{"id":277161,"date":"2026-06-24T21:38:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277161\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T21:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:38:55","slug":"western-queens-emerges-as-impregnable-dsa-fortress-after-resounding-primary-results-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277161\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Queens emerges as impregnable DSA fortress after resounding primary results \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Zohran Mamdani\u2019s victory in the 2025 mayoral election was the moment that announced the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA<\/a>) as a true political force in the city, then Tuesday night\u2019s primary results<\/a> have cemented the organization as a major political player and confirmed that Mamdani\u2019s victory was by no means a one-off.<\/p>\n

DSA candidates across the city posted comprehensive victories, especially in Queens, where the five candidates in the DSA slate recorded resounding victories against their respective opponents, some of whom were established incumbents or candidates with over a decade of experience.<\/p>\n

Claire Valdez, Aber Kawas, Samantha Kattan, David Orkin and Diana Moreno all won by at least 18% in their respective races as western Queens emerged not so much as a DSA stronghold, but as an impregnable fortress.<\/p>\n

Valdez\u2019s 20-point victory over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in NY-7 will take the headlines, but Orkin\u2019s 18-point victory over incumbent Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar in the 38th District and Kawas\u2019 20-point victory over Assembly Member Steven Raga in the race to succeed Mike Gianaris in the 12th Senate District feel almost as significant.<\/p>\n

Kattan had long been expected to succeed Valdez in the 37th District, but her 48-point victory over Melissa Orlando speaks to the growing power of the DSA in Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Long Island City. Valdez, for instance, only won the district by 27 points when she defeated Johanna Carmona two years ago.<\/p>\n

Moreno, an incumbent, was by far the safest DSA candidate after winning a special election to replace Mamdani in the 36th District in February, and her 60-point victory over Mary Jobaida reaffirms the power of the DSA in the district.<\/p>\n

Moreno welcomed her supporters to the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republic of Astoria\u201d after winning that special election in February in a reference to the district\u2019s support for Mamdani during the mayoral election last year and the influence of the DSA.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, she joined her fellow Queens DSA slate at 99 Scott in East Williamsburg to celebrate a victory for \u201cpeople power over organized money.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are showing that when you put the working people\u2019s needs at the center of our politics, we can win,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cThis feels even more exciting than last June, which was in a historic victory of Zohran\u2019s election. Zohran said at his victory speech that his campaign cannot be the best thing that we\u2019ve ever done. It has to be what comes after. This is what comes after.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the comprehensive results have showcased that New York voters are \u201chungry for democratic socialism,\u201d adding that \u201call of the establishment is on notice.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEstablishment Democrats are all on notice, because people are damn tired of them making excuses for why they cannot deliver for working people,\u201d Moreno said at Tuesday\u2019s election watch party.<\/p>\n

\"DianaDiana Moreno has a wide lead over two opponents for the district in western Queens formerly held by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of NYC-DSA, echoed a similar sentiment, asserting that democratic socialism is an ideology that \u201crepresents a majority of this city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians who fight our agenda and become an obstacle to it do so at their own peril,\u201d Gordillo said.\n<\/p>\n

He said nights like Tuesday night serve as a \u201cpolitical awakening\u201d for thousands of New Yorkers across the city and added that it was crucial that the organization built on the momentum of Mamdani\u2019s victory last June.<\/p>\n

The DSA, he said, faced a decision of whether it wanted to be a movement with a charismatic leader or one that builds a \u201cbench of democratic socialists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a movement of many leaders, and I think that we\u2019re showing that one person can\u2019t do it alone. We can\u2019t just rely on Zohran or AOC.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortly after Gordillo spoke to QNS, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on a big screen at the venue as he spoke to NY1, leading to raucous chants of \u201cyou\u2019re next\u201d from the DSA crowd. Gordillo later tweeted that he believed Council Member Chi Oss\u00e9 would have defeated Jeffries if he ran against him. Oss\u00e9 had petitioned for the DSA\u2019s endorsement to primary Jeffries but did not receive it after Mamdani had reportedly cautioned against it.<\/p>\n

