Latest news with #DemocraticSocialists
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
NYC Investor Seeks $25,000 Donors for an Anti-Mamdani Effort
Activist investor Ricky Sandler and real estate executive Marty Burger are calling donors to commit at least $25,000 to an effort opposing Zohran Mamdani's run for mayor of New York City. Eminence Capital 's Sandler and Burger, the former chief executive of Silverstein Properties, invited such potential donors to a call Monday with 'New Yorkers for a Better Future Mayor 25' — a new PAC dedicated to stopping candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, like Mamdani.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: Zany Zohran endorsement is existential choice for Hakeem Jeffries
To endorse, or not to endorse, that is the question for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as New York City and the nation wait to see if this top Democrat will throw his backing behind socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. According to Zany Zohran's backers, this should be a no-brainer. After all, Mamdani won the primary fair and square, but given his far-left proposals like city-owned grocery stores, free buses, and replacing cops with social workers. Jeffries is rightfully wary. This week, would-be Mayor Mamdani ran away to Uganda to let the heat die down over a guy who once said the state should control the means of production potentially governing Wall Street. This Africa adventure gives Jeffries a little more time to decide whether to endorse, but not much. The moment is still coming. What makes this choice so hard for Jeffries is that he knows better than anyone just how dangerous these Democratic Socialists can be. In fact, it's the whole reason he is now in line for the speakership should Democrats retake the House. In 2019 Jeffries replaced another New Yorker named Joe Crowley as chair of the Democratic Caucus in the House. The coveted spot in leadership was available because Crowley had suffered a shocking primary defeat at the hands of whom? A bartender named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In spite of the fact that AOC opened the door to power for Jeffries, he is actually much more of a Crowley than a Cortez. He might be the poster child for the old-school Democrat machine politician. Jeffries was born and raised in Brooklyn, state college undergrad, masters in public policy from Georgetown, law degree from NYU, clerked with a federal judge, a decade of private practice, two years in the state assembly and now, Congress. That is how it used to be done. Now, Hakeem Jeffries' party is being overrun with theater kids who skirt through college and whose political training comes almost exclusively from far-left activist organizations and Marxist tracts, and they want him to sign off on it. The political reality for Jeffries is that if he endorses Zohran, then this 33-year-old, who can be credibly called a communist, will be hung like a millstone around the neck of every Democrat running for the House. Even moderate House Democrats who try to distance themselves from Mamdani and his parade of pathetic and stale socialist programs will be sharply and publicly reminded that the guy they want to make Speaker of the House endorsed a communist. Nowhere is this more true than close to home in the suburban New York districts that Republicans swept in 2024 to keep their slim House majority. There is no path back to power that doesn't flow through Long Island and Westchester. Republican House candidates like incumbents Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota will absolutely make Mamdani a focal point of their campaigns, no matter who their actual opponents are. There is no easy way out of this predicament for Jeffries. Either he refuses to endorse Mamdani, and sets off an angry civil war in his party, or he does endorse him, and watches Democrats' chances to win the House and make him speaker diminish greatly. For any party leader, herding the cats is a great challenge. It was for Nancy Pelosi, and it is for Jeffries. But the Mamdani question is bigger than managing normal ideological differences. Jeffries has to decide if he will, for the first time, usher actual communists into the Democrats' tent. Most of us were born at a time when Democrats still proudly called themselves the party of Jefferson and Jackson. Today, it is starting to look more like the party of Marx and Guevara. Can Hakeem Jeffries hit the brakes? Don't count on it. My sources in Gotham, in both parties, the ones I trust the most, all think Jeffries will eventually, as quietly as possible, give his support to Mamdani. I'm not completely convinced, but it is the path of least resistance, which is a siren call for most politicians. When and if Jeffries makes this cowardly choice, Republicans must be prepared to explain, quite clearly, to Americans that one of their major political parties, its oldest, in fact, has come to embrace communism. For Hakeem Jeffries this is an existential choice, not just for his political future, but the future of his political party, and of our nation itself.
