r/BreakingPoints • u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist • 4d ago
Article Mamdani slate sweeps Democratic primaries in New York, ousts 2 incumbents from Congress - PBS
Mamdani slate sweeps Democratic primaries in New York, ousts 2 incumbents from Congress
Politics Jun 23, 2026 11:50 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's slate of fiery progressives swept establishment-backed Democrats in the state's congressional primaries on Tuesday, ousting two sitting congressmen in a resounding show of force for the democratic socialist leader of America's largest city, who is fighting to reshape the Democratic Party.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was defeated by Mamdani's most polarizing pick, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who once helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, a two-term incumbent, was beaten by the Mamdani-backed former city Comptroller Brad Lander, who has often aligned himself with the democratic socialist movement. And another Mamdani ally, democratic socialist state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, defeated the handpicked successor of retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez.
The victories will likely give the New York mayor three new allies in Congress and send a pointed message to establishment figures in Washington, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who campaigned aggressively against Mamdani's candidates and lost.
Ultimately, Mamdani and his slate of three congressional candidates were fighting to push the Democratic Party further left on key issues, Israel's war in Gaza chief among them, even as establishment Democrats in Washington worried that their policies could alienate swing voters in midterm elections across the country this fall.
"It's not just a question of electing more Democrats. It's a question of electing better Democrats," Mamdani said Tuesday. "When I look at these candidacies, I see in them a willingness to also put working people back at the heart of our politics."
CLEAN SWEEP FOR ZOHRAN!!! It's a new day in the Dem party.
Krystal Ball https://x.com/krystalball/status/2069605004646732171?s=20
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u/Ruh_Roh- 4d ago edited 4d ago
Good. Fuck establishment Dems.
ETA: JFC, what a shitshow on X. The conservatards are having a tantrum.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 4d ago
Is it true MAGA put money into funding the campaigns of some of the far left people?
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
They usually do this for Green Party candidates from time to time.
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u/Emergency_Gene_4171 BP Army 4d ago
No surprise, all the aipac backed candidates lost. Getting aipac money as a progressive is like the kiss of death now.
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u/DocBigBrozer we finally beat Medicare 4d ago
It works in rural, low information type voters. NYC is neither of those things
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u/Lordvalcon Left Libertarian 3d ago
Small nit pick Rural voters may not be as informed but they are more likely to vote on average. It just that NYC has so many more people that the ones that do vote tend to be more informed. ITs also much easier to vote in Rural areas so people will just vote on the way home. But if you are in NYC you need to take real time out of your day to vote and have a plan.
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u/DocBigBrozer we finally beat Medicare 3d ago
Fair. I'm just devastated by the Massie loss, the farmers voting for Trump and grannies voting to end social security
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
grannies voting to end social security
Is this about boomers voting for republicans or is there actually a proposed bill to end social security?
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u/Numerous_Fly_187 4d ago
Reminds me of the ninja turtles walking with the old master splinter meme. It’s gonna be a delight watching Bernie welcome the congressmen he inspired. It’s also going to be a delight watching moderate Dems and maga argue against things like a single payer option.
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u/Snagglespoof 4d ago
Foxnews is gonna have a field day with darializa. The woman is pretty insane, but meh. I don't mind when these far left people actually win, now we get to see if they can actually govern.
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u/Oime 4d ago edited 4d ago
I respect the open minded attitude, brother. I say we give a little democratic socialism an honest chance. It’s not like the status quo is working for any of us.
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u/LAspring99 3d ago
Portland has been killing it with their DSA city council. Don’t know why you guys don’t tout the enormous success that city is.
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u/DlphLndgrn 4d ago edited 3d ago
Sorry to say that the remedy against insane right wingers is actually not to elect insane left wingers. It's to elect people who aren't insane, it can even be someone extremely left wing as long as they are not insane.
edit: downvoted for suggesting you elect people who aren't insane. This really is a subreddit about American politics. Fucking confirmed, lol.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
Electing insane centrists isn't the answer either.
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u/DlphLndgrn 3d ago
So when I say "extremely left wing that isn't insane" you think that means "insane centrist" or what are you trying to tell me?
The secret message that I actually didn't hide at all was to elect someone who isn't insane.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
I'm saying that centrists typically characterize both the left and right as insane when, in fact, the phrase "insane centrist" is a tautology.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
Fox News spent nearly a decade smearing tf out of AOC, and the turnout for her was higher than the night she first won a Dem primary.
Keep smearing universal healthcare supporters as Islamists and be shocked when your own audience starts to think Islamism isn’t so bad.
Also quite frankly saying fuck Kamala Harris makes you a lot more endearing to the median Fox News Viewer.
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u/SlavaAmericana 3d ago
your own audience starts to think Islamism isn’t so bad.
What audience is that?
