Mamdani picks winners in three New York House races

This message comes from the Southern Environmental Law Center. No one voted for dirty air and water. That's why SELC is fighting back to defend the healthy environment everyone depends on. Because it's not political. It's fundamental. Learn more at selc.org. It's Tam, and there were big wins last night for congressional candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. And there were primaries in Utah and Maryland and a runoff in South Carolina, too. I always love it when we have election results, and we've got those on today's pod.

So let's get to it. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. I'm Alina Moore. I also cover politics. And I'm John Campbell from New York Public Radio. Today on the show, we're exploring what these primary results tell us about the direction of the Democratic Party and this November's midterms.

So, John, tell us about these races. where Zohran Mamdani played Kingmaker. Yeah, and Kingmaker's the right term for it because he made three congressional endorsements and he went three for three. You've got New York 13, that's in Upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx. That's where community organizer Dari Elisa Avelia

Chevalier ousted a powerful incumbent in Adriano Espionto, who's the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. This is a race where Zohran Mamdani endorsed in the closing weeks of the campaign and seemed to really give a boost to Avila Chavillier. You've got the 10th district. This is Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. That's where former city controller Brad Lander really took it to Dan Goldman, the incumbent.

Over in Brooklyn and Queens, you've got the seventh district where state assembly member Claire Valdez won in a three-way race. Valdez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, as is Zohran Mamdani. So is Daria Liza Avila Chevalier. and this was really a moment for for Zohran Mamdani to flex his political muscle. I mean, he is a significant figure on the political left and he really cemented his status as that last night, at least in New York City, in these more liberal areas of New York City. He picked candidates that were up against the establishment, you know, two incumbents and a third candidate in Antonio Reynoso in the 7th district that was backed by Nydia Velasquez, the longtime incumbent representative, retiring. So, yeah, this was really a test of Zohran Mamdani's political strength, and he came out on top.

And he celebrated it. Yeah, Zohran Mamdani showed up at all three victory parties, and he was really trying to make the case that this is something big. What you all have shown this evening, whether for state assembly, state senate or Congress, is that a year ago, it was not the end of a political movement. It was the beginning. And, you know, another important thing out of these races is it wasn't just that Zohran Mamdani backed candidates that have pretty similar core values to the ones he ran on last year. It's that Zohran Mamdani actively broke with Democratic leaders. And New York is important for a lot of reasons to have the best sports teams in the country. And otherwise, it's also a place where the top Democratic leaders are based.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader, Hakeasy. Hakeem Jeffries, they are both based in New York City. That did not stop Zohran Mamdani from paving his own path and supporting who he wanted. He actively broke with Hakeem Jeffries in multiple of these races where Hakeem Jeffries backed incumbents who lost to Zohran Mamdani's preferred candidates. He also broke with longtime progressives that are really revered in the area. I'm thinking of Nadia Velasquez, who is retiring. Zohran Mamdani did not support the candidate that she supported. That's pretty politically really risky for any politician to do, let alone someone who has only been in office for less than seven months.

Elena, can you talk about what the issues were in these races? Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that some of the same divisive issues that are reverberating throughout the Democratic Party around the country were front and center in New York. And that's everything from the role of tech companies and outside groups spending in elections, to views about Israel and how critical to be about Israel's actions in Gaza, to calls for generational change and passing the baton to a next generation of leaders or a more progressive generation of leaders. And literally all of those themes that we've talked about on the

rooted and not black and white this issue is for so many Democrats. And obviously that is a big issue. Another issue that we've been talking about a lot in so many primaries is affordability. How did that issue play in these races, John? You know, in these three races in particular, it was an issue, but it seemed to kind of take a back seat to that Israel God. Gaza's situation that Elena was just talking about. And, you know, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, when he was elected last year, it was on an unrelenting focus on issues of affordability. He was also, you know, very outspoken about the war in Gaza. But, you know, it was affordability, affordability, affordability.

