Congress

The Democratic Socialists of America are leaving it all on the field in NYC

Published

3 months ago

June 17, 2026

NEW YORK — The Democratic Socialists of America are facing a reckoning in New York City — and there’s a lot on the line.

Two members of the hard-left group’s New York City chapter are running for congressional seats in this month’s primaries, vying to topple more mainstream Democrats — including one incumbent.

If the DSA’s candidates, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, prevail, it will prove the ascendent organization can capitalize on the momentum generated by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s once-improbable 2025 election win. Victories for Valdez and Avila Chevalier would expand socialist influence on Capitol Hill as the Democratic Party continues to grapple with its ideological identity after getting shellacked in the 2024 elections. And it would likely embolden the DSA to expand its political footprint — accelerating its evolution from insurgent movement to political institution.

But if one or both candidates lose, the DSA’s growth arc in New York would experience its first major dip since November, raising the prospect that the pendulum for Democrats may be swinging toward the middle. Defeat would also reflect poorly on Mamdani, who expended significant political capital to endorse Valdez and especially Avila Chevalier, who’s challenging a veteran New York congressional delegation member with deep ties to party leadership.

“Our goal is to win major races that show the Democratic Party establishment that our agenda is what working class New Yorkers demand,” Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the DSA’s New York City chapter, told Blue Light News. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for us.”

There’s a third insurgent candidate challenging an incumbent House member in New York City’s June 23 primaries: Former City Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s hoping to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman.

Lander isn’t a DSA member and hasn’t earned the group’s endorsement. But he’s campaigned to the left of Goldman, giving that primary a sense of importance for the broader progressive movement — especially since Mamdani is Lander’s top endorser.

There are currently only two members of Congress who qualify themselves as DSA comrades: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). To that end, the DSA could double its presence in Congress if both Avila Chevalier and Valdez win their races.

In a sign that the three competitive New York City primaries are important for democratic socialism on a national level, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the patriarch of the modern American left, plans to headline a rally Thursday in Brooklyn with Valdez, Avila Chevalier and Lander. Sanders — who has endorsed democratic socialist candidates across the country this year — is also expected to be joined on stage by Mamdani.

The DSA’s influence in New York has increased considerably since Mamdani’s rise, but it hasn’t been without growing pains.

Take New York’s 7th Congressional District. Valdez, a state Assembly member, is facing off against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Council member Julie Won in a race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez.

Velázquez, a matriarch of local progressive politics and an early supporter of Mamdani’s 2025 run, has soured on the mayor — and the DSA as a whole — after they threw their weight behind Valdez despite the outgoing incumbent’s wishes to be succeeded by Reynoso.

In a candidate forum last week, Reynoso, a non-DSA progressive, suggested the socialist group has turned into a “machine” with Mamdani as its “boss” — language that harkens back to an era when the heads of the city’s county parties ruled local politics and could handpick whoever they wanted for any given elected office.

“She is beholden to the powers of the new administration, the same way all political machines are,” Reynoso said of Valdez at the June 8 forum hosted by WNYC.

There are indeed aspects of the DSA’s operational structure that resemble the component parts of a political machine.

With Mamdani as its figurehead, the DSA’s leaders rarely criticize him — even when he stakes out policy positions that run afoul of their dogma — a reticence that evokes how the county bosses of yesteryear were loath to tolerate dissent among their ranks (the group did issue a rare rebuke of Mamdani last week over his support for increasing the NYPD headcount this year).

The DSA has also shown itself highly capable of deploying thousands of loyal volunteers on canvassing efforts for its preferred candidates — another hallmark of a machine.

Basil Smikle, a political scientist and former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, said the DSA is on its way to becoming a full-fledged political machine, but argued it’s not quite there yet.

“If they start creating local political clubs in individual neighborhoods, push to create its own ballot line and, frankly, just win more elections so they have more members in positions of power, that’s when it really starts to become the sort of machine that’s systemic and more similar to the old school political machines,” he said.

