Ahead of this week's closely watched Democratic congressional primaries in New York, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stressed that the party "must change."On Tuesday, the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor of the nation's most populous city took a major step toward that goal as three far-left congressional candidates he endorsed and campaigned tirelessly for defeated more mainstream Democrats, including two incumbents.The victories by the Mamdani-backed candidates guarantee that the number of Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates will at least double in the next Congress and give Republicans further ammunition as they continue to portray all Democrats as far-left radicals.A decade after progressive champion Sen.Bernie Sanders of Vermont came close to capturing the Democratic presidential nomination, and eight years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burst onto the national stage by ousting then-House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a shocking primary upset, the far left appears further emboldened as it takes on the center-left establishment in a high-stakes battle for the future of the party.LURCHING LEFT: MAMDANI-BACKED CANDIDATES OUST ESTABLISHEMENT DEMOCRATSCongressional candidates Claire Valdez, left, Brad Lander, second from left, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, right, raise their hands with Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a Get Out the Vote rally in New York City on June 18, 2026.
(Michael M.Santiago/Getty Images)Darializa Avila Chevalier, the 32-year-old Mamdani-backed community organizer and democratic socialist who narrowly topped incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat, the 71-year-old Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair and the first Dominican American elected to the U.S.
House, called her victory a "clear mandate."Mamdani-endorsed state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who won her primary on Tuesday in New York's 7th District, emphasized in her victory speech that "we haven't just won an election.We have declared that this movement is...