NEW YORK — Two anti-Israel candidates backed by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, Claire Valdez and Darializa Chevalier, won their Democratic Party congressional primaries in New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning sweep for candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

In addition to Valdez and Chevalier, Mamdani had endorsed Brad Lander, a Jewish leftist and Israel critic who also won his primary race.

Mamdani campaigned heavily for the three candidates, who all made anti-Israel rhetoric a prominent focus of their campaigns.

Their wins indicated that Mamdani’s upset win in last year’s mayoral race was not a one-off and will likely extend the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) movement’s reach in Congress.

The three candidates are the presumed winners of the November general election in their Democratic districts.

Valdez defeated Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn Borough president, by a wide margin of around 56 percent to 36%, in New York’s 7th Congressional District in parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

Both Valdez and Reynoso are progressives, but Valdez leaned more into anti-Israel discourse during the campaign and benefited from Mamdani’s star power.

Valdez attacked Reynoso for not accusing Israel of genocide early enough and falsely suggested Reynoso had received funding from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

Chevalier’s win was the most clear-cut example of the DSA’s insurgent rise in the Democratic Party.

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.

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 Times of Israel