Dems are divided over continued pressure as Mamdani defends a far-left House candidate
Political strategists Meghan Hays and Luke Ball discuss the shift the Democratic Party is seeing to the left. They analyzed the great impact of Sen. Bernie Sanders in the direction of the party, including his endorsement of socialist candidates such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose controversial social media posts have sparked debate. The discussion highlights the potential implications for the upcoming midterm elections.
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A year after sending political shockwaves across the country with his victory in the New York City Democratic primary en route to winning the election as mayor of the country’s most populous city, Zohran Mamdani is testing the limits of political power as he begins to form a party.
The 34-year-old Democratic mayor is partnering with longtime progressive champion and two-term Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., at a get-out-the-vote rally in New York City’s Brooklyn neighborhood on Thursday, less than a week before a key presidential election.
Mamdani and Sanders aim to increase the number of candidates the mayor supports, including two competing Democratic congressional candidates, as part of their bid to form a progressive party.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani embraced Rep. Bernie Sanders during a speech marking Mamdani’s first 100 days in office at the Knockdown Center in New York on April 12, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP)
Leftist candidates endorsed by Mamdani include political activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, New York’s 13th US House District, which includes the northern third of Manhattan and a section of the Bronx. Espaillat has the support of a number of party leaders, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The mayor also endorsed former New York City Mayor Brad Lander, who ran against Mamdani last year in a crowded primary field but became one of his biggest supporters. Lander is challenging Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th Congressional District, which includes lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Goldman’s backers include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
And in New York’s 7th district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, Democratic-endorsed state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez is running against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who is supported by Rep. Nydia Velazquez, DNY.
The results of Mamdani’s polled races will test whether his popularity among New York Democrats translates into electoral votes.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on June 14, 2026. (Photos by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC)
“This is the team. This is our year. It’s up to all of us to finish them,” emphasized Mamdani, writing on the social media platform, criticizing Thursday’s meeting.
The socialist has been a favorite of the left for a year and a half. But six months into his tenure as mayor of New York City, he can also count former critics in the Democratic Party, including Hochul, as allies. And he received praise from President Donald Trump.
Trump last year repeatedly said Mamdani was a “communist lunatic,” but during an Oval Office meeting in November that drew much national attention, the president praised the then-mayor as a “very reasonable person” who would do a “really good job.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets with President Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 26, 2026. (Zohran Kwame Mamdani/X)
“It’s clear that Mamdani understands power and how to use it,” Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.
“He’s still incredibly popular and he seems to understand that might not be the case. That’s why I think he’s turning his political power now. Smart politics,” added Caiazzo, a veteran of Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Mamdani’s support, including candidates for state legislative offices, largely reflects the mayor’s platform to focus on affordability in a city with the highest cost of living in the country.
Sanders, who was born in New York City last year appeared in rallies on behalf of Mamdani and took the oath of office at his inauguration in January, highlighted on social media, “Now more than ever, we need leaders in Congress who understand firsthand the struggles that working people face.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., swears in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as Rama Duwaji holds a Quran during the inauguration ceremony in New York on Jan. 1, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)
Mamdani’s support of the three congressional candidates, along with Thursday’s meeting with Sanders, gives Republicans, who have long cast the mayor as a superhero, more ammunition to use him as a villain as they work to hold onto their House majority in the midterm elections.
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“Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as they come,” National Republican Congress (NRCC) Press Secretary Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital.
“And at a time when the Democrats don’t have a leader or a message, he’s the kind of bogeyman we can use against the Democrats to really show who’s leading their party and the crazy policies they all support.”
