House Democrats brace for headaches with growing left wing

The election of a trio of far-left candidates in New York’s primaries could create headaches for House Democratic leadership determined to stage a unified and effective pushback to President Trump should the party retake the chamber.

Recent years under Republican leadership have shown the power a small but united group of House members can wield within their party, and many House Democrats say they are wary of replicating that chaos and seeing their own plans repeatedly brought to a standstill.

“I hope that it doesn’t happen, because I hope we’re not like the MAGAs. You can’t criticize the MAGAs and then be like the MAGAs,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who if the Democrats take the House would be poised to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“That’s why we have the most unproductive Congress right now. And the Republicans are all disorganized because of that. We shouldn’t be that. We want to be the opposite of that … That’s not who we should be, so I hope by looking at their example, we’re not trying to be what they are; you got to be something different.”

Voters selected three candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), toppling two progressive incumbents in a state where the Democratic primaries all but ensure they will ascend to Congress. 

Darializa Avila Chevalier, who defeated Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat, and Claire Valdez are both democratic socialists, while Brad Lander, a former Democratic Socialists of America member, pushed out progressive Rep. Dan Goldman.

“The fascinating part to me is Adriano Espaillat is a progressive Democrat, Dan Goldman is a progressive Democrat,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said.

“These are not moderates, these are not centrists, and yet that was not good enough for the socialists.”

Some progressives said they felt buoyed by the victory, seeing a chance to push for bolder policies in the new Congress.

“I think a lot of times people come into office, and particularly I would say at the leadership levels, there’s this call to moderate because we’re a big tent. But if the big tent is representing people, no matter what district you’re from, that wants universal healthcare, that wants a higher minimum wage, that wants universal childcare, all of those things, then we shouldn’t be moderating, we should be going for those big policies and helping people to see that that is actually really popular in districts across the country,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who previously served as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“And so, having that ability to form a voting bloc, a bigger voting bloc, and a stronger voting bloc, which is how we got Build Back Better passed in the House when I was chair of the Progressive Caucus, allows us to continue to push for truly transformational policies.”

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)........

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