New York progressives win with anti-billionaire economic message

Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez turned New York City’s Democratic House primaries into a test of Zohran Mamdani’s economic message, winning by attacking billionaire power and promising to put working people first. Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District, Chevalier beat Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th, and Valdez won the 7th against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

Their platform is clearest on taxes. Lander strongly supports the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which would tax the net wealth of households with more than $50 million. He also backs an ultra-wealth tax on people worth over $1 billion and the Equal Tax Act, which would tax capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income above $1 million. Chevalier backs the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act and the Equal Tax Act, while Valdez has pushed taxing billionaires as a way to fund social programs. The burden would land on the top of the wealth ladder, while the payoff would go to public spending and lower-income households. Critics warn that wealthy taxpayers could move assets abroad or become less willing to start businesses.

The candidates’ labor and technology positions went beyond taxes. Valdez and Chevalier, both democratic socialists, called for a four-day workweek and a pause in the construction of AI data centers. That stance put them on a collision course with the tech money already flowing into New York races: two political action committees tied to major artificial intelligence companies spent $20 million in the Manhattan contest involving Alex Bores. For all the talk of affordability, the clearest policy answers so far are about who gets taxed and how much leverage workers should have.

Mamdani’s own rise gave the campaign its frame. He first won the New York City Democratic mayoral primary on June 24, 2025, with 469,642 votes, or 44 percent, before winning the general election on Nov. 4, 2025, with 1,114,184 votes, or 50.8 percent. The three House winners are expected to carry deep-blue districts into November, but the broader Democratic argument is still unsettled: center-leaning candidates also won primaries in upstate New York and Utah, and moderates such as Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger won last year on price-focused campaigns rather than explicit class warfare.