Democrats were shocked when a trio of anti-Israel, socialist candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept Tuesday’s New York House Primary races, warning their ascendance represents a changing of the guard for the party as voters embrace the far left.
“The roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight,” progressive political activist and CNN commentator Van Jones told Kaitlan Collins as election results rolled in.
“And you can’t write off New York City because this … is a power center for the establishment and the insurgency. And they’re going head to head tonight,” he said.
“And right now, this is no longer a movement. This is a movement and a machine at the same time. And there’s just no way to sugarcoat this: if Mamdani pulls off a hat trick this is a new era in Democratic Party politics.”
Former NYC comptroller Brad Lander trounced Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th District, while radical leftist and Democratic Socialists of America-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier pulled off a stunning AOC-style upset over Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th.
Rep. Claire Valdez steamrolled over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the 7th by more than 20 points.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), whose independent streak has rankled his own party since his own surprise victory in 2022, didn’t hold back in voicing his consternation about Tuesday’s results when speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“This has become the dancing days of the dirtbag left,” he said.
“Some of these candidates are outrageous. You have candidates, they [want to] abolish ICE, abolish police, abolish the border. She even said ‘f Kamala Harris’ and more of these outrageous kinds of things,” the senator said, referencing a deleted, expletive-laced social media post by Chevalier in 2021.
Fetterman spared some ire for leftist kingmaker Mamdani, whom he said was “grieving a Hamas sniper who [was] killed by Israel just the other day,” referring to Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Wishah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike and Israel Defense Forces claimed was a Hamas triggerman.
He said the slate of candidates who won their races represent the “full pro-Hamas wing” of the party who have declared “war on regular Democrats.”