Democrats battle one another in divisive New York primaries 

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The left is fighting the left in New York in a series of divisive Democratic primaries that will be decided on Tuesday, all of which could leave tensions in their wake.  

While much of Washington has been captivated by Republican infighting all year — within the House, between the House and Senate, between President Trump and the Senate and in various primaries — Tuesday will shift the tensions back to Democrats.  

Two of the battles pit candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani against incumbent Democrats backed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other parts of the Democratic establishment. Two Democratic incumbents face challengers, one from a democratic socialist.  

Two-term incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a frequent face on cable television, faces the stiffest challenge.  

He’s running in the 10th District against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, once a rival of Mamdani’s in the mayor’s race who is now receiving Mamdani’s support. Lander is also backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). In a recent Emerson College Polling survey, Lander led Goldman by more thang 30 points.  

In the 13th Congressional District, five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) is in the toughest fight of his political career, in a race that has also become a test of Mamdani’s influence in city politics, as Jared reports. 

The mayor has campaigned for democratic socialist challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organizer, who has sought to capitalize on Mamdani’s popularity and attack the incumbent for past support for Israel. 

Mamdani has supported Chevalier even though Espaillat, a progressive who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, gave Mamdani a key endorsement after the mayor won the Democratic primary. Espaillat initially backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in that race, however, which is perhaps why he is now battling for his political life against a Mamdani-backed challenger.  

Multiple reports have suggested that Espaillat understood Mamdani would back him in return for his endorsement, which means there could be bad blood from the race regardless of how it turns out. 

“He will have diminished level of trust with a lot of people because everyone here knows, and most elected officials know, that there was a commitment to be with Adriano that was reneged upon,” one New York Democratic strategist involved in multiple primary races told Jared for his story earlier this week.  

The proxy battle between socialists and liberals in the Democratic Party is also playing out in the 7th Congressional District, The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports.  

Retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) has thrown her support behind Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, but Mamdani and Sanders have endorsed democratic socialist Claire Valdez. 

Ill feelings also characterize this race, where Velázquez is not pleased, to say the least, that Mamdani and democratic socialists are seeking to take out Reynoso after Velázquez backed Mamdani for mayor.  

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is backing Reynoso, noted Velázquez’s fury over the Mamdani move in an interview for a New York Times story over the weekend. “I’ve never heard her use more four-letter words,” James said.  

Another fraught Democratic battle is taking place in New York’s 12th Congressional District, where Democratic primary voters will select their nominee to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), who’s retiring after more than 30 years of representing the deep-blue Manhattan district. 

Three candidates are locked in a virtual tie for the lead in the crowded primary field, according to Decision Desk HQ’s polling aggregator: New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores leads with 18.9 percent, fellow Assemblymember Micah Lasher gets 18 percent,and Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg follows with 17.2 percent. 

George Conway, the former GOP attorney-turned Trump critic, comes in fourth with 10.9 percent. Schlossberg started off with an early lead but has since seen his numbers decline. Bores led in three recent polls, while Lasher led in the most recent Emerson poll. 

This race also has exposed divisions within the Democratic Party: Bores is backed by labor and teacher unions, progressive groups and former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who represented part of the district for three decades before redistricting forced her and Nadler into a 2022 primary.  

Lasher, meanwhile, collected endorsements from Nadler, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and independent former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has thrown her weight behind former President John F. Kennedy’s only living grandson. 

Moderate Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) faces a challenge from the left in former Assemblymember Michael Blake, who battled Torres in 2020 for the nomination in the 15th Congressional District. Mamdani has not weighed in........

© The Hill