New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump

Zohran Mamdani speaks at a rally in Brooklyn last week. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters View image in fullscreen Zohran Mamdani speaks at a rally in Brooklyn last week. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump Democratic primary elections to test strength of party’s left flank as old guard faces string of challenges New Yorkers were voting on Tuesday in a slate of Democratic primaries poised to reveal the strength of the party’s left flank and shape the battle for control of the US House of Representatives in November. Voters in Maryland and Utah will also nominate congressional candidates on Tuesday, while South Carolina holds a series of runoff elections for candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote earlier this month. But the New York contests, unfolding in a state expected to play a decisive role in determining the congressional majority, have attracted significant national attention as Democrats weigh competing visions for their party’s future in the Trump era. With Republican holding a narrow House majority, Democrats hope to flip a crucial battleground district in the Hudson Valley, while defending three seats heavily targeted by the GOP. In an ideological battle being closely watched by the party leadership, several self-identified democratic socialists are taking on more centrist Democrats in safe-blue seats, in an early test of mayor Zohran Mamdani’s political clout. Elsewhere, voters in New York’s wealthiest congressional district are weighing candidates in a race that has become a test of both the Kennedy name and the growing influence of the AI industry . In New York City, the democratic socialist mayor, who was elected last year, has attempted to put a stamp on the state’s congressional delegation by backing a trio of leftwing congressional candidates, much to the chagrin of some in his party. Two Mamdani-endorsed candidates – former New York City comptroller Brad Lander and public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier – are running to unseat Democratic incumbents in safely Democratic districts, part of a coast-to-coast wave of ideological and generational challenges being waged against sitting members of Congress. “People often ask me what I think of the state of the Democratic party. This slate here today is our answer,” Mamdani said at a rally with the candidates and Bernie Sanders on Thursday. “The Democratic party must change.” He added: “The party of the past will not be what leads us into the future. We need a Democratic party with backbone.” Lander ran for New York City mayor last year, eventually entering a “cross-endorsement” with Mamdani, as the pair sought to use the city’s ranked-choice voting system to ensure a progressive surpassed the former Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo. A survey in late May found Lander with a convincing lead over Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th congressional district, which includes lower Manhattan and a sizab