It was less of a focus in these three Democratic primaries, but perhaps more of a focus in other areas of the state where there were other primaries that that didn't have, say, a Democratic socialist running in. in them and it was more of a moderate affair. Let's go to New York 12, which we talked about a lot on the podcast yesterday. It is a race where there was a lot of AI money involved. It was a very expensive race because the artificial intelligence industry spent a ton of money. John, walk us through that race. Yeah, this is when the dust settles, this is going to be one of, if not the most

expensive house primaries in history. I mean, it was not a race that Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed in, despite living in that district in Gracie Mansion. But this is a really, really highly sought after district. It has all of Midtown Manhattan, the Upper East Side, the upper west side. And you're succeeding Jerry Nadler, who was kind of this progressive lion in New York. And you had eight candidates in the race. Michael Lashir came out on top. He's a state assembly member. He was backed by Mayor Bloomberg, who put $10 million into a super PAC supporting him. And he was really more of an establishment figure. But that said, there were a few establishment of figures in this race. There wasn't really the DSA-backed candidate. This wasn't a race that

they really got involved in. But Michael Asher came on top. He beat Alex Boris, a fellow state assembly member who was the subject of that AI spending. He passed an AI regulatory bill. in Albany last year and just tens of millions of dollars were spent on him either in support or opposition from various factions of the AI industry. But ultimately it was Lashar who came out on top. He is very much an establishment figure. He worked for Mayor Bloomberg. He worked for Governor Hokel. He worked for Jerry Nadler. So this was one where the establishment came on on top. New York 12 is a good example of something we've seen in other like very, very blue districts around the country, which is when a.

long time Democrat decides to pass the baton, it seems like the party doesn't exactly know what to do. You know, I think we saw that in Chicago in a lot of districts where there were long time liberal members who have decided to step down after decades. And we saw these races of like dozens really hungry to step up. And we saw that, I think, in this district where there was really a slew of names from obviously Boris and Lashar. But then you also literally have to be a lot of had the grandson of John F. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running, Jack Schlossberg. You had George Conway, who's the ex-husband of Kelly N. Conway, the former Trump advisor. And, you know, on top of that, I would just say it's another example where we saw this idea of name recognition kind of like not being as big of a deal

as maybe it could seem to be. Because in the end, this ended up going to the establishment pick, which is a rarity in yesterday's races when you look at who won elsewhere. John, can we turn further upstate and talk about the Republican side of the coin? We have New York 21, which has been represented for quite some time by Elise Stefanik, Congresswoman, who had close ties first to establishment Republicans and then later to President Trump. She ultimately decided not to run again. And there was a fight to replace her. And it was sort of a maga. versus establishment fight. Yeah, and this is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum of the Zohran Mamdani as Kingmaker debate or discussion, I should say, because this is one where President Trump as Kingmaker really played a big role here. He backed a man named Anthony Constantino. He is a businessman.

A few years ago, he came out really pro-Trump to the point where he put up a huge vote-for-Trump sign on his building in Amsterdam, New York. It's visible from the highway. I mean, you can't miss this thing. So, you know, he had a statue of Trump made. He made an album of all these pro-Trump songs. And it really seemed designed to get Donald Trump's attention. And it worked. Donald Trump endorsed him.

And that really put him over the top against Robert Smollin, who's a state assembly member who ran a more low-key campaign, certainly not as flashy. And this is, you know, Constantino came out ahead and defeated the candidate. that was favored by the New York establishment Republicans. And he's going to be running against a Democrat by the name of Blake Jendeby. And this is one where Democrats are hoping maybe they can flip. But this is a district that has gone pretty red the last several cycles. Yeah. And that had been a relatively purpleish district, but in recent years has gotten very red.

All right. We're going to take a quick break. We will have more in a moment about what this all means for the future of the Democratic Party. This message comes from Rosetta Stone and their newest language. language learning experience Rosetta Stone Sapphire. Get unlimited access to all 25 Rosetta Stone Languages and Sapphire Learning Tools. Visit rosettastone.com slash NPR and receive 20% off. This message comes from Better Health. Summer can feel like a sprint. Kids home, trips to plan, routines flipped upside down. It's easy to slip into survival mode, just trying to get through it.

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do about it. A.I. on, risk off. Vanta.com slash TPRM. And we're back. And there's one more race that we are following. That is in New York 17th Congressional District. Representative Mike Lawler is the Republican congressman who represents that district, it is considered to be one of the best pick up opportunities for Democrats in this midterm season. John, tell us about the race to take on Mike Lawler. Yeah, this was a really crowded primary. It was a five-way primary for the right to take on Mike Mike Lawler in November. And this district is very different from those New York liberal districts that we were talking about earlier. This is in the New York City. suburbs. It's got Westchester County, part of Westchester County, Rockland County. And this is

more of a purple district. This is more of a toss-up district. Kate Conley is a military veteran. She's got degrees from MIT in Harvard. She was a counterterrorism official in the Biden administration. She came out on top. She defeated Beth Davidson, who is a local county lawmaker and some more progressive challenges in Effie Phillips Staley. And this is one where a moderate came out on top. Kate Conley is more moderate than a lot of those candidates we were talking about earlier that Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed. And this is going to be

a tight race. I mean, it is, as you said, one of the biggest Democratic pickup opportunities in the country. However, it was two years ago, too. And Mike Lawler came out on top. And two years before that, he defeated Sean Patrick Maloney, who was the head of the D-Triple C at the time. So

