Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mainstream Democrats hope far-left insurgents will settle down after arriving in Washington. They’re in for an ugly surprise.
“Free, free Palestine!” the crowd chanted when New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrived at the Tuesday night party celebrating the primary win of his close ally, Claire Valdez. Given the city’s paucity of Republican voters, Ms. Valdez is almost certain to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives come November. So are Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, two other insurgent candidates backed by the mayor.
Like Mr. Mamdani, all three upstart candidates have roots in the far-left Democratic Socialists of America. Their primary victories help cement Mr. Mamdani’s “status as a formidable kingmaker,” the Journal reports. Once they arrive in Washington, the new members of Congress will share an agenda much broader than protecting the parochial interests of New Yorkers. Ms. Valdez and Ms. Chevalier consider themselves part of a socialist vanguard. Their campaigns focused on claims that Israel is committing a “genocide” in Gaza. As the “Free Palestine” chants suggest, their closest supporters also believe this election reflects a global radical movement.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal (paywall)
______________________
James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a City Journal contributing editor.