Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed socialist New York State Assembly Member Claire Valdez on Thursday in\u00a0a\u00a0Democratic primary shaping up as a test of how factions of New York City\u2019s progressive wing will work together under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez in New York\u2019s 7th Congressional District has put major progressive organizations and figures at odds. Hoping to capitalize on growing national frustration with conservative Democrats and lingering momentum from Mamdani\u2019s win in November, national progressives and their counterparts in New York are fighting to succeed Vel\u00e1zquez with an ally in Congress.<\/p>\n
They just haven\u2019t agreed on who it should be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sanders, the Vermont independent, is giving a boost to the socialist wing behind Valdez\u2019s campaign, which includes Mamdani and the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the campaign shared with The Intercept.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire Valdez is a union organizer who worked minimum-wage fast food jobs and understands firsthand how this economy fails working people,\u201d Sanders said in a statement to The Intercept. \u201cIn my view, Congress needs more voices who come from America\u2019s working class. Claire has the experience and vision we need to take on the oligarchy and fight for unions, Medicare for All, and affordable housing. I\u2019m proud to endorse her campaign for Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e1zquez has endorsed\u00a0Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Valdez\u2019s main competitor. Reynoso also has backing from leading progressive officials and groups in New York City like Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and the New York Working Families Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Already facing losses this cycle in races where competing progressive candidates did not consolidate their support, national progressives like Sanders are picking sides<\/a> in the battle to define the future of the electoral left under Mamdani.<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1zquez endorsed Reynoso shortly after Valdez launched her campaign in January standing alongside Mamdani and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. Some local observers saw Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s move as a rebuke of the mayor and a harbinger of a fight between factions of New York City\u2019s left, endangering a relationship Mamdani and Vel\u00e1zquez had built since she became the first member of Congress to back his mayoral campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Thank You For Joining! <\/p>\n \n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/p>\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?\n <\/p>\n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1zquez left little room to speculate on that question in comments<\/a> she made to the New York Times in January, when she said Mamdani had opened up conflict between groups in his coalition by involving himself in primaries; that she was unfamiliar with Valdez, who is originally from Texas; and that she was skeptical of newcomers to the city who think they know who should represent New Yorkers in office.<\/p>\n In a statement to The Intercept, Valdez named Sanders as a key inspiration for her political beliefs and career.<\/p>\n \u201cThree things made me a democratic socialist: shitty jobs, the labor movement, and Bernie Sanders\u2019 runs for president,\u201d Valdez said. \u201cHis political revolution changed my life \u2014 and showed millions of Americans what\u2019s possible when working people organize. I\u2019m grateful for this endorsement and ready to join the fight in Congress against the oligarchs and for economic democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Valdez campaign announced that it had raised $750,000 from 11,200 donors in the filing period that just ended, though the Federal Elections Commission has not yet processed and verified the figures. Reynoso had raised just over $317,500 by the end of 2025, before Valdez launched her campaign, according to available FEC data<\/a>. His campaign has not yet announced its most recent fundraising figures and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Valdez\u2019s endorsements include PAL PAC, the new pro-Palestine group opposing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; Justice Democrats; Leaders We Deserve PAC; Jewish Voice for Peace Action; attorney and political advocate Zephyr Teachout; Democratic New York State Sen. Jabari Brisport; and several members of the New York State Assembly.<\/p>\n Reynoso\u2019s backers include Make the Road Action; New York Communities for Change; several powerful local unions including 32BJ SEIU and DC-37; Attorney General Letitia James; New York Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Pat Ryan; and several New York City Council members.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed socialist New York State Assembly Member Claire Valdez on Thursday in\u00a0a\u00a0Democratic primary shaping up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4913,18992,4920,9,56,63,65,64,4912,4917,4918,4919,37834,18040,73801,18039],"class_list":{"0":"post-183369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-article-type-article-post","9":"tag-day-thursday","10":"tag-language-english","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-page-type-article","17":"tag-partner-factiva","18":"tag-partner-smart-news","19":"tag-partner-social-flow","20":"tag-short","21":"tag-subject-politics","22":"tag-time-13-00","23":"tag-wc-0-999"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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