New York Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Mamdani Victory Could Represent Expansion of the Left's Influence
When Zohran Mamdani catapulted to a stunning victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, the triumph seemed a coming-of-age moment for the Democratic Socialists of America. The group formed the backbone of Mr. Mamdani's canvassing operation and played an essential role in pushing the nation's largest city to embrace an unwavering progressive campaign agenda. But for Mr. Mamdani to get elected in November, he may need to win over segments of the city's business class, or at least persuade them that he intends no harm. Some of that effort has already been on display, creating some discomfort among his core supporters on the left. Last week, Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and a democratic socialist, met separately with skeptical members of the Partnership for New York City and with Black business executives, who grilled him over his socialist economic agenda and challenged him over some of his stances opposing the wealthy and supporting Palestinian causes. Billionaires shouldn't exist? Mr. Mamdani walked that back. A rent freeze for stabilized units? Yes, but it was a policy he might revisit after four years. His refusal to repudiate the term 'globalize the intifada?' That, too, came under some revision. For now, D.S.A. leaders and others on the left say that Mr. Mamdani has earned their trust and deserves a fair amount of latitude. They recognize that the best way to push their agenda is to have a powerful emissary like Mr. Mamdani leading the nation's largest city. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
17-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Some of Mamdani's far-left allies want to primary Hakeem Jeffries and other NYC Democrats
Democratic socialists in New York City emboldened by Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary win are warning that they may go after five House incumbents next — and Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader at the top of their list, is daring them to try. Jeffries' political operation even has a nickname for those talking up threats to the House minority leader back home: 'Team Gentrification.' That phrase reflects that Mamdani turned out young progressives who, according to unofficial election data, were largely Whiter and wealthier as a whole than the longtime residents of the districts represented by Jeffries and others being targeted. But it also speaks to the resentment many Democratic politicians in the nation's largest city — and in places around the country that aren't as deep-blue as New York — have at being told by Mamdani supporters there's a new reality that they now need to adapt to, and quickly. Mamdani's allies, notably key leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America, are talking about running primary challengers against Jeffries and several other incumbents, including Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman and Yvette Clarke. Ashik Siddique, a national DSA co-chair, pointed out that Mamdani himself got his start organizing for a Palestinian pastor running for a Brooklyn city council seat in 2017. Mamdani's win, Siddique said, 'feels full circle,' and for future races, 'it's really proof of concept.' In all but Torres' district, Mamdani and city comptroller Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed each together in the ranked-choice mayoral primary, got more votes combined than Cuomo in the initial round of voting, according to unofficial results released on election night. Those results don't yet reflect who primary voters ranked below their first choices. Jasmine Gripper, the co-chair of the local Working Families Party, which has been eagerly re-energized by Mamdani's win after years of flagging, also suggested some lawmakers could be newly vulnerable to primary challenges. 'If you are a mismatch, that does make you vulnerable to someone saying, 'Maybe I'm a better match,'' she said. At least so far, Mamdani is not getting in his allies' way. Asked whether Mamdani thinks those House incumbent challenges should happen — of if he'd make any moves to stop them — his press secretary told CNN he was declining to comment. The members of Congress themselves and close advisers say they all have the community ties, political operations and resources to fend off whatever may come at them. They diligently say that anyone can run in a democracy, but chuckle or roll their eyes at hearing of lines like Mamdani ally Bronx state senator Gustavo Rivera saying, 'My colleagues in Congress that stood against us, they might have to watch out.' If Mamdani wins, they say, he'll have a hard enough time running the city without his ranks going to war with the city's congressional delegation. They're expecting him to keep the peace, especially in a year when they're trying to win the majority in competitive districts far from the Big Apple where democratic socialism has come off more an imposition than an inspiration. Don't go to war with them or mistake them for Cuomo, they say, or even, in a phrase Jeffries often returns to, expect them to 'bend the knee' as they weigh whether to endorse Mamdani. Jeffries will make an endorsement decision after he meets with the candidate in person next week. And a top Jeffries adviser this week issued a pointed warning: Target the House minority leader and he won't just beat them; he'll respond by going after the democratic socialists from Brooklyn elected to the state legislature, whose primaries would be on the same day next year. 'Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,' Jeffries senior adviser André Richardson told CNN. 