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By Alex J. Rouhandeh
National Political Correspondent
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As Democrats seek to emerge from the darkness of their 2024 presidential loss, it’s becoming increasingly clear that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be one of the party’s torchbearers.
The 34-year-old went three for three in his political endorsements, which put him in direct conflict with some of the Democratic Party’s top power brokers. And while New York City stands alone in its political stature, expect what happens there to emanate across the party nationwide.
If one were to contend that New York City isn’t the center of the Democratic Party’s political universe right now, they’d be hard-pressed to put together a winning argument. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, is a Brooklyn native, as is the House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mamdani has proven himself to be the country’s most famous and powerful mayor.
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Mamdani’s three endorsed candidates—Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier—cruised to victory in New York’s 7th, 10th and 13th districts respectively over politicians favored by House Minority Leader Jeffries, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
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The fact that Mamdani—a Bernie Sanders-backed insurgent who toppled the Cuomo dynasty—chose three winning candidates over both the state’s chief executive and House’s top Democrats speaks volumes about the kind of message and candidate that’s winning in Democratic primaries. Others are bound to take notice.
“The question [in] this race was, can Mamdani’s endorsement and very active, fierce campaigning translate when he’s not on the ballot?” Adam Carlson, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and founder of the polling firm Zenith Research, told Newsweek. “This was a true test of his political power, and he asserted that he is the new power broker.”
Dividing Lines
With these victories, Carlson said the left could be entering its own “Democratic Party Tea Party situation,” a parallel to the movement that emerged within the Republican Party after Barack Obama’s 2008 victory, pushing the GOP in a more ideological and populist direction.
However, the story behind New York and this moment of reckoning is about more than just a weakened establishment, political endorsements and the big names making them. In these primaries there were clear issues that emerged time and time again. The first is Israel and Palestine, and the extent to which Democrats should continue backing Israel. The second is corporate influence, and whether Democrats should be accepting money and support from corporate interests. While these topics manifested in NY-7 and NY-13, perhaps no race put them as squarely and directly on display than that to represent New York’s 10th District.
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The contest pitted two-term incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman against Brad Lander, the city’s former comptroller. Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, rose to national prominence as House Democrats’ top lawyer in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
Meanwhile, Lander, who’d served in government for 15 years, garnered fame for cross-endorsing with Mamdani, knowingly ceding territory to unify progressives and box out Andrew Cuomo. Both Lander and Goldman are Jewish, progressive and media savvy. It’d be understandable if many voters prior to this race mistook the two.
However, when Lander declared a challenge against Goldman on December 10, their differences became increasingly stark as Goldman’s wealth and more traditionally pro-Israel stance became central to the race. “I believe that Democratic voters are fed up with corporate Democrats who don’t recognize what time it is, who aren’t bringing enough energy to the fight against Trump and are just demonstrating what we’re against, instead of showing what we’re for,” Lander told Newsweek. “They want to see a real seriousness in taking on the special interests that are rigging the economy and the government.”
Mamdani’s victory proved that desire, Lander said, but what he believes created the conditions for such a shake-up in the party more broadly is the reality of Trump winning for a second time. Democrats could chalk up Trump’s first win to a fluke, Lander said, but he said his second win demonstrated serious leadership issues in the party.
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The Burden of Unity
Goldman, who received the endorsements of Pelosi, Jeffries and Hochul, came to personify the type of candidate that stewards of the party during 2024 so often favored, which Lander sought to draw attention to in the race.
Goldman said Lander employed “sloganism, buzzword, litmus test stuff” that altered perceptions toward Goldman’s record, both in regard to his disposition toward corporations and Israel. Goldman considers Lander’s strategy a troubling phenomenon that makes Democratic primaries all the more bitter.
“I understand better why a 29-year-old kid who’s running for office for the first time may be trying to tap into some of those litmus tests and wedge issues, but I find it incredibly distasteful and cynical for someone like Brad Lander, who knows better, to do that,” Goldman told Newsweek. “It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of conversations and some open minds [to bring the party together].”
Party unity will be a chief issue as Democrats exit the 2026 midterms. From Kalshi to Polymarket, most odds makers predict the party will retake the House. If that happens, it will face the burden of unity that rests far heavier on the party in power versus the one in opposition.
With a new crop of progressives joining the House, Leader Jeffries will confront a more ideologically leftist party than the one he faced in 2023 when he rose to his position.
When he does, two key questions will shape the path before him: Do these leftists want him to be their Speaker? And if they don’t, to what extent must he bend the establishment to their will to change that answer?
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