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Progressives pulled off a slew of victories in Tuesday’s primaries as the Democratic Party inches – nay, sprints - farther to the left. Nowhere was this shift clearer than New York, where socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dominated their respective contests.
NY Primaries: Mamdani Dominates
Mamdani flexed his democratic-socialist muscles on Tuesday as three of the candidates he endorsed sailed to victory in the Empire State.
The former comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander, trounced incumbent Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District primary. According to Decision Desk HQ, Lander won nearly two-thirds of the vote.
Claire Valdez, a state legislator whose calls for “Medicare for All” and a “public option for housing” earned Mamdani’s praise, is projected to win against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in New York’s 7th District. Reynoso was backed by the district’s retiring representative, Nydia Velázquez, as well as several city leaders.
Mamdani’s pick for the 13th Congressional District, Darializa Avila Chevalier of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), defeated 10-year incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat.
Mamdani’s sweep of the Empire State’s primaries all but confirms a leftward shift among Democrats as voters embrace the party’s socialist wing, which has no shortage of extreme viewpoints. The DSA’s own website brags about a commission it says is the “largest hub for grassroots trans rights organizing in America.” Then there’s the DSA’s Housing Justice Commission, which promotes the establishment of “organized tenant militancy” to use “our working class power in everyday struggles against landlords, developers and other real estate capitalists.” This barely scratches the surface of the DSA, yet it’s what many New Yorkers apparently prefer to more moderate candidates.
South Carolina
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, defeating the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, in a runoff. Evette, who beat her competitor in the state’s primary with almost 29% of the vote to his 26%, said she was disappointed by the loss, but urged South Carolinians to vote for Wilson in the fall.
“It’s OK to be disappointed. Lord knows that I am. But in just a few months, there’s going to be a general election, and the choice in that general election is going to be between conservative principles and a Democratic Party that wants the exact opposite for South Carolina,” Evette said.
In a surprising move, President Donald Trump endorsed both Wilson and Evette days before the election, writing on Truth Social, “It’s a Wealth of Riches – With either one you can’t go wrong.”
Maryland
A crowded race of more than 20 candidates ended in victory for Adrian Boafo, who won the Democratic Party nomination for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. Former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and former US Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn were among those hoping to replace Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Democrat who announced in January his intention to retire after over forty years in Congress.
Socialism Rising
While socialists racked up their biggest wins in New York, there’s little doubt the party’s far-left wing is gaining steam nationally. Conservative political strategist Scott Jennings warned that the results in the Empire State’s primaries could inspire socialist candidates nationwide.
“Michigan is a great example. There’s a Senate primary going on there, and I think Abdul El-Sayed is ahead in that, he has a great chance to win. He’s exactly like these socialist candidates in New York City,” Jennings observed.
Democrats may be signaling a growing preference for socialism, but Americans as a whole still largely reject the political and economic system. According to the most recent available data from Gallup, Americans “remain more negative (57%) than positive (39%) toward socialism, with little movement in these attitudes over time.”
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