New York is trembling. Tuesday’s primary elections exposed what many refused to see: the Democratic Party establishment is mortally wounded. Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor, and his Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) troops achieved a sweeping victory that smells of popular revenge.
The numbers don’t lie. In District 10, Brad Lander — a former DSA member who left the party after October 7 but now denounces the genocide in Gaza — trounced incumbent Dan Goldman, an apologist for the massacre in Palestine. Lander promised to cut all arms shipments to Israel, including the Iron Dome. A low blow for the war hawks.
But the biggest surprise came from District 13, which is majority Hispanic. Darializa Ávila Chevalier, a Palestinian activist with no prior political experience, defeated the all-powerful Adriano Espaillat, who had been in Congress for ten years and chaired the Hispanic Caucus. Espaillat had received over $600,000 from pro-Israel committees to stop her. It wasn’t enough. Not even his past tweeting «Fuck Kamala Harris» worked against him. On the contrary: anger at the Democratic leadership and its support for genocide gave her wings.
In District 7, Claire Valdez, also from the DSA, crushed establishment candidate Antonio Reynoso, despite union backing and support from the Working Families Party. The millions from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and other anti-socialist super PACs couldn’t buy the outcome.
In addition to congressional seats, the DSA won six primaries for the State Legislature. By January, they are expected to have 15 representatives in Albany. Mamdani’s power is growing like foam.
But not everything is rosy. These candidates operate within the limits of capitalism. Their platforms — universal healthcare, free education, public housing, ending ICE and deportations, freedom for Palestine — are social democratic, not socialist. As the more radical say: you can’t build socialism within an imperialist party or defeat capitalism in Congress. New York’s left will have to decide whether to use these victories to organize the working class or to remain in a mere electoral game.
What is certain is that the message from the ballot box is clear: people are fed up. Fed up with impossible rents, brutal inequality, their taxes financing bombs in Gaza, and ICE persecuting their neighbors. National polls already showed that only 42% of Democratic voters view capitalism favorably, while 66% support socialism. Even among Republicans and independents, socialism hovers around 40% support, the highest level since it has been measured.
Mamdani’s victory in 2025 was no coincidence. It was the tip of the iceberg of a discontent that now explodes in the primaries. The Democratic establishment, with its war hawks and pockets full of Zionist money, is on the ropes. The question is whether the left will know how to capitalize on this wave or let itself be swallowed by the system.
Para mí este Mamdani es un pibe de los nuestros, barrió con toda la mugre yankee del establishment. ¡Qué se vayan a llorar a la yeca los demócratas vendepatria! La gente está harta de alquileres de locura y guerras, y este pibe le pone el cuerpo. Vamos carajo, la izquierda no para, es una tromba. ¡Viva la lucha socialista! Firmado: El Che de la esquina.
kjjjj mira estos zurditos festejando a mamdani un comunistoide que quiere regalarle tu laburo a los ilegales en ny se van a cagar de hambre con sus ideas delirantes vuelvan a la escuela no entienden un carajo de la vida real firma el argento antiprogre