Frank Carone, an attorney who has been deeply involved in the Brooklyn Democratic Party for decades, said he “can certainly see why” Reynoso would draw the comparison, noting that the DSA’s canvassing prowess is undeniable.

But Carone, an ardent DSA critic and confidant of former Mayor Eric Adams, said Reynoso’s attempt to use the machine term as a cudgel against the socialist group is “bullshit.”

“Same way he did against county back then, he’s doing it against DSA now,” Carone said, referring to Reynoso’s longrunning beef with the Brooklyn Democratic Party. “Any time you’re invoking emotion to do this type of name-calling, it’s bullshit. It’s essentially cowardly.”

In an interview last Wednesday, Valdez also took a dig at Reynoso for the machine jab.

“The Brooklyn borough president doesn’t understand where DSA’s power comes from,” she said. “Our membership is the boss of this organization. We steer the ship, and it’s a misunderstanding to say there’s a single figurehead.”

As it relates to the looming election, Valdez said “the power” the DSA has built in New York won’t dissipate even if she and Avila Chevalier lose their races. If they win, “it would cement this organization as a major power-player in New York City,” said Valdez, who first joined the DSA in 2019.

Polling has been scant in the race for the 7th District, which spans gentrifying parts of Brooklyn and Queens. A PIX11 survey released on May 21 showed Valdez and Reynoso neck-and-neck, with Won far behind in third place.

Asked how much is at stake for the DSA in the race, Reynoso told Blue Light News he’s “glad to see this much energy on the left.”

“The only way any of us actually delivers for working people is by working together instead of fighting over who gets the credit,” he said. “With Trump back in the White House and ICE tearing families apart, that is the fight that matters, and I intend to be a partner to every group ready to roll up their sleeves and get something done.”

On the other side of the East River, Avila Chevalier has emerged as the DSA’s riskiest gamble this election cycle.

A first-time candidate known for her pro-Palestinian activism, Avila Chevalier is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who has over the years built a political machine of his own in upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

As in the Valdez-Reynoso-Won race, there hasn’t been much polling in the contest between Espaillat and Avila Chevalier. A survey conducted last week on behalf of a pro-Espaillat super PAC found him leading Avila Chevalier by a 35-27 percentage point margin. A second poll commissioned at the beginning of this month by Justice Democrats, a progressive group supportive of Avila Chevalier, showed her beating Espaillat by a 39-35 margin, though that survey only had a sample size of 319 likely voters.

For the DSA, any momentum stands to be blunted, however, by a torrent of old social media posts from Avila Chevalier. In her since-deleted missives, she denigrated Democratic politicians, the police, Israel and private property. The posts have surfaced since Mamdani and the DSA got behind her. Espaillat and super PACs that support him have seized on her social media history, airing ads that characterize her past online screeds as evidence she’s too extreme.

“This is what it looks like when movements stop asking for a seat at the table and start building our own,” Avila Chevalier said in a statement when asked about the DSA’s impact on her campaign. “Our movement is fighting for and powered by the people, and I look forward to bringing it home for our community on June 23.”

Ironically for the DSA, Lander seems like the most potent progressive running for Congress in New York City this cycle. Polls are showing him ahead of Goldman by double digits, and he has benefited greatly from an endorsement from Mamdani, who won Goldman’s Manhattan and Brooklyn district by a wide margin in last year’s mayoral election.

The DSA generally doesn’t endorse candidates who aren’t dues-paying members. Lander, who’s Jewish, left the DSA in late 2023 over the group hosting a rally ostensibly celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel shortly after it happened.

Gordillo, the DSA co-chair, would not comment on Lander’s race. But speaking generally, he said he’s bullish about pickups in New York City.

“Last year’s mayoral election showed there’s a citywide constituency for democratic socialist politics,” he said.

Congress

Gallego grades Democrats on their midterm messaging to men

Published

2 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.

The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.

“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”

Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.

A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.

“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.

Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.

A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.