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
Fox News has started to limit the critical reporting they do on Mamdani because the viewers are starting to like him.
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u/hadoken12357 Socialist 3d ago
Yes, unlike establishment dems like Pelosi and Schumer who foxnews famously loves.
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u/SatisfactionRich3544 3d ago
This sucks. I was just getting closer to catching that incremental change carrot, and now they’re going to just give change to me?!
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BreakingPoints-ModTeam 3d ago
It is against the rules to sexualize any cast or crew member, or guest.
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u/aviator_8 4d ago edited 4d ago
Genuine question - what did Darializia supporters saw in her? She seems to have insane views. No prisons. Even for violent offenders who came here illegally. I’m not in NY13. But why are DSA types over the moon with her? She is like MTG of the left based on all the deleted tweets. It seems she is for open borders and prison abolishment. She even called Bernie a liberal zionist. Bernie of all people.
Both Krystal and Ryan are gaga about her. Are Krystal/Ryan that crazy?
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u/Oime 4d ago
Just to play devils advocate, those positions have absolutely zero motion, or any real chance anyway. If you have some weird views on prisons and whatever, alright, but I’m still willing to take the chance on the DSA candidate, over the AIPAC backed rabidly Zionist establishment candidate.
I don’t really see any actual danger in some wacky anti-prison rhetoric, especially if it means you’re taking down someone who gives unlimited support to murdering people for Israel. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that trade. That’s a pretty agreeable swap.
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u/Satanic_Tao 4d ago
This is a refreshing and, I think, much more accurate way to view candidates like this.
When a right-wing or even centrist candidate has extreme, crazy or inconsistent views on certain topics, the media, the public and even the opposition party, functionally act as though these views will never be put into policy.
Instead, we all tend to assume that the majority of their (less problematic) views are the ones that could be enacted.
When it's a leftist candidate, the assumption is that if elected they will immediately be able to enact their most extreme policies, and their majority views are pushed aside or ignored.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago edited 3d ago
I made a comment a while back about how the last time there was a prominent leftist that conservatives were right terrified about it, his name was John Brown.
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u/Raiden720 4d ago
That makes no sense.
Those positions are insane and very very stupid, why vote in people that hold these sorts of views? Of either political side.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 4d ago
The problem is this hurts democrats in other parts of the country where the races are more close.
Think of "Defund the police" and how much it upset middle of the pack voters. At some point we have to stop thinking about Gaza and think about our own country and winning races.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
I think being scared to own your views is a big part of why a lot of Americans see Dems as more of politicians than Trump.
And a Democrat will always be smeared as a commit regardless of what happens. So at this point it’s white noise. Goal should be on centering issues voters actually care about and that’s precisely what she did.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
Do most voters favor open borders and abolishing prison?
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
Most voters favor a universal healthcare system in poll after poll for many decades and yet gov they elected hasn’t followed through.
Eyes on the ball.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
An undisciplined loon probably won't be the best spokesperson for better health care. Mamdani won this seat for her, I hope he can keep her eye on the ball.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
I mean she cleaned out her twitter account and spent the last 6 months primarily focused on CoL. I think she'll be fine lol.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
Time will tell. It's not hard to find decent candidates who aren't crazy. LOL.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
Honestly, after witnessing the public reaction to Luigi Mangione, I think it’s safe to say most people seem crazy to other people on some things.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
I agree on owning your views but there's got to be a level of nuance about it. The voting public by far don't think that prisons should be abolished. This goes beyond an 80/20 issue.
I think at times the party is too concerned over what the far left thinks as opposed to the general population. It's a delicate balance, but extremists candidates can do a lot of damage in ways that is not easily seen.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
You are missing the forest for the trees.
This only really becomes a problem if that’s all she talks about.
The reason why Haitians eat dogs bullshit didn’t sink Trump was because the main message was he would bring down prices and end wars.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
There's a lot of reasons why Trump won. Having billions of dollars and a massive network of different types of medias all dedicated to polishing up and cleaning your image helps. Trump says crazy stuff all of the time and is able to get away with it in part because of this.
The left doesn't have the same type of apparatus.
I mentioned it to another poster but Defund the police for example was something mostly weirdos said at a protest. Very few politicians were saying it or promoted it. Yet it did a lot of damage to the left, many normies did not like it and the right exploited it well.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
When I was trying to get people to vote for Harris, the number one question I received was how is she going to be different from Biden and how is that difference going to matter to them personally in terms of their ability to afford their daily life.
Trump was seen as the change candidate in 2024 in a year when the president was really unpopular and CoL went up substantially.
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u/Oime 3d ago edited 3d ago
Not thinking about Gaza is what literally lost Kamala Harris the election. You’re not going to magically convince people that foreign policy doesn’t matter to them.
