NYC Democrats Just Hobbled Their Party in National Elections for Years to Come

(AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

New York City’s Democratic primaries on Tuesday night resulted in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) preferred candidates sweeping the field and knocking out two prominent incumbents. The results also left liberal moderates wondering whether they still belong in a party that is primed to send Darializa Avila Chevalier to Congress.

Chevalier, who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) despite an avalanche of controversial past statements, which are certain to make her an overnight national figure.

Chevalier’s win was the biggest surprise of the night as her race polled much closer than many of the other primaries and most pundits and observers assumed she was too out of step with voters to actually make it across the finish line. Mamdani also backed former city comptroller Brad Lander, who walloped incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), and state Rep. Claire Valdez (D), who is now all but certain to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).

While the Lander-Goldman race certainly drew attention and had one of the highest voter turnouts in the city, neither Lander nor Valdez are likely to have the lasting impact on national politics that Chevalier will. Conservative media and Republican operatives are already crowing as loudly as they can about Chevalier and Mamdani, and will work overtime from now until the 2028 presidential election to ensure they become synonymous with the Democratic Party brand in the mind of every swing voter in every key swing state.

Chevalier, a 32-year-old community organizer, is a gift to the GOP in a way that even the most calculating Republican strategist likely could never have imagined. Not only are her policy positions deeply unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, but much of her past inflammatory rhetoric has been aimed at burning down the Democratic Party. Her victory over Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is also certain to ruffle feathers among the Democrats’ key voting blocks: Hispanic, Black, and Jewish voters.

“This is a wake-up call,” said New York’s progressive Attorney General Letitia James (D) to The New York Times following the primary results. “Obviously, there’s some hurt feelings tonight, particular in communities of color,” James added, referring to Mamdani not only helping to push out one of the city’s most prominent Hispanic leaders, but also his favoring DSA candidates over prominent Black and Hispanic Democrats.

Exit polls showed Chevalier lost among Black and Hispanic voters to Espaillat, while she trounced him with younger and college-educated voters. Chevalier’s race saw very low voter turnout in general, as only some 66,000 of the district’s 330,000-plus registered Democrats turned out to vote — with her winning 32,790 votes to Espaillat’s 30,464 votes.

Chevalier won her race amid a barrage of news headlines covering her bombastic and inflammatory past statements. In since-deleted social media posts, she called Joe Biden a “rapist” and “war criminal” during the 2020 election and referred to the U.S. as a “f*cking disgrace.” In other posts, she boasted about using the American flag as a napkin to wipe her dirty hands and attacked white women in interracial relationships as “ugly colonizer women.”

She also raised eyebrows for her many posts on immigration, the police, and Israel, including claiming that Israel “doesn’t exist.” Chevalier, who recently converted to Islam, also repeatedly argued for a world without borders and police. “I have no nuance to add. F*ck Kamala Harris,” she wrote in 2021 after Harris urged migrants not to come to the U.S.

During the campaign, she doubled down on her belief that no one should ever be deported, including violent criminals. A March 2025 Pew Survey found that only 16% of U.S. adults believed that no immigrants should be deported – including only 28% of Democrats. She has also posted in favor of abolishing prisons, ICE, landlords, and seizing private property.

In a country where President Donald Trump was elected twice, sweeping every swing state the second time around, with immigration, the economy, and culture war issues propping up his campaigns, Chevalier is a massive gift to the GOP going forward, both on policy and personality. When presidential elections can be won or lost by tens of thousands of votes in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, being able to tie a Democratic nominee (or force that nominee to condemn) radical Democratic House members is a major boon for the GOP.

Attacking her brand of politics and avowed past anti-American rhetoric will serve as the perfect distraction to whatever economic or other failings the GOP may be responsible for going into the next election. Chevalier also lowers the bar even further for other Democratic candidates who may seek to run in the future, making clear that flamethrowing past statements that would have kept most people out of everyday jobs are no longer a hurdle to winning party primaries.

She is also likely to continue attacking her own party and fueling the civil war over Israel, anti-Semitism, and what it means to be a liberal in the age of purity tests and political correctness. Former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison made this point on social media following Tuesday’s results, writing, “I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination.”

Harrison’s plea is yet another warning for the Democrats as the DSA continues to make inroads and tries to reshape a party that many of its candidates have long loathed. Instead of building the party and reaching out to new voters, the DSA actively seeks to alienate anyone who disagrees with it and ensure moderates and the political center remain on the outside.

While Mamdani chooses his words carefully and has worked to try to unify New Yorkers, his backing of Chevalier casts him and his movement in a whole new light. How Chevalier handles herself in office is an open question, and she very well may follow Mamdani’s lead, but her past statements and positions will be an albatross around both their necks for years to come.

Her primary victory is an undeniable watershed moment in the Democratic Party, raising the question of just how far to the extreme left it will swing as a reaction to Trump’s reelection and chaotic second term. Chevalier’s general election campaign and likely November win will serve to only further divide Democrats, lurch the party toward a nationally toxic extreme, and give the GOP a boost at a moment when it desperately needs one.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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