'However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.' Asked about critics threatening a primary challenge, Jeffries told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that he had 'no idea what these people are talking about.' 'We are going to continue to focus our efforts … on pushing back against the extremism that has been unleashed on the American people,' Jeffries said. 'It shouldn't be too difficult for some people to figure out who the problem is in the United States of America.' Jeffries has spent years daring those he tends to dismiss as poser progressives to try to take him on. The last time he faced a challenge from a socialist — in the 2012 primary for his first election against a longtime city councilman — he got 71% of the vote. He's only done better since. Last week, Jeffries held together every member of his conference against Trump's sweeping agenda bill, then topped off that opposition with a nearly nine-hour speech. But he has for years been tagged by the city's far left as a moderate. Opponents like to point to his fundraising as evidence, calling him a corporate Democrat. 'His leadership has left a vacuum that organizations like DSA are filling. I think that is more important right now,' New York City's Democratic Socialists of America chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo told CNN. 'To me it often seems like he is the one picking the fight with the left, and I think he should focus on fighting the right.' State Sen. Jabari Brisport, a democratic socialist who represents some of the same parts of Brooklyn as Jeffries, said his congressman is 'rapidly growing out of touch with an insurgent and growing progressive base within his own district that he should pay more attention to.' Mamdani won roughly 46% of the first-round primary vote in Jeffries' congressional district compared to the nearly 38% carried by Cuomo. A challenge needs a challenger, though. Brisport ruled out a run. No one else is stepping up yet either. Rep. Greg Meeks, who endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the mayor's race, called anyone thinking of a primary against Jeffries 'foolish.' 'We are all here to combat some of the craziness that Donald Trump is doing,' Meeks said. 'The only way to do that is to win the House majority and we have an opportunity to elect a New Yorker, who would be the first African American to be the speaker of the House, which then puts a check on Donald Trump and controls everything that's on this floor.' Aides to incumbents from New York City and their colleagues privately admit to looking over their shoulders since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat then-Rep. Joe Crowley in a 2018 primary. But they say they have learned their lessons. Asked if he was worried now, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Cuomo backer who got to Congress after challenging longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel, said simply: 'No.' So far, only one House incumbent from New York City has endorsed Mamdani since he won: Nadler, the 17-term dean of the delegation who had stuck with Scott Stringer, his old protégé, despite a campaign that never took off. People familiar with Nadler's decision-making say he wanted to be a signal to fellow Democrats but also a check on anyone considering coming at him — combined, Mamdani and Lander got almost 54% in his district according to the unofficial first-round results, compared to Cuomo's 37%. Nadler easily won a 2022 primary in a redrawn district against another incumbent, but even ardent supporters acknowledged he was struggling physically at points in that race. Nadler is now 78 and aware of rumors again circulating that his retirement is imminent, but he said he plans to run again — and 'I'll put my record against anybody in terms of progressivism.' 'I think that there's some movement for generational change, but the electorate will look at people on the merits. They're not going to get rid of everybody that's older than whatever, nor are they going to keep everybody,' he said during a break while Jeffries was delivering his record-setting speech against the Trump megabill's final passage last week. Several Nadler allies told CNN that they did not want to offend the beloved congressman by going public with their fears he might not be up to fending off a Democratic Socialists of America-driven challenge. But Nadler aides have been working with Mamdani's team to build up the new mayoral nominee's outreach into areas of Manhattan where he did not do well and among Jewish communities suspicious of the assemblyman's views on Israel and what many say has been an insufficient condemnation of antisemitism. 'He's certainly not an antisemite,' Nadler said, while adding on Mamdani's critical views of Israel, 'I think he'll have to satisfy that.' Nadler's district, which covers the Upper West and Upper East sides of Manhattan, would not be prime territory for the DSA. Most see a better fit in the Lower Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn district represented by Goldman, who's only in his second term. Mamdani and Lander took a combined 70% of the vote in the district, compared to Cuomo's 22%. Efforts are underway to urge Lander into a Goldman challenge, but people who know the city comptroller say he's been more focused on helping Mamdani and potentially serving in a top position in City Hall. Through a spokesperson, Goldman said his focus was on fighting Trump's cuts to the social safety net and the deployment of immigration officers across the city. 