LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) — The New York primary is a week from Tuesday. Early voting has already started in the city and continues through Sunday, and while Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not on the ballot, he could be a deciding factor in several key congressional races.<\/p>\n
There are some years when barely 10% of New York’s registered voters cast their ballots in the city’s primaries. For the candidates, raising awareness is half the battle.<\/p>\n
“We need people to vote! Right now, with early voting, we’re seeing extremely low turnout,” said District 7 Congressional candidate Julie Won.<\/p>\n
The City Council member is one of several Democrats running for Congress in New York’s 7th District, a field that includes Assembly Member Claire Valdez and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.<\/p>\n
“Workers are under the boots of bosses and billionaires right now,” Valdez said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani is endorsing Valdez, a democratic socialist, not Reynoso.<\/p>\n
“There are things where we disagree or where I think we might need to push him further left. Even on some issues like the police, some issues with ICE,” Reynoso said.<\/p>\n
In the primary, Mamdani is hoping to replace establishment Democrats, like Congressmen Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, with progressives who support his democratic socialist agenda.<\/p>\n
He endorsed Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier in a TV ad that aired during the NBA Finals, leaving Goldman on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
“If I let my personal feelings interfere with my obligations in my work, then I would be failing the people that I’m working for,” Goldman said. “And so, I keep it very separate.”<\/p>\n
Unlike her opponents, Won says she hasn’t taken a dollar from super-PACs.<\/p>\n
“That is not OK, especially for progressives and leftists who have gone against corporate Democrats who said no to oligarchs, billionaires, and yet they’re taking money from them,” Won said.<\/p>\n
Whether Mamdani’s support is enough to unseat well-known incumbents like Goldman and Espaillat remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
Early voting runs through Sunday. Primary Day is next Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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