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New York primary voters on Tuesday sent a lot of messages to elected officials. They unseated numerous incumbents and upended some of the state’s Democratic Party machine that will have ripple effects this fall and into 2028 while also continuing to stay aligned with the machine that is Donald Trump.
Here are a few takeaways from the 2026 primary election results.
A year after he defeated the quintessential New York establishment Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the primary race for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani is taking a victory lap on Wednesday after candidates he endorsed for Congress swept out incumbents as his democratic socialist agenda spreads to higher office.
The most high profile takedown was of U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a 10-year veteran of the House of Representatives and head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He was defeated by Darializa Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, in the 13th Congressional District, which comprises parts of Upper Manhattan, including Harlem and Inwood, and parts of the Bronx.
Nearby, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander toppled two-term Rep. Dan Goldman by nearly 30 points in the 10th District, and state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, also part of the Democratic Socialists of America, won the primary for the open seat being vacated by Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who had endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to be her successor.
The victories and the political makeup of the districts will more than likely bring in three new allies at the federal level for Mamdani. It may also complicate things for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New Yorker, who is poised to become speaker if Democrats win the chamber in November. It may also complicate things for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is up for reelection in 2028 and who has seen lower-than-ever approval ratings in recent Siena polls and constant threats of challenges from a more progressive candidate.
It wasn’t just Congress where ultra progressive candidates did well. Candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America also performed well in races for state Legislature.
In New York City, Samantha Kattan in the state Assembly’s 37th District, David Orkin in the Assembly’s 38th District, Christian Tate in the Assembly’s 54th District, Eon Huntly in the 56th Assembly District, Illapa Sairitupac in the 65th District and Aber Kawas in the state Senate’s 12th District all won their respective primaries.
In Central New York, Onondaga County Legislator Maurice “Mo” Brown, was leading longtime Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, a 28-year veteran of the state’s lower chamber, though the race will now go to absentee ballots.
Farther west in the Buffalo area, Adam Bojak won a three-way race in the 149th state Assembly District. That race to fill the seat vacated by Jonathan Rivera, who while not a DSA member, is a progressive who also unseated state Sen. Jeremy Zellner in the 61st state Senate District.
It wasn’t a total shellacking for the party establishment. They did get their wins on the board elsewhere. In the open race to fill retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, state Assemblymember Micah Lasher prevailed in a crowded contest. Lasher is Gov. Kathy Hochul’s former director of policy and had been endorsed by Nadler and Hochul.
In northern New York, dairy farmer Blake Gendebien won the Democratic nomination in the 21st Congressional District soon to be vacated by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik. He had been backed by agricultural groups and local Democratic committees over progressive businessman Stuart Armoriell, who called himself an independent Democrat.
In the Rochester area, incumbent Rep. Joe Morelle easily won his primary in the 25th District, defeating two primary challengers. Indeed, Morelle was the only upstate incumbent member of Congress to face a contested primary this cycle.
In the Hudson Valley, West Point graduate Cait Conley secured the Democratic nomination in the race for New York’s 17th Congressional District, defeating four opponents in what will likely be one of the more competitive U.S. House races in the state in the fall against Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
While much of the drama came from Democrats in New York City, the most contested upstate U.S. House contest was in the aforementioned 21st Congressional District in the GOP race to succeed Rep. Stefanik. Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino proved once again that an endorsement from the president is often the key to success in a Republican primary.
Constantino came out ahead of state Assemblyman Robert Smullen, who had the backing of the state Republican Party, state Conservative Party, fellow members of the state Legislature and various local GOP officials.
Trump in April endorsed Constantino, making reference to a large pro-Donald Trump electric sign that Constantino placed on top of a building on Elk Street in Amsterdam, in Montgomery County, during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Smullen will still appear on the general election ballot on the Conservative Party line. Whether he actively campaigns remains to be seen and said after his loss he is going to “assess in the coming days what the path forward is.”
Though Trump’s approval statewide hovers in the low to mid-30s, the 21st District is a Republican bastion and whoever filled the shoes of Stefanik – one of the president’s biggest allies in the House – no doubt had to be prepared to carry that mantle forward.
While progressive Democrats performed well down ballot, they still struggle to get much traction in a statewide contest.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli had to fend off primary challengers for the first time in his long run as the state’s chief financial officer, and still garnered 65% of the vote.
DiNapoli is currently the longest serving non-congressional statewide officeholder, having been comptroller since 2007. He was the only statewide officeholder to face a primary on the ballot this year, different from the most recent cycles, especially for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had an uncontested primary for the first time since she’s been in any statewide office.
In the last three cycles, DiNapoli has also outperformed the governor in the general election, which is a sign of either the power of incumbency, a lesser partisan role or lower name identification from the public, or a combination of all three.
DiNapoli, Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James will all face general election voters in November. Election Day is Nov. 3.
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