Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
On Tuesday night, the democratic socialists swept New York.
In a series of closely watched congressional primaries, all three candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated more moderate rivals, including two incumbents. Their victories, which in heavily blue districts all but guarantee their election to the House of Representatives come November, sent shock waves through the Democratic Party.
The winners include former City Comptroller Brad Lander, who favors the complete abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; democratic socialist and New York State Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who also supports abolishing ICE and has plastered the words “Free Palestine” on her campaign signs; and community organizer and democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who has refused to condemn Hamas, was part of a student group at Columbia that has since called for “Death to America,” and said that a world without borders, prisons, and police is “the only moral way forward.”
The results mark a seismic shift in the Democratic Party, which for months has been consumed by an internal battle between its traditional old guard and an insurgent, socialist, and virulently anti-Israel left wing. Tuesday night was only the latest sign that the latter group is winning that fight.
So who are these candidates? How did the radical fringe take center stage in the Democratic Party? And what do these results mean for New York—and for the country?
We’re going LIVE at 4 p.m. ET today with a panel of experts to answer all these questions and more. Join Douglas Murray, Mark Halperin, and Reihan Salam.
On Tuesday night, the democratic socialists swept New York.
In a series of closely watched congressional primaries, all three candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated more moderate rivals, including two incumbents. Their victories, which in heavily blue districts all but guarantee their election to the House of Representatives come November, sent shock waves through the Democratic Party.
The winners include former City Comptroller Brad Lander, who favors the complete abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; democratic socialist and New York State Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who also supports abolishing ICE and has plastered the words “Free Palestine” on her campaign signs; and community organizer and democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who has refused to condemn Hamas, was part of a student group at Columbia that has since called for “Death to America,” and said that a world without borders, prisons, and police is “the only moral way forward.”
The results mark a seismic shift in the Democratic Party, which for months has been consumed by an internal battle between its traditional old guard and an insurgent, socialist, and virulently anti-Israel left wing. Tuesday night was only the latest sign that the latter group is winning that fight.
So who are these candidates? How did the radical fringe take center stage in the Democratic Party? And what do these results mean for New York—and for the country?
We’re going LIVE at 4 p.m. ET today with a panel of experts to answer all these questions and more. Join Douglas Murray, Mark Halperin, and Reihan Salam.
