Leftists who want to abolish prisons, billionaires, and U.S. aid to Israel are spearheading a nationwide “hostile takeover,” as their critics put it, of the Democratic Party.
Their latest and most high-profile victory came Tuesday in New York, where New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “team” of House candidates all won Democratic primaries—bolstering the party’s anti-Zionist, defund-the-police wing.
One of the candidates—Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organizer—has refused to condemn Hamas. Another candidate—Claire Valdez, a state assembly member—featured anti-Israel demonstrator Mahmoud Khalil, who the Trump administration has tried to deport, at her campaign launch party; “Free Palestine” appears on Valdez’s campaign signs.
Both are emblematic of the new breed of radical candidates: They have elite credentials—including Chevalier’s undergraduate degree from Columbia—but call themselves working-class, and they are women of color, which appeals to the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) overwhelmingly white, urban, well-credentialed but downwardly mobile base.
In New York’s 13th Congressional District, which encompasses much of upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, Chevalier narrowly defeated longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
