New York’s left-leaning Working Families Party on Monday threw its weight behind Antonio Reynoso in a closely watched Democratic House primary, breaking with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his handpicked candidate.
The endorsement is likely to give Mr. Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, a fresh jolt of momentum in the Brooklyn and Queens district. A nod from the party typically comes with volunteers, money and clout among progressives.
But in this case, the process also laid bare the challenge ahead for Mr. Mamdani as he tries to use his newfound political influence as mayor to elevate fellow democratic socialists in congressional and state races across the city.
The mayor and his advisers worked behind the scenes as the endorsement meeting approached, trying to persuade party leaders to back Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a fellow member of the Democratic Socialists of America whom Mr. Mamdani recruited to run, according to five people familiar with the calls.
Later, when it became clear that Ms. Valdez had little chance of receiving the endorsement, the mayor’s team lobbied influential labor unions and advocacy groups that are part of the party to push for Working Families to stay on the sidelines instead, the people said.
Jasmine Gripper, the Working Families Party’s director, minimized the break with Mr. Mamdani after Monday’s vote. In an interview, she said that Mr. Reynoso, 42, had a long progressive track record that had earned him the loyalty of the party’s members and the district’s retiring congresswoman, Nydia M. Velázquez.
“Antonio has the record of delivering for our communities,” Ms. Gripper said. “That put him head and shoulders above others, and got him the overwhelming majority of the vote.”
Ms. Gripper did not criticize Ms. Valdez, 36, who is still serving her first term in Albany representing parts of Queens.
“At the end of the day, Zohran is an individual who gets to weigh in as an individual,” Ms. Gripper added, saying that the party represented a broader set of interests.
Morris Katz, a top adviser to Mr. Mamdani who is working on Ms. Valdez’s campaign, played down the endorsement, saying the mayor had faced “the same obstacles” and won. (In the Democratic mayoral primary, the Working Families Party endorsed a slate of candidates that included Mr. Mamdani.)
“Personal relationships and institutional connections play a significant role in these kinds of decisions,” Mr. Katz said. “But voters understand the urgent need to fundamentally change who has power in this country, and because of that, Claire Valdez will be a member of Congress come next year.”
The influence of the Working Families Party, a longstanding pillar of the progressive left, has ebbed and flowed in recent years amid strategy disputes and a shifting political spectrum.
In New York City, it helped unify the left to elect Mr. Mamdani last year, but some of the most energetic young leftists — including the mayor himself — have more closely identified with the Democratic Socialists of America, swelling its ranks and its role in city politics. More recently, one of Working Families’ own organizers, Analilia Mejia, won a major upset victory in the House primary for a Democratic-leaning seat in New Jersey.
The race in New York’s Seventh District is one of a handful of high-profile Democratic House primaries playing out across the city this June.
The Working Families leadership decided on Monday not to take a position yet in the crowded Democratic race to succeed Representative Jerrold Nadler, who is retiring after decades representing the 12th District in Manhattan. Mr. Mamdani has not publicly backed a candidate in that race.
The party and Mr. Mamdani are aligned in other contests. Most notably, they are both supporting Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, in his primary challenge against Representative Daniel Goldman.
The race to succeed Ms. Velázquez has become a different story. While the other contests involve moderates running against progressives, the race pits left against farther left, and it has gotten ugly at times. (City Councilwoman Julie Won is also running.)
Ms. Velázquez, who has publicly taken umbrage at Mr. Mamdani’s lobbying for Ms. Valdez, was whipping votes for Mr. Reynoso, according to two of the people familiar with the process, who like the others requested anonymity to discuss the private vote.
Mr. Mamdani also sought to influence a Working Families endorsement process earlier this month, when he helped persuade party members not to endorse Gov. Kathy Hochul’s primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who soon dropped out of the race.
This time, the mayor had less time to appeal to party members before the endorsement vote because he was busy responding to the blizzard that blanketed the city Sunday and Monday.
Factions within the party had split in private over how to approach the endorsement.
Rank-and-file members of the party’s local chapters initially voted in favor of Ms. Valdez, who also picked up some support from labor unions in the party, according to two of the people familiar with the process. But other unions stayed neutral and advocacy groups, many of whom had already endorsed Mr. Reynoso on their own, helped put him over the top in the party’s weighted voting system.
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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