his phone, took down her address to determine if she was in the right spot and ushered her back into the poll site so she could vote.

“I know for many New Yorkers, they’re too busy trying to make ends meet in the nation’s most expensive city to think about voting in advance of election day,” Mamdani said.

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