Early voting starts Saturday in NYs primary elections and these are the races to watch

Early voting starts Saturday in New York’s Democratic primaries — with several high-profile races involving far-left insurgents backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani aiming to take down moderate incumbents.Some of the contests could disrupt the political landscape as the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter aims to grow its presence both locally and nationally following their candidate Mamdani’s stunning win last year.“This is the strongest he’ll ever be, and I think that Mamdani movement, he needs to keep that going,” one lefty Democratic operative said.“Every election is an organizing opportunity, whether you win or not,” said the source, adding the NYC-DSA “have their first socialist mayor and they need him and he needs them.”A slew of congressional and state chamber seats are up for grabs, with tens of thousands of ballots expected to be cast as early voting gets underway from June 13-21 ahead of the June 23 election.Here are some of the races to watch:One of the three congressional hopefuls endorsed by Mamdani is one-term Queens state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a fellow DSA member, for New York’s 7th House District.She’s taking on Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who has the backing of retiring Rep.

Nydia Velázquez to become her successor for the seat that covers some of Queens and Brooklyn.While Valdez has the support of the DSA and Mamdani, Reynoso was also endorsed by the progressive Working Families Party, causing internal strife among lefty Dems.Queens Councilwoman Julie Won is also in the race, and could slice off enough votes to play spoiler for either Valdez and Reynoso, the leading candidates.Ex-city comptroller and failed mayoral candidate Brad Lander is running to take out incumbent Rep.Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for the 10th House District covering parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.Lander, backed by Mamdani, appears set to top Goldman, according to recent polling.The pair have clashed on t...