The Zo-mentum is real.<\/p>\n
Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s far-left slate of Big Apple congressional hopefuls prevailed in Tuesday\u2019s Democratic primary<\/a> \u2014 with firebrand Darializa Avila Chevalier<\/a> projected to pull off an AOC-style upset.<\/p>\n Former city Comptroller Brad Lander and state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez were quickly projected by the Associated Press and NY1 to win over their establishment Democrat opponents.<\/p>\n Avila Chevalier held a razor-thin 49.3% to 46% lead over Rep. Adriano Espaillat with 86% of votes counted late Tuesday, leading the five-term incumbent to concede.<\/p>\n The projected win by Avila Chevalier and the congressional race victories \u2014 coupled with a likely clean sweep of Democratic Socialists of America candidates in state races \u2014 signaled Mamdani could expand his socialist wave beyond New York City, to Washington, DC.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a moment when voters have the opportunity to vote in who would be a partner in fulfilling the affordability agenda,\u201d Mamdani said earlier Tuesday as he stumped for Lander.<\/p>\n The win by Avila Chevalier over Espaillat in New York\u2019s 13th House District echoed the stunning 2018 victory by her fellow DSA diehard Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Democratic fixture Joe Crowley.<\/p>\n Mamdani endorsed Avila Chevalier, Lander and Valdez with the explicit promise that the lefty candidates would advance his \u201caffordability agenda\u201d in DC.<\/p>\n Just two members of Congress \u2014 Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) \u2014 are DSA members. The primary victories by Avila Chevalier and Valdez, in the Seventh House District, put two more closer to Congress \u2014 a fact not lost on supporters.<\/p>\n \u201cDSA! DSA!\u201d chants erupted at Valdez\u2019s victory party in East Williamsburg.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed a slate of lefty candidates, including former city comptroller Brad Lander. REUTERS<\/p>\n The candidates hold a slew of far-left views that were once fringe within the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Valdez and Avila Chevalier both campaigned on their staunch opposition to Israel \u2014 labeling the Jewish state\u2019s actions in Gaza a genocide \u2014 and on pushing their pro-Palestinian values. Like Mamdani, the pair called for a full divestment of Israel and cutting off of any sales of US arms to its ally in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Valdez also echoed the Mamdani admin\u2019s radical housing platform<\/a>, pushing for the seizure of property from bad landlords.<\/p>\n All three also want to abolish ICE and Avila Chevalier, a community organizer and doctoral candidate, has even said she doesn\u2019t believe foreign criminals should be deported.<\/p>\n Lander, for his part, isn\u2019t a DSA member but scored Mamdani\u2019s backing by hitching his political wagon to the socialist after their chummy contest in last year\u2019s mayoral primary.<\/p>\n Over a decades-long career in New York City politics, the former city comptroller and Brooklyn councilman established himself as an outspoken progressive advocate.<\/p>\n He became even more vocally leftist after embracing Mamdani, telling CNN as the race for the 10th House District was called in his favor that the US needs to \u201creset\u201d its relationship with Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be taking corporate PAC money from Wall Street and crypto and AI and AIPAC,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to fight harder for working families and have people see us fighting for them, and we have to reset the U.S. relationship with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Lander has been critical of the Jewish state, and the issue became central as he challenged incumbent two-term Rep. Dan Goldman to rep Lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s endorsement of Darializa Avila Chevalier stirred controversy. AP Photo\/Ryan Murphy<\/p>\n While the trio of endorsements and victories drew cheers from Mamdani\u2019s DSA pals, he ruffled feathers among establishment Dems and even his allies in the progressive Working Families Party.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s endorsement of Valdez, a one-term Queens state Assemblywoman, managed to tick off the retiring Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez.<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1zquez had backed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to succeed her in the district covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n Mamdani also backed Claire Valdez over the wishes of many establishment Democrats. Getty Images<\/p>\n Reynoso, a progressive, himself had backed Mamdani\u2019s mayoral run. But he wasn\u2019t part of the DSA, like Mamdani.<\/p>\n But Avila Chevalier proved a particularly problematic choice, in part because Mamdani endorsed her over Espaillat in the district representing Upper Manhattan and the northwest Bronx.<\/p>\n Beyond bucking Espaillat, Mamdani also fueled fears he was elevating a dangerous radical after Avila Chevalier\u2019s long trail of past inflammatory social media posts<\/a> \u2014 including lashing out at Joe Biden, calling the US \u201ca f\u2014ing disgrace\u201d and contending that Israel doesn\u2019t exist \u2014 came to light.<\/p>\n