'We live in a democracy, so anyone is welcome to throw their hat in the ring,' he said. Clarke, whose district was almost evenly split between Mamdani and Cuomo, said anyone who sees what happened in the mayoral primary as the dawn of a new age in New York is getting ahead of themselves. 'I'm not saying that it didn't surprise me. I'm saying it wasn't necessarily socialist politics. It was the messenger and the message,' Clarke said. Like other members, Clarke has spoken by phone with Mamdani. The conversation went well, she said, as other members told CNN theirs did. Like the other members, she made a point of saying that Mamdani is the Democratic nominee. Like other members, she said she is still deciding whether to formally back him. The Mamdani ripple may not just be in primaries: Justin Brannan, who placed second for city comptroller on the same primary ballot that Mamdani carried, says the results have him taking another look at challenging Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the lone Republican member from New York City, in a district covering Staten Island and Brooklyn which has trended increasingly Republican. 'Every year, whether it's the midterms or the presidential election when there's people from Manhattan chartering buses to Ohio and Pennsylvania,' Brannan told CNN. 'I'm like, 'Guys, just take the ferry to Staten Island – there's a swing district here.'' Jamaal Bowman, who beat an incumbent to win a seat stretching from the Bronx to just north of the city in 2020 only to lose it to a challenger himself in 2024, said he's now constantly getting pitched on running against Torres, a progressive who has nonetheless enraged many Mamdani supporters for both being a staunch supporter of Israel and then endorsing Cuomo. Mamdani posted some of his weakest numbers in that district, with less than 33% compared to Cuomo's 52%. Though Bowman told CNN, 'I personally don't think that that is a priority per se,' he urged his former colleagues, including those in suburban districts, to move quickly to embrace Mamdani's approach to expanding to younger and more racially diverse voters rather than still worrying about losing moderates. 'Everyone in New York has to recalibrate their stuff,' Bowman said. Several members of the congressional delegation, meanwhile, have noted privately that Mamdani never himself expressed support for former Vice President Kamala Harris when she became the Democratic presidential nominee last year. Torres declined to address on the record how he'd marshal his significant campaign fundraising and support on the ground if faced with a challenge next year. Though Torres said the mayoral primary results were enough to end his flirtation with a primary challenge of his own to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, his only response to the prospect of facing a challenge for his own seat was a mocking reference to the perennial stunt candidate who received 0.1% in the mayoral primary. 'The thought of Paperboy Prince keeps me up at night,' he said. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that a key official from the Working Families Party suggested some lawmakers could be newly vulnerable to primary challenges, not that the party is talking about running primary challengers.
CNN
15-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Some of Mamdani's far-left allies want to primary Hakeem Jeffries and other NYC Democrats
Democratic socialists in New York City emboldened by Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary win are warning that they may go after five House incumbents next — and Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader at the top of their list, is daring them to try. Jeffries' political operation even has a nickname for those talking up threats to the House minority leader back home: 'Team Gentrification.' That phrase reflects that Mamdani turned out young progressives who, according to unofficial election data, were largely Whiter and wealthier as a whole than the longtime residents of the districts represented by Jeffries and others being targeted. But it also speaks to the resentment many Democratic politicians in the nation's largest city — and in places around the country that aren't as deep-blue as New York — have at being told by Mamdani supporters there's a new reality that they now need to adapt to, and quickly. Mamdani's allies, notably key leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America, are talking about running primary challengers against Jeffries and several other incumbents, including Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman and Yvette Clarke. Ashik Siddique, a national DSA co-chair, pointed out that Mamdani himself got his start organizing for a Palestinian pastor running for a Brooklyn city council seat in 2017. Mamdani's win, Siddique said, 'feels full circle,' and for future races, 'it's really proof of concept.' In all but Torres' district, Mamdani and city comptroller Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed each together in the ranked-choice mayoral primary, got more votes combined than Cuomo in the initial round of voting, according to unofficial results released on election night. Those results don't yet reflect who primary voters ranked below their first choices. Jasmine Gripper, the co-chair of the local Working Families Party, which has been eagerly re-energized by Mamdani's win after years of flagging, also suggested some lawmakers could be newly vulnerable to primary challenges. 