Mamdani-backed candidates win big in New York Democratic primaries – US politics live

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Three congressional candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani. New York’s democratic socialist mayor, won their closely watched primaries on Tuesday, beating out incumbents or incumbent-backed candidates supported by the Democratic establishment.

Brad Lander. the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, defeated the two-term incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman in NY-10.

Political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier won against five-term incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat in NY-13 in a stunning upset.

And in NY-7. Claire Valdez beat out Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso – the handpicked successor of Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress who is considered a progressive giant of New York City politics.

This clean sweep for Mamdani is a clear indicator of his growing influence –. that of his ascendant progressive movement – over the Democratic party.

“The old politics. got us into this crisis is not the politics that’s going to get us out of this crisis,” Mamdani said at a watch party for Valdez.

In other developments:

In Maryland, Adrian Boafo won the extremely crowded primary race to succeed Steny Hoyer, the longest-serving House Democrat. a longtime member of leadership who is retiring at the end of his 23rd term. Boafo, a state delegate, defeated the former US Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the building on January 6,. businesswoman Quincy Bareebe.

April McClain Delaney fended off her predecessor. the former Democratic congressman David Trone, who sought to reclaim his seat in Maryland’s sixth district after an unsuccessful bid for Senate two years ago.

Nancy Lacore. a three-star navy rear-admiral fired by Pete Hegseth last year in the defense secretary’s purge of senior US military officials, has won the Democratic nomination in a runoff for a closely watched congressional race in South Carolina.

South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, won the Republican nomination for governor, defeating Trump-backed lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.

In Utah. former congressman Ben McAdams, a political moderate, won the primary to compete in a newly drawn Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City.

Donald Trump is slated to meet with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, in the Oval office on Wednesday.

Later Wednesday, Trump will also be hosting the opening of The Great American State Fair, an event held by the Freedom 250, an organization run by Trump supporters to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary. run counter to America250, the nonpartisan body set up by Congress a decade ago to oversee the commemoration.

In a late-night post on Truth Social. Donald Trump said he had instructed the justice department to investigate “the big oil companies” for not lowering gas prices at the pump in line with falling prices.

“In other words, customers are being ‘gouged’,” he said, without naming any specific companies.

Here’s the full post:

double quotation mark The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil. Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being “gouged.” I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!

Per our earlier post, public defence investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Adriano Espaillat, the powerful five-term incumbent who chairs the Hispanic caucus in Congress, in New York ’s diverse 13th congressional district, which covers Upper Manhattan. parts of the Bronx.

Chevalier was backed by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had a clean sweep with wins from Brad Lander. Claire Valdez meaning all three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries.

Here’s a clip of Chevalier celebrating her win.

A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received unusually harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison on Tuesday in a closely watched case. was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent.

After a three-week jury trial. the nine activists were all found guilty of a slew of criminal charges in March, stemming from a Fourth of July protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, south of Fort Worth. The demonstrators arrived late at night with a plan to set off fireworks as part of a noise demonstration to show solidarity with those detained inside. A few of the protesters spontaneously broke off from the main group. vandalized cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van and broke a security camera. When a police officer arrived on the scene. drew his weapon, one of the activists fired an AR-15 from the woods, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived.

Benjamin Song, who fired the gun at the police officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Song was convicted of attempted murder of an officer of the United States, as well as firearm and explosives charges. He was also convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists. He faced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.

Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto and Meagan Morris were sentenced to 50 years in prison. Maricela Rueda, another demonstrator, was sentenced to 70 years in prison. All six were convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorist, and explosive charges. Rueda was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record.

The US Senate approved a war powers resolution preventing Donald Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran, delivering the president a significant. symbolic rebuke over a conflict that has proven unpopular with the American public.

The resolution passed by a 50-48 vote, with four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Rand Paul of Kentucky – breaking with their party to support its adoption. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, was the sole Democrat to vote against the resolution.

The measure. which passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, would require the president to seek Congress’s authorization to use military force against Iran. It comes after Trump dispatched JD Vance to Switzerland to negotiate a settlement. would resolve the conflict the US began alongside Israel in February.

A Washington DC resident arrested this week near the National Mall’s reflecting pool told the Guardian he planned to fight the charges. as Donald Trump continues to blame vandals for the botched renovation of the pool.

After the Trump administration spent $14.2m renovating the body of water in front of the Lincoln Memorial to turn it “American flag” blue in time for the US’s 250th birthday next month, the pool has been beset with algae blooms. peeling polyurethane liner. Trump has claimed, without evidence, that the pool had been slashed with a knife.

Earlier this week. Trump said on social media that six people had been arrested “for the damage they did to our country’s now beautiful Reflecting Pool”.

So far. the actual charges filed against people arrested at or near the reflecting pool have not included doing any damage at all.

Elsewhere in New York, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F Kennedy, was unsuccessful in his bid to revive the political legacy of the US’s most vaunted political family. win in a race dominated by money from AI-focused Super Pacs.

Longtime New York politician Micah Lasher won the primary in New York’s 12th district, beating out Kennedy. George Conway, the Republican turned vocal Trump critic, among others in a crowded field of Democrats hoping to succeed the long-serving representative Jerry Nadler.

Late Tuesday. Donald Trump celebrated on Truth Social the defeat of Conway while also commenting on the “Communists running in badly failing Blue States”.

“America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!” Trump posted early Wednesday.