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Dem socialists win big in NYC, but can their message play outside the five boroughs?
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Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jun 24, 2026
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By
Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jun 24, 2026
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This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.
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It was a bad night to be part of New York City’s political establishment.
Two incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives were ousted. The Democratic Socialists of America saw great success increasing its presence in the state Legislature, winning open seats and picking off lawmakers who worked their way up through party systems.
Here are some lessons from last night’s primary elections:
The DSA is beating the Democratic establishment in more places
Darializa Avila Chevalier bested Rep. Adriano Espaillat in Upper Manhattan and Assemblymember Claire Valdez beat Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who had the backing of retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez. Both victories overcame candidates backed by more traditional political players.
“For the political class in this city, it’s going to be a huge awakening,” said Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the New York City DSA. “There’s actually a hunger for our agenda, for our ideology among ordinary people and the working class.”
The DSA last year helped propel its newest superstar, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, into City Hall. But Tuesday’s elections showed the party’s relative strength has spread from Western Queens and North Brooklyn into parts of Central Brooklyn where DSA candidates have previously fallen short, according to Evan Stavisky, a political consultant and founding partner of the Parkside Group.
“The critical mass of support hadn't been there for them,” he said.
That’s now changed. DSA-backed candidates beat incumbent state Assemblymembers Erik Dilan and Stefani Zimmerman in Brooklyn as well as Jennifer Rajkumar in Queens. Aber Kawas, a DSA member, won the primary to succeed state Sen. Mike Gianaris in Northwestern Queens. Socialists also won races for open seats in the outer boroughs.
One of the clearest matchups against institutional party structures took place in the 7th Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens, which was represented by Velázquez. Labor unions, the Working Families Party and Attorney General Letitia James backed Reynoso.
Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer said those advantages were flipped in an election where voters were looking for change.
“People want to move away from the status quo and move away from the past,” she said. “Velázquez fervently endorsing Reynoso essentially makes him the incumbent and part of the old guard.”
But the progressive power outside of urban areas is limited
Political consultant Bradley Honan said the results were more a Democratic reaction to Trump than an embrace of the DSA. Younger and well-educated voters are energized, he said, and the DSA has done the best job convincing them it is the best way to push back on the Trump agenda.
“ Status quo politics in Albany and Washington is not working for this affordability crisis, particularly if you think about a younger cohort of voters,” he said. “It is exacerbated in urban areas, and certainly in gentrifying-type areas. And that is more likely to be a large municipality than it is a rural part of the state or exurban area.”
The results were different when looking beyond urban areas. In the only statewide primary, Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli won easily against two challengers running on his left.
In the lower Hudson Valley, around 80% of the vote went to moderate candidates Cait Conley and Beth Davidson, with Conley winning with 49% of the vote. (The DSA didn’t endorse candidates in either race.)
Conley will face Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in what is expected to be an incredibly competitive general election race. GOP officials on Tuesday immediately began to attack moderate Democrats by highlighting the socialist wins.
“The DSA isn't just a faction within the Democratic Party anymore — it IS the Democratic Party in New York, and Kathy Hochul, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are too weak to stop them and too afraid to condemn them,” NYGOP Chair Ed Cox stated.
Jeffries, a Brooklynite who leads the House Democratic conference, downplayed the results on Wednesday. He backed Espaillat as well as U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who lost a primary to former city Comptroller Brad Lander.
“There are 215 members of the House Democratic Caucus,” Jeffries said. “A handful of primaries that go in one direction or the other in a given state or two aren’t going to reshape who we are as House Democrats.”
Trump’s endorsement reigns supreme
Greer says that there are no blue states, not even New York. Just red states with big blue cities. In those red areas, Trump’s blessing was political gold for Republicans.
In the upstate 21st District, GOP voters picked first-time candidate Anthony Constantino over Assemblymember Robert Smullen. Trump backed Constantino, while Smullen had the support of state and local leaders to represent the 15-county district that stretches from the Mohawk Valley to the Canadian border.
On Long Island, former Assemblymember Mike LiPetri won a primary against Greg Hach to take on Rep. Tom Suozzi. LiPetri also had Trump’s seal of approval.
Honan said it showed that Trump’s word is gold among Republicans – and warned that it was a sign of his potential influence in the general election, even in Democrat-dominated New York.
“He is, for better or worse, able to direct endorsements to electoral outcomes,” Honan said. “Does this create a foil for Donald Trump to say the Democrats have now filled their congressional party with these crazy DSA people? That’s going to make for a very, very interesting general election.”
If you’re ever at a casino with Mamdani, do what he does
Mayor Mamdani bet big in this primary cycle, endorsing Lander, Valdez and Avila Chevalier.
Analysts said the mayor’s personal popularity and charisma was a major boost for each of the victors.
“A lot of people can do paper endorsements,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Dems, the organization that recruited Avila Chevalier. “Mayor Mamdani has shown what it looks like to be a true movement leader, and not just endorse a candidate, but canvass with them, organize with them.”
Many strategists wondered ahead of the primary whether the mayor was wasting political capital on longshot challengers. At 11:16 p.m. last night, with his chosen candidates all victorious, he tweeted his answer: an excerpt from Knicks guard Jalen Brunson’s speech at City Hall.
“There’s a lot of people who have a lot of negative stuff to say,” Brunson said last week. “But when you prove them wrong, you don’t have to say s--- to them.”
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Jimmy Vielkind
Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy led a team of reporters that won a New York Press Club award for coverage of Andrew Cuomo’s downfall and was on a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of Amazon’s HQ2 process. A native of the Capitol Region, Jimmy has two degrees in urban planning. His position is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reach Jimmy at [email protected].
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