Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist assemblywoman and close ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won the Democratic nomination for an open House seat in Brooklyn and Queens on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
The outcome was an important show of strength for Mr. Mamdani and the democratic socialist movement that has been gaining ground in New York. Together, they recruited Ms. Valdez and helped muscle her past a more experienced progressive opponent.
Ms. Valdez, 36, is now the clear favorite to win the solidly Democratic seat in November. She is running at a time when there are just two members of the Democratic Socialists of America in the House, and she has vowed to be a nuisance for Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the party leader and a fellow New Yorker.
The outcome was not looking close. With 69 percent of the vote counted, Ms. Valdez had 58 percent of the vote, compared with 32 percent for her main rival, the Brooklyn borough president, Antonio Reynoso. A third candidate, Councilwoman Julie Won, had secured about 7 percent of the vote.
The race was among a handful of closely watched House primaries taking place across the city and state on Tuesday. But unlike others, where left-leaning Democrats faced off against relatively moderate foes, the contest in New York’s Seventh District turned left against further left and drove a painful wedge between socialists and progressives.
It began last winter when Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a trailblazing Puerto Rican progressive, unexpectedly announced her retirement after three decades representing one of the most left-leaning seats in Congress.
The district, nicknamed the “Commie Corridor,” includes neighborhoods filled with young, college-educated voters, like Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Long Island City. About a third of its residents are Latino and live in neighborhoods like Sunnyside in Queens and Cypress Hills in Brooklyn.
Mr. Mamdani threw himself into the contest with unusual vigor. In addition to helping recruit Ms. Valdez, a union organizer and outspoken critic of Israel, he raised money for her campaign, appeared in ads and helped rally an army of young volunteers.
But the mayor’s speed in getting involved and his choice of candidate infuriated Ms. Velázquez, who had hoped one of her protégés would succeed her and had counted on the mayor’s deference after she lent him early support in the mayoral race.
Ms. Velázquez responded by backing Mr. Reynoso. (She has said she barely knew Ms. Valdez.) Most major labor unions, the Working Families Party and most of the city’s left-leaning Black and Latino leadership followed suit, arguing that more old-school progressives had paved the way for Mr. Mamdani and the D.S.A.
Ms. Valdez countered that those groups might have more experience, but they lacked the boldness and vision to meet the district’s mounting challenges. She has promised to fight to give the government a far greater role in housing construction and energy production, and she wants to shrink the size of the private sector.
Both sides, though, agreed that Mr. Mamdani’s overwhelmingly popularity in the area was the most important factor. Internal polls for both campaigns showed that Mr. Reynoso led in early balloting, but after voters were told the mayor was with Ms. Valdez, she pulled into the lead.
Still, the race surfaced painful tensions tied up in the district’s rapid demographic transformation that are unlikely to go away any time soon.
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