A big new test of Zohran Mamdani’s influence

New York congressional primaries on Tuesday will test the influence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the anti-establishment left flank of the Democratic Party, with AI regulation also on the ballot in Manhattan's 12th District. Assembly member Alex Bores, who wrote a strong AI safety law that was watered down by Governor Kathy Hochul, is running on a platform of robust AI regulation, while Mamdani-endorsed DSA candidates challenge incumbents in the 13th and 7th Districts.

The latest test of the anti-establishment wave sweeping the Democratic Party comes this Tuesday in New York. One year after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City and became a partywide icon, the state has turned into a live read on the rift between the party’s left flank and its centrist establishment. A big new test of Zohran Mamdani’s influence Three reasons to care about the New York congressional primaries on Tuesday. Astead Herndon /authors/astead-herndon is a host and editorial director at Vox, helping lead politics coverage across text, video, audio, and social media platforms. This week on America, Actually, we talked to two candidates on the front lines of that insurgency. Here’s what they said, and why Tuesday’s primaries could reverberate nationally: 1. AI regulation is on the ballot Alex Bores, an assembly member running in New York’s 12th District in Manhattan, wrote what he calls the strongest AI safety law in the country, the RAISE Act. Then Gov. Kathy Hochul stepped in and forced lawmakers to water it down before she signed it into law — stripping the provision barring companies from releasing models that fail safety tests, scaling back penalties, and more. So I asked him: If that kind of watered-down legislation is coming from a Democrat in a safe blue state, what’s the hope for robust AI legislation nationally, where we haven’t even seen the willingness to take the first steps? According to Bores, who’s running in a crowded field that also includes Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and Never-Trump lawyer George Conway, “There’s a lot of fear among elected officials that if they try to regulate this technology, it will be the end of their political careers. ... We’ve even seen leadership within the Democratic Party tell candidates in frontline races, ‘Hey, maybe stay away from AI.’” “Every time I introduce a new AI policy,” he told me, “I get texts from Congress members: ‘Hey, this is great, love this.’ And I always respond, ‘Introduce it.’ ... And then it’s crickets. They know it’s the right thing to do. They’re just so scared of the money on the other side.” Bores believes that 70 percent to 80 percent of voters want AI regulated — and some polls https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-voters-see-ai-regulation-urgent-rank-safeguards-ahead-innovation back him up. The gap between that and what Washington will actually do is the whole story — and his race is a test of whether closing it is a viable platform to build a campaign around. 2. Mamdanis endorsements and his politics are being tested The New York City mayor put his name behind a slate of insurgents, and Tuesday tells us whether his coattails are real or whether he’s spending capital he doesn’t have. For the broader Democratic Party, Tuesday’s races will go a long way to showing just how far socialism and explicitly leftist politics have taken root in urban centers and working-class neighborhoods with large groups of racial minorities. In New York’s 13th District, which covers parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, Darializa Avila Chevalier — a Democratic Socialists of America-aligned public defender who canvassed for Mamdani when he was at 1 percent — is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican American in Congress and chair of the Hispanic Caucus. Avila Chevalier frames her challenge as values over identity: “It’s not enough to share identity,” she told me. “We also have to share our values and share our fight and share a commitment to winning for our people.” In New York’s Seventh District, meanwhile, Mamdani’s backing of DSA candidate Claire Valdez over Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso has drawn open criticism from people like Rep. Nydia Velázquez — who currently represents the Seventh district but, at 73, isn’t running for reelection. Velázquez, who was a close Mamdani ally during the mayoral race and is now supporting Reynoso, warned the mayor of crossing her earlier this year: “Honeymoons are short, and people need to pay attention to the work at hand,” she told the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/nyregion/nydia-velazquez-antonio-reynoso-mamdani.html . 3. New York’s Democratic insurgents are channeling real dissatisfaction with the party establishment What unites Bores, Avila Chevalier, and Valdez isn’t a single issue. It’s the bet that Democratic voters are fed up with their own party’s establishment and want someone who’ll say so. Avila Chevalier’s clearest contrast with Espaillat is on his record of voting to keep arming Israel. She’s betting it’s an issue that will appeal to voters worried about kitchen-table issues; as she puts it, “Budgets are moral documents. They tell us exactly what we prioritize.” In a district where she says 26 percent of residents live below the poverty line, her argument is that money for “endless war” is money not coming home. When I called it an America First argument from the left, she pushed back: “It’s an argument about life.” It’s worth noting that the contrast she’s drawing has a money trail of its own — Espaillat has been a reliable recipient of support from the pro-Israel lobby. We reached out to the Espaillat campaign for comment and did not hear back. Whether that kind of argument actually moves voters, or just social media, is exactly what Tuesday will start to answer. As always, there’s much more in the full show, so listen to America, Actually wherever you get your podcasts or watch it on Vox’s YouTube channel .