NY June 23 Primaries: Will Mamdani's Socialist Machine Have Real Staying Power?

Voting Day Is Three Weeks Away. The Hype Is About to Meet Reality.

New Yorkers head to the polls June 23 in congressional and state legislative primaries that will either validate or deflate the socialist wave that swept Zohran Mamdani into Gracie Mansion. Our previous coverage laid out who was running. Soon the votes get counted — and the results will reverberate beyond New York City.

NY-7: The Race That Shows the Left Eating Itself

The 7th Congressional District — covering parts of western Queens and north Brooklyn including Long Island City, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg — is shaping up as the clearest test of whether the DSA's organizational muscle can translate to congressional wins.

According to Fox 5 New York, the three main contenders are Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assembly Member Claire Valdez, and City Council Member Julie Won. All three are progressives. None are moderates. But that hasn't stopped the infighting.

Valdez led the field in fundraising during the first reporting period, per Fox 5. Reynoso locked down institutional labor muscle — 32BJ SEIU, DC 37, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, and the Working Families Party all backed him. Won has DSA support.

This isn't left versus center. It's DSA-backed versus union-backed progressives, with the distinction being which flavor of government expansion you prefer. The voters choosing between them will be deciding the internal hierarchy of New York's left — not whether the left wins.

The New York Times noted that this race has "reignited old tensions over gentrification, identity and who gets to define the left." There's a genuine ideological and demographic split inside the Mamdani coalition that his mayoral win papered over.

NY-12: Big Money, No Socialist Coattails

Manhattan's 12th District — open after Rep. Jerry Nadler announced his retirement — tells a different story. According to City & State New York, the leading candidates are Assembly Members Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, with celebrity entries from George Conway and Jack Schlossberg generating noise but not expected to dominate.

Here's a critical detail: Mamdani has not endorsed in this race. City & State reports he's staying out entirely because no leading candidate is running to his left. His political adviser Morris Katz has reportedly backed Lasher — but that's an adviser, not the mayor.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been dumping money into the race through outside spending, backing a candidate against the field. Bloomberg and Mamdani operating in the same primary — on opposite sides — is the actual political tension in NY-12. Most coverage has focused on the celebrity candidates instead.

City & State also notes that dueling AI PACs are spending heavily here. Outside money flooding a Democratic primary through political AI infrastructure is emerging as a significant development in competitive races.

State Legislature: DSA vs. DSA, Round Two

The NY-7 internal left split isn't an isolated incident. City & State New York reports it's playing out at the state legislative level too.

In the race to replace retiring State Sen. Michael Gianaris in western Queens, the NYC-DSA chapter is backing Palestinian American organizer Aber Kawas over Assembly Member Steven Raga — who is himself a dues-paying DSA member, just not a "Socialist in Office" under their formal program.

Raga was the first Filipino American elected to the state Legislature in 2022. Kawas moved to Queens in 2024. The DSA is backing the newer arrival over the incumbent member of their own organization because of internal ideological distinctions.

This is not a story about the left versus the right. It's a story about a political movement deciding what kind of purity test you have to pass to earn the endorsement — and whether voters actually care.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Getting Wrong

The New York Times is framing these races primarily as a referendum on Mamdani's political movement and what it means for the future of the Democratic Party. Fox 5's coverage of NY-7 is straightforward and factual — names, endorsements, fundraising numbers.

What few outlets are covering adequately: the outside income cap on New York state legislators is forcing retirements that are reshaping Albany in ways completely separate from ideology. City & State flags this, but it's getting lost in the Mamdani narrative. Some of these open seats exist because legislators chose their side gigs over public office. That's a governance story about incentives and compensation.

What It Means for Regular People

If Mamdani's preferred candidates sweep these primaries, New York City's congressional delegation and state legislature will shift further left. That means more pressure for rent control expansions, higher taxes on businesses, and progressive social policy in a city already hemorrhaging middle-class residents.

If the institutional labor-backed candidates win, the Democratic establishment retains its grip — which in New York still means big spending and high taxes, just with union bosses at the table instead of socialist organizers.

Either way, the people paying the bills are the same: New York City taxpayers, who already shoulder some of the highest combined tax burdens in the country.

June 23 won't change that math. It'll just tell us who's in charge of spending the money.