Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City

Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander attend a watch party in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday after Lander’s win in the primary election. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters View image in fullscreen Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander attend a watch party in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday after Lander’s win in the primary election. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg fails to advance in election to replace Jerry Nadler in Manhattan district Zohran Mamdani ’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries. Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman. Claire Valdez, a state lawmaker and former union organizer, defeated Antonio Reynoso in New York’s seventh district, which encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens and is currently held by the retiring 17-term Democrat Nydia Velázquez. Reynoso had been endorsed by Velázquez and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader who has sought to push back against the party’s left wing. And in a stunning upset, the public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated the five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat in the state’s 13th congressional district. Mamdani had waded into the primaries earlier this year, spending his political capital to boost three leftwing allies – a gamble that would test his popularity and his influence. With his slate of candidates all but certain to be elected to Congress in November, Mamdani has left his stamp on the state’s congressional delegation and expanded his ascendant progressive movement. Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F Kennedy, failed in his bid for the House of Representatives on Tuesday night, proving that there are limits to the influence of the US’s most vaunted political family. In a contest that was closely watched nationwide, Schlossberg, 33, had hoped to benefit from his huge social media and his charismatic campaigning, but he came up short in a crowded field of Democrats hoping to succeed the long-serving representative Jerry Nadler in one of the country’s bluest districts. Micah Lasher, a longtime New York politician and self-described “nerd” , won the primary in New York’s 12th district and will be the heavy favorite to win the safely Democratic district in the November midterm election. New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump Read more On Long Island, the Democratic freshmen representatives Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen easily fended off primary challenges as they prepare to defend their swing-district seats in November. Cait Conley, the former White House counter-terrorism official and army combat veteran, won a competitive Democrat