Washington Examiner senior columnist Guy Benson said if the progressive candidates win in New York’s primary elections Tuesday night, it will show the Democratic Party is held “captive” by a “hardcore left-wing” base.
There are progressive candidates running in various elections in New York on Tuesday, with three of them earning endorsements from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who describes himself as a democratic socialist.
“[If they win] it says to me that the Democratic Party is captive of a hardcore left-wing base in certain areas of the country, at least, and it continues to expand,” Benson said on Fox News’s America Reports Tuesday.
Benson said it wasn’t long ago that the “establishment” within the Democratic Party was considered far left.
“It wasn’t that long ago that the current so-called establishment of the party would’ve been considered quite left-wing by any American standard, and now they’re the relative centrists compared to these people,” Benson said. “These sort of left-wing DSA insurgents who feel very empowered, very emboldened.”
Mamdani endorsed candidates who share his far-left beliefs, including progressive former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander in New York’s 10th Congressional District, as well as self-described democratic socialists Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 10th Congressional District and assembly member Claire Valdez in New York’s 7th Congressional District.
During the NBA Finals, in which the New York Knicks were competing, Mamdani released a basketball-themed ad showcasing his chosen “team” for the upcoming election. Benson warned that if these candidates win, it will inspire other progressives and democratic socialists to seek elected office as well.
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“If they pick up a number of key wins in New York tonight, I think you’ll see others around the country, this hardcore base, say, ‘If they can do it there, we can do it anywhere. Let’s try it across the country,’” Benson said.
“I think a lot of the mainstream ‘centrist’ Democrats or establishment Democrats are terrified of this flank of their party,” he added. “They don’t know what to do about it.”