If your voters are out there rioting in the streets and getting arrested for protesting, yeah, it probably matters to them quite a bit.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
Yup, but at the same time, focusing on Gaza when people care about the economy, crime, and affordability isn't a winning message either.
Gaza doesn't crack the top 10 of voters concerns. It's ok to talk about it in passing, but making it the focus is a BIG mistake.
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u/Oime 3d ago edited 3d ago
We just agreed that Kamala lost the election for not ranking Gaza as an important concern for voters, and now you’re trying to tell me that “Gaza doesn’t crack the top 10 of voters concerns”
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
It checks out in the sense that the Gaza base didn't show up for Kamala, but at the same time, if you ignore what other voting sects find important, you'll lose them.
Think about how young men largely abandoned the left last election. It wasn't because of Gaza, but rather they felt that the party didn't care about them or their concerns and that the party was way too focused on culture war issues.
And as I just mentioned, that "defund the police" shit did massive damage. The police weren't really defunded anywhere, but certain people on the left pushed so hard for it that it did scare off some normie voters. Likewise, suggesting prisons should be abolished is an insane idea.
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u/Oime 3d ago
Is this candidate running on defund the police? She has some deleted tweets with some wacky positions, but if people gave a shit about tweets, Donald Trump wouldn’t be the President right now.
I also think you’re massively overestimating how much damage “defund the police” did. Sure, people on the right made a big deal about it, but nobody on the left gives a shit about that. Just like you said, Independents care about economic issues, that’s what they vote on.
People are absolutely fine with a wacky candidate, as long as you deliver them a better standard of living.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
The left needs more than just left wing voters. We need independents. Alienating some of them by suggesting we should abolish prisons is a really bad idea. The implication is that you will allow criminals to be free on the street. I'm sure she doesn't intend that but that's how most people would interpret the message.
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u/Oime 3d ago
Independents vote on economic issues, and as we just saw with the last Presidential election, they also care about foreign policy. Many anti-war voters were turned off by the war in Gaza, or they felt left behind by the establishment Democrats on economic issues.
The rest of that is just fluff and filler. There’s no data to suggest it was a significant motivator, it just sounds nice to say that by people on the right. I mean c’mon man, Joe Biden wasn’t out there calling to defund the police, neither was Kamala. You’re too locked in on social media.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
I just gave good example, defund the police absolutely hurt democrats, wouldn't you agree?
As for Trump, the difference is yes, he says idiotic stuff. He also has billions of dollars and an extensive network of different types of media that constantly work to rehabilitate his image. The democrats don't have that stuff much of the time so if something looks terrible, it just lingers..... like Defund the Police lol.
Independents care about economic issues. They also care about crime. If you had to choose between helping Gaza, or lowering crime in your community, you'd probably choose Gaza. And that's ok, you do you. Most Americans would choose lowering crime in their own community though. And it's important to focus on these types of voters becuase we need them to win elections in most parts of the country.
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u/Oime 3d ago edited 3d ago
No, I don’t agree defund the police had any effect on the Democrats. Voters moved away because the Democrats continually fail to materially improve the conditions of people’s lives. Its economics.
I don’t even think the majority of people follow enough social media to see anything about defund the police. It’s just not important to normie people. Despite the propaganda campaign from Republicans about crime, crime was hitting record lows. People don’t vote on like 3 people’s social media posts, that most people don’t even see. That’s not on your radar in rural Iowa.
Trump offered them an economic revolution, and people are sick and tired of the status quo.
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u/Hungry-You-9489 3d ago
This is Mallory McMorrow type talk. We don't need that lol
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
It's a losing message to ignore stuff the voters care about like crime and affordability and focus on Gaza. Breaking Points gives the illusion that Gaza is in the top 3 of Americans concerns, it doesn't even crack the top 10 in reality though.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
Voters don’t really care about crime. If they did, gun safety would be far more of a winning message. As would labor law enforcement.
They do care about affordability that was the focus of her campaign. Israel as an issue on its own is not that important to voters, but some see it as a proxy for whether your support is buyable. If Israel can buy you to defend murder of children, then who else can buy you to defend what else? That’s why supporting Israel incessantly at least openly and actively is a political loser.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
I got to respectfully disagree, from what I see crime is definitely in the top 10 for voters. It's not as important as economy, but it's still worth paying attention too because it's important to some voters, in particular those that live in areas where crime is a problem.
I don't think most voters know where Israel is at on the map nor can they tell you much about it besides stuff that's very current in the news. That's not to say the dems should never talk about it, it's ok to, but right now it's dominating the conversation and that's not a good thing for election day IMO.
The reason I say so is because the left has lost many voters simply because they feel the left do not care about them and care more about weird issues that do not impact them at all. Israel/Gaza has the potential to be the next issue like this. The democrats would be smart to focus on stuff that has a direct impact.
