Mamdani backs three congressional candidates in first major political test

Zohran Mamdani has thrown his political weight behind three congressional candidates, turning New York’s June 23 primaries into an early test of whether his mayoral brand can travel beyond city politics. He has endorsed Assemblywoman Claire Valdez in the 7th Congressional District, former City Comptroller Brad Lander in the 10th and community advocate Darializa Avila Chevalier in the 13th.

The move puts Mamdani at the center of a fight over endorsements, coalition-building and the energy his allies can generate outside New York City Hall. All three candidates are running to the left of their primary rivals, and Mamdani’s supporters see the races as a measure of whether his democratic socialist politics can gain a foothold in Washington. Critics see a sharper question: whether a city-level political identity can survive contact with congressional politics in competitive districts.

Mamdani has already paired those endorsements with a visible show of force. He co-hosted a Brooklyn rally on Thursday with Senator Bernie Sanders in support of the three candidates, and Sanders is scheduled to appear with them again during the final stretch of early voting. The pairing signals that Mamdani is not just handing out endorsements, but trying to build a wider political lane that links his coalition in New York with the national left.

The endorsements have also created friction inside New York Democratic politics. Gov. Kathy Hochul is backing Rep. Dan Goldman and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also supporting Espaillat. Espaillat, who has represented the 13th District since 2017, pushed back on the idea that Mamdani’s backing alone can decide the contest. “One endorsement does not make a race. Voters do,” Espaillat said, pointing to support from labor unions, advocacy groups, Hochul, Letitia James and Jeffries.

That tension gives the primaries a larger meaning than a single election night. If Mamdani’s candidates win, his allies will argue that his coalition can shape who represents New York in Congress and influence debates in Washington over the Democratic Party’s direction. If they lose, the endorsements could be seen as a high-risk gamble that overreached before his first term as mayor had even settled in.