Congress

Bipartisan Russia hawks urge Trump to pull Putin invite to G20 summit

Published

2 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A bipartisan group of 14 senators urged President Donald Trump to rescind his invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 summit in Miami in December.

The letter, whose bipartisan signers were led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the invitation on Wednesday.

“President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Allowing him to participate in a G20 Summit in the United States raises serious concerns about legitimizing and normalizing a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day.”

The senators also noted that the U.S. has sanctioned Putin, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and others in the Russian delegation. If the U.S. does not join in isolating Russia on the world stage, Putin may not feel motivated to pursue a ceasefire and further negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, they wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment on Friday.

The letter surfaced following Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington that concluded Friday.

During the summit, Xi said he will meet with Trump two more times this year, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November and again at the G20 summit. Trump subsequently confirmed on social media that he will attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

Putin is also set to attend the APEC summit in China, and there were talks of a trilateral meeting there, Reuters reported earlier this month.

The Russian presidential press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter or whether Putin has accepted Trump’s invitation.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Dems weigh doing Husted a solid

Published

11 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats have a decision to make about whether to grant a political favor to one of their most vulnerable Republican colleagues.

GOP leaders are expected to set up an initial vote Wednesday on legislation that would advise states on ensuring data centers pay for all their energy costs and grid updates. Democrats may discuss the matter at a weekly party lunch Tuesday, but so far haven’t had a caucus-wide conversation yet, several senators said in interviews.

The bill is being championed by Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted — who is facing a tough election bid against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. The measure easily passed the House last week with 206 Democratic votes, but campaign-season politics are making action trickier for the party in the Senate.

On one hand, voting to start debate on the bill could help keep Republicans off the campaign trail even longer and insulate Democrats against charges of politically motivated obstructionism.

On the other hand, a successful procedural vote could kick off an unpredictable amendment process and — as some Democrats see it — risk helping GOP leaders bail out an embattled candidate who has been inundated with data-center-themed campaign attacks.

“It’s an effort to rescue Husted’s campaign,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in an interview, even as he acknowledged that he himself hasn’t yet made a call on how to vote.

Most in the party have yet to decide whether to lend their support, according to interviews with more than a dozen Senate Democrats and aides.

That includes in-cycle Jon Ossoff and known bipartisan dealmakers such as Jeanne Shaheen and Mark Warner, who all said Thursday they hadn’t made up their minds.

Sen. Peter Welch is so far the only Democrat to say he will support Husted’s bill, though he, like other Democrats, said “the bill didn’t go far enough.”

Sen. Brian Schatz, the Democrats’ deputy whip, said in an interview Thursday he found the bill “kind of weak” but that he didn’t have an announcement about whether party leaders would whip against it.

Two GOP senators, granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said that Republicans privately don’t expect the bill to get the votes needed to ultimately pass.

But Husted is keeping the pressure on Democrats publicly.

“They say they’re for more affordability,” he said. “This is a chance for everybody to prove it.”

What else we’re watching:

— JOHNSON, TRUMP SET MEETING WITH AI EXECS —- Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies. Congress is under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, but House GOP leaders continue to resist any major legislative action to address concerns. The speaker and president were in attendance at the state dinner Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.

— SENATE GOP’S NOMS IN LIMBO: Senate Republicans’ hopes of getting several of Trump’s key nominees confirmed before they leave for midterm campaigning are still in limbo. The main GOP sticking point is Sen. Kevin Cramer’s blanket hold on nominations — including but not limited to Keith Sonderling for labor secretary — “pending a repeal of the Biden setback rule on fish and wildlife easements” in his state, the North Dakota Republican told Blue Light News. After weeks of a complete hold, Cramer lifted his blockade on some nominees after the Trump administration committed to reevaluating some of the Fish and Wildlife Service easements that restrict farming.

Jordain Carney, Amelia Davidson, Nico Portuondo, Mia McCarthy, Sophia Cai and Miranda Willson contributed to this report.