In June, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood before a packed house of voters, rallying support for a new wave of candidates hoping to build on his progressive momentum by winning seats in Congress.
asserted
Mamdani → stand → Congress
Inside Brooklyn’s historic Kings Theatre, the crowd answered chants of “Abolish ICE”, “Tax the rich” and “Free Palestine” with roaring applause, leaving little if any room for doubt about what the audience wanted from its politicians.
asserted
audience → answer → politicians
Recommended Stories
list of 4 items- list 1 of 4ICE shooting of New York man in car with five-year-old sparks protests
- list 2 of 4Zohran Mamdani orders use-of-force review for New York City police
- list 3 of 4US congressional candidate Brad Lander detained in West Bank
- list 4 of 4Mamdani says Trump to grant visa to mother of boy killed in Bronx shooting
asserted
Trump → spark → shooting
Within days, all three congressional hopefuls endorsed by Mamdani – Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier – had won their Democratic primaries, becoming the party’s candidates in the midterm election.
asserted
hopefuls → endorse → election
Lander, the former New York City comptroller, defeated Congressman Dan Goldman in a race in which Israel was the defining issue.
asserted
Israel → defeat → which
Avila Chevalier, a community organiser, unseated longtime Congressman Adriano Espaillat.
asserted
Chevalier → unseat → Espaillat
Valdez, a lawmaker in the New York State Assembly and member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), won the contest to succeed retiring Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez.
asserted
Valdez → win → Velazquez
Both Valdez and Avila Chevalier had the backing of New York City’s DSA chapter.
asserted
Valdez → have → chapter
The candidates’ heavily Democratic districts mean they are likely to win congressional seats in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
asserted
they → mean → elections
The June Democratic Party primaries effectively served as the main event for voters.
asserted
primaries → serve → voters
In the final hours before Tuesday’s midterm election, New York City – a place colloquially dubbed the city that never sleeps – is more politically sleepy, with canvassers a bit harder to find than they were in the final stretch before the primaries.
asserted
they → dub → primaries
For the three progressive candidates, the past few months have been a test of how to turn bold campaign promises into policy they can actually deliver.
asserted
they → turn → policy
The often slow minutiae of daily governance stand in stark contrast to buzzword-laden campaign slogans on the posters and signs galvanising their base of voters.
asserted
minutiae → stand → voters
The three congressional candidates’ platforms overlap on issues like abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ending US military aid to Israel and establishing a public healthcare system dubbed Medicare for All.
asserted
platforms → overlap → All
But their paths into progressive politics differ.
asserted
paths → differ → politics
Lander spent years in the New York City government, most recently as comptroller overseeing the city’s finances.
asserted
Lander → spend → finances
After losing to Mamdani in the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, he backed Mamdani in the election.
asserted
he → lose → election
But Lander’s congressional campaign against incumbent Goldman brought him national attention, with Israel and Palestine emerging as the defining issue in the race to lead a district with one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States.
asserted
Israel → bring → States
Lander has described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide and its occupation of Palestinian territory as apartheid.
asserted
Lander → describe → apartheid
He also identifies as a Zionist who embraces pro-Palestinian activism, arguing that the positions are not mutually exclusive.
asserted
positions → identify → activism
Lander has long supported a two-state solution.
asserted
Lander → support → solution
“It’s straightforward that some approach to more shared safety for Israelis and Palestinians and for Jews and Muslims and everybody else here makes more sense,” Lander said.
asserted
Lander → ’ → sense
“I also want to be able to listen across those divides and have thoughtful policy debates.”
asserted
I → want → debates
Two weeks before Tuesday’s election, Israeli forces detained Lander in the occupied West Bank while he was volunteering to help with the olive harvest.
asserted
he → detain → harvest
Israeli authorities have since revoked his travel documents for a planned return visit.
asserted
authorities → revoke → visit
“The main story I come home with is not the story of my detention or the revocation of my travel authorisation,” Lander said.
asserted
Lander → come → authorisation
“The main story that I come with is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank, which I just saw with my own eyes.
asserted
I → come → eyes
Lander has also long called for ICE to be abolished, including during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
asserted
ICE → call → office
Avila Chevalier’s political rise was similarly shaped by immigration and Palestinian rights, though she has taken a more uncompromising approach.
asserted
she → shape → approach
After interning at a youth organisation in Nablus in the occupied West Bank in 2014, she returned to the US and became an advocate for Palestinian communities.
asserted
she → intern → communities
Her “Babies Not Bombs” platform calls for redirecting military spending, including aid to Israel, towards domestic priorities such as childcare and healthcare.
asserted
platform → call → childcare
“It’s important for us to see our budgets as moral documents,” Avila Chevalier told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Chevalier → ’ → Jazeera
“Our resources should be going towards the things that make our lives dignified and make our communities thrive – not towards war, not towards ICE or things that are harming our communities.”
asserted
that → go → communities
Valdez, meanwhile, came to progressive politics through the labour movement.
asserted
Valdez → come → movement
A former union-organiser-turned-state-assemblymember, she supports stronger labour protections, including federal legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to make union organising easier.
asserted
organising → turn → Act
Valdez also backs national rent control and a government-run healthcare system to provide wider healthcare access than the country’s private-sector insurance model.
asserted
Valdez → back → model
“Public programmes and entitlements have been under attack by the right,” Valdez told Al Jazeera as she exited a polling location in her district on the first day of early voting.
asserted
she → tell → voting
“I think not just clawing those back but really advancing a vision for what those things should be will be top priorities.
asserted
things → think → vision
Abolishing ICE and ending military aid to Israel are lofty, ambitious goals, and neither is likely to be achieved without navigating competing interests in Congress and the White House.
asserted
neither → abolish → Congress
With the balance of congressional power potentially shifting towards Democrats in the midterms, the newcomers will have to decide which priorities to pursue first.
asserted
newcomers → shift → priorities
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
