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Claire Valdez Is Making All the Right Enemies

The RNC keeps attacking the popular ideas of a democratic socialist who is running for Congress in New York City.

New York State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez speaks at the “New York Is Not For Sale” rally at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens.

Claire Valdez must be doing something right. The veteran union organizer and New York State Assembly member is a leading contender in the Democratic primary for the open House seat in New York’s Seventh Congressional District—a multiracial, multiethnic New York City constituency that regularly gives Democratic nominees 65 percent of the vote or more. It’s not the kind of race where Republicans are particularly competitive, or where they show much interest in what Democratic candidates have to say. And yet, the Republican National Committee’s research department has made attacking Valdez a priority.

On Monday, the RNC took to Elon Musk’s X platform to post a video of Valdez declaring, “I’m a union organizer and a proud democratic socialist”—and then rip into her for celebrating the fact that members of Democratic Socialists of America, including her top political ally, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, are winning major races in New York and across the country. Later, Republicans posted another video of Valdez speaking to a New York City Democratic Socialists event and announced: “New York Democrat Socialist Congressional candidate Claire Valdez lays out her radical agenda: ‘So, are we ready to free Palestine, are we ready to Abolish ICE[,] are we ready to win Medicare for all, housing for all, and unions for all?”

Presumably, that message from the party of Donald Trump was supposed to scare voters away from backing Valdez in her June 23 primary contest with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso—or, if she’s nominated, in November, But it is hard to see the logic of the GOP strategy.

Look at the polls. People in New York and nationwide actually like human rights. They don’t want immigrants to be targeted by ICE. They know that major steps must be taken to deliver quality healthcare and housing. And they love strong unions.

Perhaps those are radical ideas.

But they are also radically popular—so much so that Justice Democrats, the group that helped elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Summer Lee to the US House and that now hopes to elect Valdez, reposted the RNC’s fearmongering with a reminder that the candidate’s platform is “just that good.” Valdez also boosted the RNC message, gleefully adding, “I’m ready!”

The bizarre thing about this and other conservative attacks on democratic socialists who are mounting serious campaigns this year—including Wisconsin State Representative Francesca Hong, who is a top contender for the Democratic nomination for governor in her state; Pennsylvania State Representative Chris Rabb, who has already secured........

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