Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn Borough president, by a wide margin of around 56 percent to 36%, in New York\u2019s 7th Congressional District in parts of Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n
Both Valdez and Reynoso are progressives, but Valdez leaned more into anti-Israel discourse during the campaign and benefited from Mamdani\u2019s star power.<\/p>\n
Valdez attacked Reynoso for not accusing Israel of genocide early enough and\u00a0falsely suggested Reynoso had received funding from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.<\/p>\n
\t Chevalier\u2019s win was the most clear-cut example of the DSA\u2019s insurgent rise in the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Valdez won the primary for a seat that will be vacated and had legislative experience in the New York State Assembly, but Chevalier lacked political experience and upset the centrist incumbent Adriano Espaillat.<\/p>\n Chevalier, 32, is a doctoral student and a longtime anti-Israel activist at Columbia University. Espaillat is a moderate and the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus with deep ties to the district.<\/p>\n Chevalier led Espaillat 49% to 46%, with most votes counted, in New York\u2019s 13th Congressional District, in upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.<\/p>\n The anti-Zionist Chevalier won the race despite her history of extremist rhetoric against the US, Israel and Democratic Party leaders. The district is also more working class and racially mixed than the DSA strongholds in western Queens and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n Chevalier attended a rally celebrating the October 7, 2023, terrorist onslaught in Israel the day after the attack, has posted online that \u201cIsrael doesn\u2019t exist\u201d and has backed Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh.<\/p>\n She has also called for abolishing police, prisons and borders. In an interview<\/a> last week with the New York Editorial Board, she refused to say whether murderers should be incarcerated.<\/p>\n Asked in the interview if she had engaged with any pro-Israel constituents, she named the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace.<\/p>\n The progressive group Broadway Democrats said<\/a> that, during a meeting, Chevalier had \u201cpoint-blank refused\u201d to condemn Hamas and the October 7 attack, and had instead turned \u201cthe question into yet another attack on Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n She repeatedly attacked Espaillat for his past support for Israel during the campaign, despite Espaillat calling the war in Gaza \u201chorrific\u201d and accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes.<\/p>\n She will likely be one of the most far-left candidates ever elected to Congress.<\/p>\n \t The wins show that Mamdani\u2019s rise was not a product of his political abilities alone, but part of a larger movement in New York City and Democratic Party politics.<\/p>\n The results also showed that the DSA\u2019s antagonism toward Israel, a central part of its platform, can be a winning strategy in the city, home to the world\u2019s largest Diaspora Jewish population.<\/p>\n There are currently only two DSA members in Congress \u2014 New York\u2019s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan\u2019s Rashida Tlaib \u2014 meaning the wins from Valdez and Chevalier will likely double the far-left movement\u2019s Congressional representation.<\/p>\n At a victory party for Valdez, Mamdani took the stage to chants of \u201cDSA\u201d from the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is your victory,\u201d he said. \u201cA year ago, it was not the end of a political movement \u2014 it was the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Pro-Israel candidates pick up wins<\/p>\n Also in New York City on Tuesday, the pro-Israel incumbents Ritchie Torres and Grace Meng were declared the winners of their House primaries.<\/p>\n Torres, in New York\u2019s 15th Congressional District in the Bronx, trounced his leftist opponent Michael Blake.<\/p>\n With 88% of the vote counted, Torres had 72%, compared to Blake\u2019s 22%.<\/p>\n Meng, in New York\u2019s 6th Congressional District in Queens, led Chuck Park 57% to 43%, with 84% of votes counted.<\/p>\n Outside New York City, the pro-Israel House representatives George Latimer, in Westchester County, and Tom Suozzi, on Long Island, won their primaries.<\/p>\n Latimer ran unopposed while Suozzi had 80% with nearly all votes counted.<\/p>\n New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a moderate, defeated Drew Warshaw, who had campaigned on a pledge to divest from Israel.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
\t\t\t
\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n Thank you, \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26170035203190-1-e1782273750643.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tDemocratic congressional candidate Claire Valdez speaks during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York\u2019s primary election, in New York City, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ryan Murphy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26175138699116-e1782273531194.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, left, celebrates with Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier during an election night watch party in New York City, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/334x334-200x200.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n