But while Gordillo asserted that no one candidate \u201ccan do it alone,\u201d Valdez\u2019s resounding victory on Tuesday night stands as a major victory for the DSA and Mamdani.\n<\/p>\n

Reynoso, her closest opponent, boasted more than a decade of experience in public office and saw support from traditional Democrats coalesce around him. Reynoso scooped endorsements from a range of progressive City Council Members, the Working Families Party (WFP), Attorney General Letitia James and, most notably, from U.S. Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, the revered outgoing lawmaker who had represented the district for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

He was also born in the district and is Dominican, representing a sizeable chunk of NY-7 voters. But that didn\u2019t matter all that much to many voters on Tuesday, especially in Queens.\n<\/p>\n

In fact, it was Mamdani\u2019s endorsement that had the most influence on the majority of voters polled by QNS early Tuesday morning.\n<\/p>\n

One Sunnyside resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had voted for the entire DSA slate because she was tired of \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d from the Democratic Party.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like Claire Valdez, and I\u2019m really thrilled that Mamdani endorsed her, as well as Bernie Sanders,\u201d she said. \u201cAnybody that they want to work with\u2026 I want to give them to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Swanson, meanwhile, said at Sunnyside\u2019s Queen of Angels that he voted for Valdez because she was part of the mayor\u2019s \u201cgrowing movement.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in my 70s, I was part of such a movement when I was in my 20s. It\u2019s faded over the years, and now it\u2019s coming back. So, I\u2019m enthusiastic about what I\u2019m seeing,\u201d Swanson said.<\/p>\n

Noel Allain, a Ridgewood voter at IS93, said he had voted for the DSA slate because it represented continuity from Mamdani\u2019s victory last year and felt that it was important to continue momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting movement that Mamdani\u2019s really set in motion, and I wanted to support it continuing,\u201d Allain said.\n<\/p>\n

In her victory speech Tuesday night, Valdez called on supporters to continue that momentum.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time to decide what kind of world we want to live in, and what we\u2019re willing to do to get there,\u201d Valdez said.
\n\"AssemblyAssemblymember Claire Valdez celebrates after defeating Antonio Reynoso in NY-7. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien\n<\/p>\n

She described her victory as a victory for the people and credited Mamdani for \u201cgiving people hope\u201d across the city through his own victory last year.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s results, she added, proved that the DSA movement is growing is growing in New York City.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t just won an election, we have declared that this movement is durable, that it is growing and that it will not stop until working people are no longer asked to just build the table. no longer just offered a seat at the table, but will run the table.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani similarly stated that his victory last year was not the endpoint for DSA ambitions, \u201cbut the beginning.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for working people to be back at the heart of our politics. These are the champions who will do it,\u201d Mamdani said.\n<\/p>\n

And while Tuesday was very much about DSA success, there was also other success for progress and DSA-adjacent candidates in Queens.\n<\/p>\n

On a bad night for incumbents, Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas defeated incumbent State Sen. Jessica Ramos in the 13th Senate District by 10 points. Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, a DSA member who was not endorsed by the organization, announced a campaign to primary Ramos after the incumbent state senator endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral election last year, isolating much of her progressive base.<\/p>\n

Brian Romero, another DSA member and Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas\u2019s former chief of staff, comfortably won the race to succeed Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas in the 34th District, defeating Rosa Sanchez by 32%.\n<\/p>\n

Even in races where progressive candidates did not win, there were signs of progress, with Chuck Park finishing within 12 points of U.S. Rep. Grace Meng in NY-6. Few would have predicted at the beginning of the night that Park would have finished closer to Meng than Reynoso did to Valdez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Zohran Mamdani\u2019s victory in the 2025 mayoral election was the moment that announced the New York City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[46417,2898,9440,310,80693,29438,2495,87982,9,24,63,122,124,123,57477,25668,17933,82],"class_list":["post-277161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-aber-kawas","tag-antonio-reynoso","tag-claire-valdez","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-david-orkin","tag-diana-moreno","tag-dsa","tag-gustavo-gordillo","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-samantha-kattan","tag-steven-raga","tag-wfp","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277161","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=277161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}