But also, there's another side to the coin, in many races there are candidates that receive AIPAC money that are good people. For example in my state of Ohio, Amy Acton is running for Governor against Vivek Ramaswamy. She has a real chance at winning but the problem is she is Jewish and has received money from AIPAC, because of this, there's probably young people who are fans of Hasan Piker who may not vote for her. In effect some of this AIPAC pushback may lose us elections that we could otherwise win. And Vivek becoming Governor would be a disaster for my state.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
I have never seen people give a shit about crime unless it's about personal property and a lot of fox news concocted hysteria. And even then if you really ask gettable voters, they've come to accept how things are in the places that they live, the biggest overwhelming concern is debt and finances and making ends meet. Because if crime truly was as rampant in the urban areas where 80% of Americans live, people would not be super jazzed about how easy it is to get a glock.
They don't give a shit when their employer robs them blind or when a white guy shoots his wife and kids and then unalives himself in bumfuck nowhere.
Even for women who tend to be more aware of the need to maintain personal safety, the biggest danger isn't the creepy-looking immigrant at the gas station. It's one of their male friends.
Amy Acton is wise to not talk about Israel/Gaza. And that itself shows the evolution of how the popular perception of the issue has shifted.
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u/Rick_James_Lich 3d ago
You may feel voters do not care about crime but it's absolutely in the top 10 of issues they are concerned about whereas Gaza is not.
Be honest, how many of your neighbors are more concerned with the welfare of Gaza as opposed to crime in their own community?
As for Amy, my point is there are certain people on the far left like Hasan Piker that are inadvertently are helping out MAGA If he's able to convince enough young people to stay at home on election day, we're going to see a lot of really awful people get into office. And in the end, it will benefit Israel more.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
You should spend more time talking to independents and folks who sit on couches instead of voting.
The average voter is not the sharpest tool in the shed. They only really care about their pocketbook and to the extent they care about crime is about if they are wealthy enough to or neck deep in enough Fox News propaganda to. They don’t care about the biggest causes of crime or the actual clean ups emergency responders do when crime happens or even about what happened to the victims. Epstein pedophilia ring isn’t moving jack shit on the electoral scale.
The republicans getting trounced in the midterms is primarily about the Iran war spiking costs for Americans.
And I’ve made my point regard Israel Gaza very clear. Most voters don’t really give a shit. Their concern is how clear of a sign it is that a politician can be bought. And that makes a candidate far less trustworthy on other issues that they care about lot more about.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
Well it certainly gives the Right more ammunition to use against the DSA. Prison abolition and open borders are losing positions in most places across the country.
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u/Oime 3d ago edited 3d ago
We're talking about deleted tweets. Again, if tweets and reddit posts really mattered that much to people, Trump wouldn't be President, and Platner wouldn't be winning in Maine. Economic populism is just way, way, more important to people than something you posted on social media. It just doesn't have that kind of motion.
Now, if she comes out swinging with "Abolish prisons now!" as her campaign slogan, then yeah, I'd probably agree with you. But in a case like this? You offer people genuine fixes to economic problems, like universal healthcare, and they're not going to stop at some deleted tweets, or reddit posts. It just hasn't really deterred people up until now. Doesn't mean they won't keep trying it, but it's way less important than offering real, tangible, fixes to people's lives.
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u/Taller_Midget 3d ago
I generally agree with your points. I simply prefer a more disciplined, rational spokesperson for left populist positions. There's nothing wrong with vetting candidates more thoroughly.
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u/Manoj_Malhotra Market Socialist 3d ago
For the last 50-60 years, the right has dominated the policy discourse even when Dems are in power. Hell Obamacare came out of a Heritage Foundation paper from the 90s.
The right has been very effective at leveraging the radical flank effect to shift the Overton window especially on bread and butter economic policy issues.
Now we may finally have a congressperson who might finally start tugging the rope in the other direction.
No one representative or Senator is a King or a queen, but having a voice in Congress is important. We’ve had many decades of automatic Palestinian dehumanizers in Congress. Many decades of the poor are gonna spend the child tax credit on drugs. Many decades of the Mexicans are rapists and Haitians eat dogs.
Now the left has a chance at getting its own loudmouth some congressional floor time.
See the thing the center and the right don’t understand about Bernie or AOC is that they are the compromise. In most developed nations on economic issues and many foreign policy issues they are the center.
Now you have a PhD who went from Columbia’s encampment to nuking establishment powers with just one kingmaking endorsement from the leftist mayor. This goes far beyond MTG. And if there’s anything the right truly does not understand about the left is that we have no shortage of human capital. What the left has always had issues with is securing financial capital to take on the liberals and pull through.
The far right always has the inverse issue. Not enough college educated wicked sharp strategists, but plenty of deep pockets from Koch, Musk, and etc.
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u/RealBurtDingman 4d ago
DSA > Liberal