Left-wing insurgents storm New York City

NEW YORK — Left-wing insurgents swept a trio of New York City House primaries Tuesday, a resounding victory that included a democratic socialist toppling the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, Rep. Adriano Espaillat.

The results are a massive sledge hammer to the Democratic establishment in New York and far beyond, as voters move even further to the left less than a year after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s shocking victory over party scion Andrew Cuomo.

These candidates blended attacks on Democratic Party leaders, pro-Israel groups and President Donald Trump. And they seized on voters’ deep anger at the status quo and their dissatisfaction with political institutions.

The left’s relentless march will send shockwaves nationally and in Washington, where Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Brooklynites, must contend with a growing hunger for left-wing populism. Progressives have already been menacing Schumer with a possible primary challenge when he's next up for election, in 2028.

For the first-year mayor, the victories are a display of political firepower that stands to reorder the local Democratic establishment.

A seasoned lawmaker who has deep roots among Dominican immigrants, Espaillat went down in defeat to community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, a hardline leftist who had the mayor’s backing.

Moderate Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who rose to prominence as a lead Trump impeachment lawyer, was defeated by progressive Mamdani ally Brad Lander.

And Assemblymember Claire Valdez claimed the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, defeating her preferred successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

“Voters don’t believe the Democratic establishment can put out a fire within a burning house,” said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York Democratic Party. “They don’t trust the institutions. They don’t support attempts to reform something they think is inherently broken and they want to find a way to start from scratch and rebuild it from the ground up.”

Eight years after Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked Democrats with her upset over Joe Crowley, the far left’s march has only become more relentless — complicating the future of a party that’s desperate to regain national power.

Victories by left-flank candidates, including those backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, underscore that Mamdani’s surprise election last year was not a blip, but a feature of a party that’s rapidly shifting to the left in deep blue New York.

These candidates stoked voters' deep discontent with elected officials — a sentiment that cuts across the party divide. And as affordability struggles still run rampant, they argued that an entrenched establishment is taking money from people and organizations with too much power, from pro-Israel groups to real estate interests.

Their opponents, meanwhile, argued that political experience is what’s needed to navigate Washington, which, even if Democrats regain control in some form next year, will still be deeply divided given Trump’s presence in the White House.

The success of that anti-establishment argument highlights a continued angst among voters when it comes to the status quo — and could spell trouble for other incumbents in coming election cycles.

Stoking these anti-incumbent bellows is the Big Apple’s still-new mayor, who shocked the establishment last year by defeating Cuomo, a former governor and the heir to a storied political family. Mamdani has moved to create his own power structure reflecting his left-flank politics — a push that’s coming at the expense of New York’s powerful institutional Democrats.

Mamdani made a massive gamble by opposing Espaillat’s reelection and breaking with Velázquez over her preferred successor. Those bets paid off Tuesday night.

“To those who are struggling with the problems of today, I say that these are leaders who could help us resolve the problems of tomorrow,” Mamdani said of his endorsed candidates in an interview with 1010 WINS earlier on Tuesday.

It’s a sentiment Mamdani laid out last week in a campaign rally where he predicted that the party “managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people” will lose not only on Tuesday, but in the 2028 presidential election.

That’s the year Schumer is slated to run for a sixth term amid deep voter dissatisfaction. A statewide Siena University poll last month found 52 percent of voters hold an unfavorable view of him. (Only 33 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of him, the survey found.)

The longtime senator is considered a prodigious fundraiser and hard left candidates have not mounted a successful statewide election. Yet unseating the 75-year-old Schumer would be a tantalizing goal for a political left eager to notch a massive victory with national implications.

A Schumer spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment.

Tuesday’s results could also have profound consequences for Jeffries, who, should Democrats take back the House, has a shot to be the next speaker. Jeffries backed Goldman and Espaillat, both of whom lost their bids on Tuesday, and he did not weigh in on the race to replace Velázquez. Both Avila Chevalier, who faced off against Espaillat, and Valdez, who ran against Reynoso for Velázquez’s seat, have not committed to supporting him. (Lander said he will support him.)

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in the Capitol, Jeffries batted down a question about whether Mamdani is making a mistake by pulling the caucus to the left.

“A handful of primaries that go in one direction or the other in a given state or two aren’t gonna reshape who we are as House Democrats,” Jeffries said.

The Brooklyn Democrat was booed by Valdez’s supporters at her party Tuesday evening when he appeared on a TV screen showing election results. People at the party chanted “you’re next” as the top Democrat was interviewed.

In that NY1 interview, Jeffries insisted Democrats should focus on general election swing seats, which he expects will hinge on a more centrist friendly message around affordability.

“The election is going to be a referendum on the failure of Donald Trump and the Republicans to make life better for the American people,” Jeffries said. “That’s the reality. He’s the president, he promised to lower costs on day one.”

Yet Mamdani’s willingness to stand against the Democratic establishment also has echoes of Trump and his push to reshape the Republican Party in his image.

Even across the aisle, Assemblymember Robert Smullen’s backing from the state Republican Party was not enough to overcome Trump’s endorsement of Anthony Constantino in the upstate race to fill outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat. Like Mamdani in City Hall, Trump continues to be viewed by his base as an anti-establishment figure, despite being in the White House.

The mayor, who’s just months into his first term, put his own influence on the line in endorsing against sitting members of Congress. Mamdani is extremely popular in these districts, and his intervention was expected to be a boost for candidates. But in a midterm primary election, where high turnout is anything but a guarantee — and in races where there wasn’t necessarily a singular opponent to mobilize against, like in the race for mayor — it was unclear if his political star would translate.

Now he’s poised to have political allies in the nation’s capital.

Hudson Valley Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan believes the lesson for incumbents is clear.

"All of the country right now, frankly in both parties, the question people are asking is: are you willing to fight for people, often against very powerful entrenched interests?" he said.

Maya Kaufman contributed to this report.