Seventh Congressional District In New York’s Seventh District, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member, has defeated Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president. The incumbent, Nydia Velázquez, who opted not to run for reëlection, supported Reynoso, her protégé, while Valdez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The Seventh District, often dubbed the “Commie Corridor,” is among the most left-wing congressional districts in the country, and Reynoso and Valdez both put forward similarly progressive platforms—abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, cutting off military aid to Israel—which meant the race was largely seen as a referendum on Mamdani’s ability to get his political allies elected to national office over establishment-backed Democrats. Tenth Congressional District In New York’s Tenth District, which includes parts of Lower Manhattan and of Brooklyn, Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller, has defeated the incumbent congressman, Dan Goldman. Goldman, who was a lead counsel in the 2src19 impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, did not endorse Mamdani in last year’s mayoral election. Lander, who was endorsed by Mamdani, labelled Goldman a “career politician” and criticized him for spending millions of dollars of his own money to fund his campaign. (Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, is one of the wealthiest members of Congress.) The district is home to a large Jewish population, and U.S.-Israel relations emerged as a major issue in the race, with Lander calling Israeli actions in Gaza a genocide, and attacking Goldman for his support of U.S.
military aid to Israel. Goldman, who was endorsed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, was critical of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but has said he sees no evidence that Israel has committed a genocide. Lander’s other endorsements included Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Twelfth Congressional District Micah Lasher, a State Assembly member, has won the Democratic primary in New York’s Twelfth Congressional District. A crowded field had vied to replace the district’s longtime incumbent, Jerry Nadler, who plans to retire at the end of his current term. The other leading candidates included Alex Bores, a State Assembly member; George Conway, a former Republican known for his anti-Trump activism; and Jack Schlossberg, a political influencer and the grandson of President John F.
Kennedy. The district, which includes wide swaths of Manhattan, is the wealthiest in the country.
Lasher received support from much of the New York City political establishment, including Governor Hochul and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mamdani, now a resident of the Twelfth District, had declined to endorse a candidate. Thirteenth Congressional District In New York’s Thirteenth District, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organizer and a sociology Ph.D. candidate, has defeated the incumbent, Adriano Espaillat. Espaillat was first elected in 2src16, and is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In 2src24, he ran unopposed in the district’s Democratic primary and won the general election with more than eighty-three per cent of the vote. Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who was backed by Mamdani, has never held political office.
Like several other New York City primary elections, the race became a proxy for division within the Democratic Party over U.S.-Israel relations. AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, supported Espaillat. Chevalier, who has called Israeli actions in Gaza a genocide, faced criticism for a series of tweets she made, in which she advocated for the abolition of prisons and said, “Fuck Kamala Harris.” Espaillat was endorsed by Jeffries, Hochul, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, while Chevalier received endorsements from Senator Sanders and former U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman.
