Not like us.<\/p>\n
Bronx residents repped by Rep. Ritchie Torres \u2014 a pro-Israel moderate Democrat who trounced a progressive challenger this week \u2014 said a \u201cwhole ocean\u201d separates them from the far-left wave that swept crunchy Big Apple neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
While three Mayor Zohran Mamdani-backed lefties prevailed over establishment Dems<\/a> in areas including swanky Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods, Torres dominated his foe Michael Blake in the 15th House District covering the working-class south and west Bronx.<\/p>\n A slew of Torres\u2019 constituents told The Post that the lefties\u2019 mix of Israel-bashing and Democratic Socialists of America ideological box-checking wouldn\u2019t fly on their turf.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think of Park Slope and Greenwich Village and who lives there compared to us here, the Bronx, there is a whole ocean separating us,\u201d said Carlos M., 38, a dad of two who works in sales.<\/p>\n Rep. Ritchie Torres handily won his primary Tuesday while other moderate Dems fell to lefty challengers. Pacific Press\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have to think about not having enough money to pay the rent, skipping one bill to pay another, roaches crawling all over your apartment like they own the place,\u201d he said, shaking his head. <\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t live in neighborhoods like ours,\u201d he added. \u201cThey don\u2019t have our worries, so they can vote on what is going on in the Middle East and not on real issues affecting real people in our neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n The far-left red sweep by Mamdani\u2019s DSA allies Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, along with avowed progressive Brad Lander, clinched the mayor\u2019s status as a lefty kingmaker and his potential takeover of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n But moderate Dems, including House Minority Speaker Hakeem Jeffries<\/a>, argued chatter about the DSA\u2019s party takeover was overblown \u2014 and pointed at Torres\u2019 success in The Boogie Down during Tuesday\u2019s primaries.<\/p>\n Jeffries pointed out during an MS NOW interview that many districts won by Mamdani\u2019s crew tended to be higher-income, with an outsized focus on issues connected to the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cRitchie Torres was running against somebody who was heavily critical of Ritchie Torres\u2019 position on Israel, and he won by 50 points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Several Bronx residents said lefty voters\u2019 focus on Israel came at the detriment of bread-and-butter issues.<\/p>\n Erickson Vargas, 23, who works in an appliance store, said some of the young, educated voters brought their causes to the election, but he argued they should be thinking locally, not focused on foreign countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be focused locally and not on the Middle East,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir hearts are in the right place but the focus is wrong. They are not invested in this country, only in their cause.\u201d<\/p>\n Bronx resident Erickson Vargas, 23, said lefty voters should focus locally rather than on Israel. Georgett Roberts\/NY Post<\/p>\n After the stunning wins by their comrades, emboldened DSA leaders crowed they\u2019d use the newfound clout to press Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a>, a moderate Dem, to back the long-held lefty goal of taxing the rich. They also warned Jeffries that he has a \u201ctarget on his back in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n