Mamdani ally Claire Valdez captures congressional seat

The crowd at Assembly Member Claire Valdez’s watch party at 99 Scott in East Williamsburg broke into uproarious chants of “DSA! DSA!” as Valdez won a commanding victory over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the Democratic primary for New York’s 7th Congressional District – in case anyone had any doubt which organization is now the leader of the city’s progressive movement.

NY1 called the race for Valdez just before 9:30 p.m. With 88% of scanners reporting, Valdez had 58% of the vote while Reynoso trailed with just 33%. New York City Council Member Julie Won sat in a distant third with 7%. Reynoso’s partygoers were notably quiet on the results, which came before the candidate even arrived at his own event.

The race has been expected to be close, but Valdez blew Reynoso out of the water – cementing the influence of Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. Valdez’s coalition, which included the lefty United Auto Workers in addition to the mayor and NYC-DSA, steamrolled the combined might of New York City’s institutional progressive left –including the Working Families Party, most unions, and even Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who endorsed Reynoso as her preferred successor – that had lined up behind Reynoso.

The bitter primary kicked off late last year after Velázquez unexpectedly announced her retirement. The veteran congressional representative, a stalwart progressive affectionately known as “La Luchadora,” reportedly met with Mamdani to try to figure out a successor who would be acceptable to both her supporters and to the ascendant socialist movement. 

One potential compromise pick was state Sen. Julia Salazar, who was both a close Velázquez ally and one of DSA’s State Socialists in Office, but she took herself out of the running. As Mamdani and DSA went all-in on Valdez, who had little to no relationship with Velázquez, the retiring congressional representative broke with Mamdani to back Reynoso instead.

The race soon became a proxy battle for leadership of the city’s progressive movement between the socialist left and the institutional progressive left. The former backed Valdez, while the latter lined up behind Reynoso. The primary was further shaken up by the entry of Won, a self-described “independent progressive” who cut into both Valdez and Reynoso’s vote share.

The differences between Valdez and Reynoso, the two leading candidates, came down to political commitments and temperament, rather than policy. Both called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and pledged to oppose all military aid to Israel, but Valdez’s supporters made much of the fact that Reynoso only began calling it a genocide when he started running for Congress.

Ultimately, the main difference between the two candidates came down to their coalitions: Valdez had the full support of Mamdani, an immensely popular and well-respected figure within the district, and NYC-DSA, which has the best volunteer canvassing operation in New York politics; while Reynoso had progressive accomplishments and trusted local relationships stretching back decades.

The district is where Reynoso was born and raised –  it covers ground from Bushwick, Fort Greene and East New York all the way to Long Island City, Astoria and Ridgewood – while Valdez only moved into the district in 2019. While it might have seemed that would have given Reynoso a homecourt advantage, Valdez’s campaign won out.