Winners and losers emerge after socialist earthquake rocks NYC primaries

NEW YORK CITY - New York City’s primary night produced clear political winners and losers as Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of socialist candidates swept establishment-backed Democrats.

Mamdani, sworn into office in January of this year, flexed his political might in the city after three congressional candidates that he endorsed in the primary, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, were all victorious on Tuesday night, and are expected to cruise to victory against their Republican opponents in November.

All three candidates ran on platforms broadly aligned with Mamdani’s socialist economic agenda, anti-Israel posture and opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while facing candidates backed by the establishment wing of the party.

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"I think it was an incredible night," Mamdani said about the results before pointing to his own primary victory that shook the political landscape last June. "It is an incredible night and I think New Yorkers have shown that last June was not the end, it was the beginning."

Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who has served in the House of Representatives since 2017, was defeated by Mamdani-backed socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier on Tuesday night in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District. 

Avila Chevalier, who has called America a "f------ disgrace", supported the abolition of prisons and borders, and said Israel "doesn’t exist," was victorious despite a variety of controversies, most recently after claiming that criminal illegal immigrants should not be deported regardless of their crime.

Another established Democrat in Congress, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., was handily defeated by Mamdani-backed Lander after having served in Congress since 2022.

Goldman, one of the most recognizable anti-Trump Democrats in Congress, and who was once viewed as a rising star in the party, lost his race to Lander. It was a race that became increasingly focused on Israel as Lander attacked Goldman for voting for U.S. military aid to Israel and slammed him for refusing to call the war in Gaza a genocide.

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Meanwhile, Goldman defended his support for Israel’s existence as a Jewish state and argued that voters in the district were more focused on domestic issues.

"As history has taught us: Antisemitic tropes and stereotypes, some of which I heard personally on this campaign, will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don’t lean in and speak out, even if it’s not politically expedient," Goldman said in his concession speech, a day after a Brooklyn coffee shop banned him over his pro-Israel views.

At least a dozen candidates across the state endorsed by NYC-DSA across the state of New York were victorious on Tuesday night, signaling the embrace of Mamdani’s socialist policies and the reach of his influence in the party.

Avila Chevalier and Valdez were both endorsed by DSA, a group that promotes defunding the police, abolishing ICE, abolishing prisons, government-controlled housing and healthcare and accusing Israel of genocide. 

In October, Fox News Digital reported that DSA was primed to play a significant role in the Mamdani administration and last summer,  DSA members discussed in a panel how they were closely collaborating with Mamdani and positioning the organization to "seize state power."

Perhaps the most common response on social media to Tuesday night’s results was that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are in trouble going forward if they want to keep power.

"The Democrat party has officially become the party of Zohran, AOC, & Bernie," Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, posted on X on Tuesday night.

"No, I think the future of the Democratic Party is going to fall, as far as we’re concerned, relative to the House Democratic Caucus and members who are doing great work all across the country," Jeffries said in November as Mamdani was set to become the next mayor of New York City. 

Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe posted on X, "Hardest hit in tonight’s NY primaries: Chuck Schumer. I’d be shocked if he seeks re-election in 2028."

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’s and Schumer’s office for comment. 

"You’re next," socialist supporters at Valdez’s election night party were seen shouting at the television to Jeffries on Tuesday night. 

Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, argued that the outcomes reflected broader ideological and demographic shifts within New York City, warning that the city had become a "post-American city" and predicting similar changes nationwide.

"The radicalism of these soon-to-be Congressmen is going to be a headache for Democrat leadership in the House and a gift to the GOP," Carl wrote.  

"The future of the Democrat party is radical and post-American in it's (sic) orientation.  Since all of these candidates are in the world's media capital, they are going to get tons of attention," Carl continued. "That isn't going to play well for the Dems in 2026 and 2028."

Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.