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The race splitting Zohran Mamdani’s coalition

New York’s 7th District primary is pitting progressives against democratic socialists.

The gradations of Democratic blue are on display in New York’s congressional primaries this Tuesday, where high-profile races are already highlighting the party’s emerging divisions over how to regulate artificial intelligence, immigration enforcement, and the United States’ relationship with Israel.

The primaries are also an important test of political strength for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the emerging socialist left. Mamdani has thrown his weight behind three congressional candidates in particular: former New York City comptroller Brad Lander and two democratic socialists, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Lander, Mamdani’s (amicable) onetime rival in last year’s mayoral race, is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman from the left in New York’s 10th District, while Valdez is running for an open seat in New York’s 7th District. Avila Chevalier, like Goldman, is hoping to unseat an incumbent Democrat, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, in New York’s 13th.

A big new test of Zohran Mamdani’s influence

Some of Mamdani’s onetime allies, however, have ended up on the wrong side of his play to cement his influence over Democratic politics in New York City. Espaillat, a five-term incumbent and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, endorsed Mamdani ahead of last year’s mayoral general election (he had backed Mamdani’s rival Andrew Cuomo in the primary). And Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president running against Valdez in New York’s 7th, was an early Mamdani supporter.

Reynoso is a particularly noteworthy case. He was hand-chosen by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a key Mamdani endorser who has represented New York’s 7th District since 2013. But Reynoso and Velázquez are Working Families Party Democrats, not democratic socialist........

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