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Mamdani and the DSA Just Sent a Seismic Message: The Revolution Is Here to Stay

A stunning trio of congressional victories proved that the political earthquake the mayor and his allies ushered in was no fluke.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrates with Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier during an election night watch party Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in New York.

A new mayor trying to flex his political muscle across New York City could hardly dream up a night this glorious.

Zohran Mamdani backed three insurgent candidates for Congress in high-profile primaries that enraged the Democratic establishment. All three—Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier—won smashing victories. For Mamdani, it was proof that the political revolution he launched last year is still very much alive. For the Democratic Socialists of America, which put its organizational muscle behind most of these races, the results were evidence of its ever-increasing ascendancy in New York City politics. And for the city’s traditional political firmament, the night showed how frail its grip on power is becoming.

Lander’s victory over incumbent Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District is the least surprising. Even without Mamdani, the former city comptroller and mayoral candidate might have dethroned Goldman, who was too much of an Israel hawk to represent the district, which spans Lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. Lander was a known, already-beloved quantity in the district, and he was well-positioned from the moment he announced his bid.

Valdez and Avila Chevalier were another matter entirely. The former had not even completed one term in the state Assembly, and the latter is a doctoral student at CUNY who had never run for office. Without Mamdani and the DSA machine, they would likely have been obliterated by their respective opponents, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and incumbent Representative Adriano Espaillat.

Both men were in seemingly formidable positions headed into the primary. Reynoso had the endorsement of the district’s legendary retiring congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, as well as the backing of most major labor unions and the Working Families Party. He grew up in the district, represented portions of it for eight years in the City Council, and in a pre-Mamdani world, would have breezed to victory.

While Reynoso was a de facto incumbent, Espaillat was the literal sitting congressman, having represented the 13th Congressional District, covering upper Manhattan and the Bronx, for a decade. Before that, he spent many years as a state legislator and had methodically built an uptown, Dominican American political machine that appeared, for a period, unassailable. In a potentially fateful decision, Espaillat supported Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary last year but flipped to Mamdani in the general, hoping that would be enough to save himself. (Disclosure: In 2018, when I ran for he state........

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