Incumbents Wiped Out as Democratic ‘Tea Party’ Flexes Its Newfound Strength: Three Primary Takeaways

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(A comprehensive survey of Tuesday night’s primary results in New York and Maryland from a source generally hostile to the victorious New York progressives. SR)

 

Incumbents Wiped Out as Democratic ‘Tea Party’ Flexes Its Newfound Strength: Three Primary Takeaways

 

by Kate Riga – Talking Points Memo – June 24, 2026

 

Democratic incumbents, even powerful ones, continue to be an endangered species as anti-establishment fervor rips through the party. 

 

In New York, that manifested as a historic night for Zohran Mamdani-backed Democratic socialists. In Maryland, it looked like the picking off of the old guard that broke with party orthodoxy on ICE and redistricting. 

 

Tuesday’s primaries were also dotted with some semi-familiar faces, candidacies born of the Trump administration’s path of destruction. 

 

1) Another Bad Day to be An Incumbent 

 

Lefty challengers racked up major wins Tuesday night on both the state and national level. 

 

In the biggest headline of the night, community organizer and DSA member Darializa Avila Chevalier knocked off Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress. Chevalier, who got a surprise endorsement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani last month, dragged with her a paper trail that once would have been considered insurmountably provocative: social media posts calling former President Joe Biden a “rapist” and proclaiming “fuck Kamala Harris,” as well as attendance at a pro-Palestinian rally soon after the October 7 Hamas attack. 

 

But she positioned herself as an unapologetically anti-establishment fighter, with the youth and temperament to push harder than the 71-year-old Espaillat for working people. That led to the biggest upset by a political newcomer since Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stunned the political world in 2018. 

 

She’ll be joined in Congress by Brad Lander, the Mamdani ally who unsuccessfully ran against him for mayor, but formed a partnership with him during the campaign, asking their respective voters to also rank each other on the ranked-choice ballot. Lander beat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), the Levi Strauss heir who focused his tenure and campaign on combatting ICE, using his office to provide immigrants with legal aid. To his chagrin and Lander’s benefit, though, the campaign was increasingly defined by the two Jewish men’s differing stances on Israel: Lander calls Israel’s attacks on Gaza a “genocide,” while Goldman, a Benjamin Netanyahu critic, still supports giving the country military aid. That daylight between the two, both of whom refer to themselves as liberal Zionists, led Lander to a landslide victory.

 

 DSA assemblymember Claire Valdez will round out the trio, beating out a crowded primary — including an establishment-backed favorite — to win the primary to replace the retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY). 

 

Continues at:

 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/incumbents-tuesday-primary-madani-dsa-new-york-maryland

 

 

 

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