Mamdani-backed candidates sweep New York City Democratic primaries

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's slate of progressives has swept establishment-backed Democrats in New York's closely watched congressional primaries, ousting two sitting congressmen in a show of force for the democratic socialist leader of the United States's largest city. On Tuesday, Adriano Espaillat, who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and is in his fifth term, was defeated by Mamdani's most polarising pick, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who once helped organise pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. And another Mamdani ally, democratic socialist state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, the handpicked successor of retiring US Representative Nydia Velazquez. New York's primary will determine which challengers the party nominates to run in the midterm elections in November. That vote will, in turn, decide which party controls Congress, giving its lawmakers the power to aid or impede US President Donald Trump's legislative agenda for his final two years in office.