'If you are a mismatch, that does make you vulnerable to someone saying, 'Maybe I'm a better match,'' she said. At least so far, Mamdani is not getting in his allies' way. Asked whether Mamdani thinks those House incumbent challenges should happen — of if he'd make any moves to stop them — his press secretary told CNN he was declining to comment. The members of Congress themselves and close advisers say they all have the community ties, political operations and resources to fend off whatever may come at them. They diligently say that anyone can run in a democracy, but chuckle or roll their eyes at hearing of lines like Mamdani ally Bronx state senator Gustavo Rivera saying, 'My colleagues in Congress that stood against us, they might have to watch out.' If Mamdani wins, they say, he'll have a hard enough time running the city without his ranks going to war with the city's congressional delegation. They're expecting him to keep the peace, especially in a year when they're trying to win the majority in competitive districts far from the Big Apple where democratic socialism has come off more an imposition than an inspiration. Don't go to war with them or mistake them for Cuomo, they say, or even, in a phrase Jeffries often returns to, expect them to 'bend the knee' as they weigh whether to endorse Mamdani. Jeffries will make an endorsement decision after he meets with the candidate in person next week. And a top Jeffries adviser this week issued a pointed warning: Target the House minority leader and he won't just beat them; he'll respond by going after the democratic socialists from Brooklyn elected to the state legislature, whose primaries would be on the same day next year. 'Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,' Jeffries senior adviser André Richardson told CNN. 'However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.' Asked about critics threatening a primary challenge, Jeffries told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that he had 'no idea what these people are talking about.' 'We are going to continue to focus our efforts … on pushing back against the extremism that has been unleashed on the American people,' Jeffries said. 'It shouldn't be too difficult for some people to figure out who the problem is in the United States of America.' Jeffries has spent years daring those he tends to dismiss as poser progressives to try to take him on. The last time he faced a challenge from a socialist — in the 2012 primary for his first election against a longtime city councilman — he got 71% of the vote. He's only done better since. Last week, Jeffries held together every member of his conference against Trump's sweeping agenda bill, then topped off that opposition with a nearly nine-hour speech. But he has for years been tagged by the city's far left as a moderate. Opponents like to point to his fundraising as evidence, calling him a corporate Democrat. 'His leadership has left a vacuum that organizations like DSA are filling. I think that is more important right now,' New York City's Democratic Socialists of America chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo told CNN. 'To me it often seems like he is the one picking the fight with the left, and I think he should focus on fighting the right.' State Sen. Jabari Brisport, a democratic socialist who represents some of the same parts of Brooklyn as Jeffries, said his congressman is 'rapidly growing out of touch with an insurgent and growing progressive base within his own district that he should pay more attention to.' Mamdani won roughly 46% of the first-round primary vote in Jeffries' congressional district compared to the nearly 38% carried by Cuomo. A challenge needs a challenger, though. Brisport ruled out a run. No one else is stepping up yet either. Rep. Greg Meeks, who endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the mayor's race, called anyone thinking of a primary against Jeffries 'foolish.' 'We are all here to combat some of the craziness that Donald Trump is doing,' Meeks said. 'The only way to do that is to win the House majority and we have an opportunity to elect a New Yorker, who would be the first African American to be the speaker of the House, which then puts a check on Donald Trump and controls everything that's on this floor.' Aides to incumbents from New York City and their colleagues privately admit to looking over their shoulders since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat then-Rep. Joe Crowley in a 2018 primary. But they say they have learned their lessons. Asked if he was worried now, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Cuomo backer who got to Congress after challenging longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel, said simply: 'No.' So far, only one House incumbent from New York City has endorsed Mamdani since he won: Nadler, the 17-term dean of the delegation who had stuck with Scott Stringer, his old protégé, despite a campaign that never took off. People familiar with Nadler's decision-making say he wanted to be a signal to fellow Democrats but also a check on anyone considering coming at him — combined, Mamdani and Lander got almost 54% in his district according to the unofficial first-round results, compared to Cuomo's 37%. Nadler easily won a 2022 primary in a redrawn district against another incumbent, but even ardent supporters acknowledged he was struggling physically at points in that race. Nadler is now 78 and aware of rumors again circulating that his retirement is imminent, but he said he plans to run again — and 'I'll put my record against anybody in terms of progressivism.' 