Despite widespread media coverage to the contrary, this week’s elections in New York did not remake the Democratic Party. But the reaction to them offers a clear window into how the right is preparing for the battles ahead — not primarily at the ballot box, but in the courts, and not only over policy, but over the very definition of the electorate itself. The response illustrates how seamlessly conservative media has fused attacks on democratic socialism with one of its central narratives of the Trump era: the great replacement theory.
Three candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose upset election last year dramatically reshaped New York politics, prevailed in Democratic congressional primaries. Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in Manhattan and Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District. In the 13th District, community and union organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated the veteran establishment figure Rep. Adriano Espaillat. State assembly member Claire Valdez won decisively in the open seventh District. Because all three districts are overwhelmingly Democratic, each is heavily favored to win in November.
