Mamdani-backed candidates win big in New York primary
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Three congressional candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, secured victories in their closely contested primaries on Tuesday, defeating incumbents or incumbent-backed candidates supported by the Democratic establishment.
Brad Lander, the former City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, defeated the two-term incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman in NY-10.
Political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier achieved a stunning upset by winning against five-term incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat in NY-13.
In NY-7, Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, the handpicked successor of Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress and a progressive icon in New York City politics.
This clean sweep for Mamdani highlights his growing influence and that of his rising progressive movement within the Democratic Party.
“The old politics that got us into this crisis is not the politics that’s going to get us out of this crisis,” Mamdani said at a watch party for Valdez.
Other notable primary results across the US
In Maryland, Adrian Boafo won the highly competitive primary to succeed Steny Hoyer, the longest-serving House Democrat and longtime leadership member retiring after his 23rd term. Boafo, a state delegate, defeated former US Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol on January 6, and businesswoman Quincy Bareebe.
April McClain Delaney successfully fended off her predecessor, former Democratic congressman David Trone, who sought to reclaim his seat in Maryland’s sixth district after an unsuccessful Senate bid two years ago.
Nancy Lacore, a three-star Navy rear-admiral dismissed last year by Pete Hegseth during the defense secretary’s purge of senior military officials, won the Democratic nomination in a runoff for a closely watched congressional race in South Carolina.
South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, secured the Republican nomination for governor, defeating Trump-backed lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.
In Utah, former congressman Ben McAdams, known as a political moderate, won the primary to compete in a newly drawn Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City.
Donald Trump’s upcoming engagements
Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Later that day, Trump will host the opening of The Great American State Fair, an event organized by Freedom 250, a group run by Trump supporters to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary. This event serves as a counter to America250, the nonpartisan organization established by Congress a decade ago to oversee the anniversary celebrations.
Additional New York primary results
Elsewhere in New York, Jack Schlossberg, grandson of John F. Kennedy, was unsuccessful in his effort to revive the political legacy of the US’s most renowned political family in a race dominated by longtime New York politician Micah Lasher.
Lasher won the primary in New York’s 12th district, defeating Kennedy, George Conway—a Republican turned vocal Trump critic—and others in a crowded Democratic field aiming to succeed long-serving representative Jerry Nadler.
Late Tuesday, Donald Trump celebrated Conway’s defeat on Truth Social while commenting on the “Communists running in badly failing Blue States.”
“America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!” Trump posted early Wednesday.