Mike Lawler is a formidable opponent here. There's a Democratic enrollment edge, but the district has shown to vote more in a purple manner than perhaps the enrollment numbers suggest. And President Trump recently campaigned with Mike Lawler, which I thought was incredibly interesting because it is such a purple district and because he has it many times tried to distance himself at least a little bit. He's not one of the candidates hugging the president. Oh, yeah. This is like totally a double-edged sword for Mike Lawler because he both needs to keep his support with Trump. but he also needs to show New Yorkers who might not be happy with the state of the country in Trump's second term that he understands their pain here.

So, you know, it's really interesting looking at New York City and comparing it to this race because, you know, the issues are being talked about differently, but they are still similar issues, which is there is widespread economic strife, financial concern about, you know, affordability. And Mike Lawler is going to have to tow a line here that most other lawmakers in this country do not. have to tow. Because most other lawmakers in this country are not in districts where there's any suspense about what way it's going to go because there's so much partisan polarization at this point in the way districts are drawn. Right, which is why we spend so much time talking about these intra-party fights and primaries because the way that most maps are drawn these days, that's where the conversation is. But Mike Lawler is a rare example of an actually competitive general election matchup. And just like Kate Conley is going to try to do everything she can to tie Mike Lawler to

Donald Trump, Mike Lawler is going to do everything he can to tie Kate Conley to these Democratic Socialists that just won because that won't play as well in his district. That's a long time part of the playbook from New York Republicans. And I wouldn't be surprised to see it played here as well. Oh, and let me just say, this is not just going to be a message in one swing district in New York. this is going to be literally the Republican message in these midterms more broadly. They are going to paint the Democratic Party as the Democratic Socialist Party. And you saw that already today. Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference at the Capitol.

You've been hearing me say for weeks. There are many Zohran Mamdani's popping up all around the country. It is a dangerous thing. This is not a joke. We're in a fight right now to save the Republic. And every American needs to take this seriously. You need to wake up. this upcoming midterm election is not the midterm elections of years ago.

It's going to decide the direction of the country. Are we going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic on our 250th anniversary? Are we going to make a new choice and go down some road towards a communist utopia? I mean, that's a striking message from the Speaker of the House because he is often a lot more chipper, which he acknowledged in his press conference that this is kind of a break from him rhetorically. But I do think it's important to say, like, it's not new that the geopolitical, is attacking this wing of the party. I mean, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also a New York City representative, and other more progressive and Democratic socialist leaders

have been the focus of the GOP and this idea of the left moving towards extremism for years. I think the wins last night kind of crystallized that message, revamp that message, give new, you know, energy to that message. But it's not necessarily a new one. which I think is important to mention. Yes, it is not necessarily new. And at times it has been very effective for President Trump and his party to say, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Democrats have gone too far. They are too liberal. They are pushing ideas that don't represent you Middle America.

Well, it's also partially why we are spending so much time talking about New York City and the primaries because, yes, this is a very, very small portion of the United States. state's electorate, but it has a lot of national attention. And I think regardless of whether Zohran Mamdani's policies and those he supports policies reflect a broader electorate, the Republican party is going to argue that it does or that it could. And I think that's why we need to keep tabs on it because this is a message that has a lot of attention right now. Yeah. And I do want to pull out a little bit and at the same time talk about a race in Utah. There's this newly redrawn House District 1. It is left leaning there in the Democratic primary. Former Representative Ben McAdams. He won. He's a moderate and beat a number of other candidates to represent the Salt Lake City area. He does face a Republican in November. And one last thing before we go. Another result in South Carolina, there was a runoff for the Republican nomination for governor.

And Attorney General Alan Wilson won. He beat Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evett in that runoff. The funny part of this is that President Trump had initially endorsed Yvette. And then when the both of them made it to the runoff and the president read the writing on the wall and saw that it looked like Wilson was going to win, Trump posted on social media that he would be endorsing both of them. So heads up I win, tails you lose. he's always a winner. And we'll leave it there for now. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. I'm Elena Moore. I also cover politics. And I'm John Campbell from New York Public Radio.

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