Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller, has unseated two-term congressman Dan Goldman in a Democratic primary that laid bare the party’s deep divisions over the Israel-Gaza war. Lander, who has accused Israel of genocide, won by 65.7% to 34.1% in New York’s 10th congressional district, capping a clean sweep for candidates backed by the city’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
Lander, also endorsed by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, told supporters at a watch party in Brooklyn that his victory showed voters “want leadership ready to fight, not fold, against authoritarianism”. He was joined there by Mamdani, who later appeared at a party for another winning ally, Claire Valdez. The assemblywoman and former union organiser defeated Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso in the 7th district. In a stunning upset, public defence investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier – a doctoral student who joined pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University – toppled five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the 13th district.
“Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York, with Lander ousting Goldman in a leftwing rout.”
Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss denim fortune, won plaudits for leading the first impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump in 2019 but his staunch defence of Israel sparked a backlash. Over the weekend, a Brooklyn coffee shop posted on social media that Goldman, who visited with his seven-year-old daughter, was not welcome, calling him a “genocide enabler” before deleting the post. Both Lander and Goldman are Jewish.
Goldman said he had called Lander to congratulate him, adding: “Tonight, the voters of 10th District have spoken. While this is not the outcome I worked so hard for, I respect their decision.” Donald Trump, now US president, called Goldman “weak and pathetic” and said he “just lost, BIG!”.
Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of John F Kennedy, failed to advance in a crowded field of Democrats vying to replace the retiring representative Jerry Nadler in Manhattan, despite a huge social media presence. Mamdani, whose slate of candidates is all but certain to win in November, told a jubilant crowd: “The old politics that got us into this crisis is not the politics that’s going to get us out of this crisis.”