'I think that there's some movement for generational change, but the electorate will look at people on the merits. They're not going to get rid of everybody that's older than whatever, nor are they going to keep everybody,' he said during a break while Jeffries was delivering his record-setting speech against the Trump megabill's final passage last week. Several Nadler allies told CNN that they did not want to offend the beloved congressman by going public with their fears he might not be up to fending off a Democratic Socialists of America-driven challenge. But Nadler aides have been working with Mamdani's team to build up the new mayoral nominee's outreach into areas of Manhattan where he did not do well and among Jewish communities suspicious of the assemblyman's views on Israel and what many say has been an insufficient condemnation of antisemitism. 'He's certainly not an antisemite,' Nadler said, while adding on Mamdani's critical views of Israel, 'I think he'll have to satisfy that.' Nadler's district, which covers the Upper West and Upper East sides of Manhattan, would not be prime territory for the DSA. Most see a better fit in the Lower Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn district represented by Goldman, who's only in his second term. Mamdani and Lander took a combined 70% of the vote in the district, compared to Cuomo's 22%. Efforts are underway to urge Lander into a Goldman challenge, but people who know the city comptroller say he's been more focused on helping Mamdani and potentially serving in a top position in City Hall. Through a spokesperson, Goldman said his focus was on fighting Trump's cuts to the social safety net and the deployment of immigration officers across the city. 'We live in a democracy, so anyone is welcome to throw their hat in the ring,' he said. Clarke, whose district was almost evenly split between Mamdani and Cuomo, said anyone who sees what happened in the mayoral primary as the dawn of a new age in New York is getting ahead of themselves. 'I'm not saying that it didn't surprise me. I'm saying it wasn't necessarily socialist politics. It was the messenger and the message,' Clarke said. Like other members, Clarke has spoken by phone with Mamdani. The conversation went well, she said, as other members told CNN theirs did. Like the other members, she made a point of saying that Mamdani is the Democratic nominee. Like other members, she said she is still deciding whether to formally back him. The Mamdani ripple may not just be in primaries: Justin Brannan, who placed second for city comptroller on the same primary ballot that Mamdani carried, says the results have him taking another look at challenging Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the lone Republican member from New York City, in a district covering Staten Island and Brooklyn which has trended increasingly Republican. 'Every year, whether it's the midterms or the presidential election when there's people from Manhattan chartering buses to Ohio and Pennsylvania,' Brannan told CNN. 'I'm like, 'Guys, just take the ferry to Staten Island – there's a swing district here.'' Jamaal Bowman, who beat an incumbent to win a seat stretching from the Bronx to just north of the city in 2020 only to lose it to a challenger himself in 2024, said he's now constantly getting pitched on running against Torres, a progressive who has nonetheless enraged many Mamdani supporters for both being a staunch supporter of Israel and then endorsing Cuomo. Mamdani posted some of his weakest numbers in that district, with less than 33% compared to Cuomo's 52%. Though Bowman told CNN, 'I personally don't think that that is a priority per se,' he urged his former colleagues, including those in suburban districts, to move quickly to embrace Mamdani's approach to expanding to younger and more racially diverse voters rather than still worrying about losing moderates. 'Everyone in New York has to recalibrate their stuff,' Bowman said. Several members of the congressional delegation, meanwhile, have noted privately that Mamdani never himself expressed support for former Vice President Kamala Harris when she became the Democratic presidential nominee last year. Torres declined to address on the record how he'd marshal his significant campaign fundraising and support on the ground if faced with a challenge next year. Though Torres said the mayoral primary results were enough to end his flirtation with a primary challenge of his own to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, his only response to the prospect of facing a challenge for his own seat was a mocking reference to the perennial stunt candidate who received 0.1% in the mayoral primary. 'The thought of Paperboy Prince keeps me up at night,' he said. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that a key official from the Working Families Party suggested some lawmakers could be newly vulnerable to primary challenges, not that the party is talking about running primary challengers.
