Morning Digest: Mamdani's endorsees complete clean sweep of New York's primaries

Plus we recap all of Tuesday's top races

Darializa Avila Chevalier and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani with supporters (credit: Darializa Avila Chevalier website)

Leading Off

NY-07, NY-10, NY-13

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of three endorsed House candidates won a clean sweep on Tuesday night, as Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, and Claire Valdez all came out on top in a set of closely watched Democratic primaries for safely blue seats in New York City.

Avila Chevalier turned in the biggest upset of the evening by defeating Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a five-term congressman and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, by a 49-46 spread in the 13th District in upper Manhattan and the western Bronx. The Associated Press estimates that 88% of the vote has been tabulated as of early Wednesday, but while the margin may shift, Avila Chevalier’s win is not in doubt.

Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who rose to prominence in 2024 as a leader of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, overcame heavy spending from Espaillat and his allies.

Espaillat’s side hoped to defeat his opponent with ads focusing on her now-deleted tweets, including messages like “Fuck Kamala Harris,” but Avila Chevalier convinced voters to reject what she framed as a failing status quo. She went after the incumbent for taking contributions from the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC as a major part of her case that her opponent represented “the politics of the past.”

The congressman, who at 71 is almost four decades older than the 32-year-old challenger, emphasized his record, but he was unable to run as anything but a member of the establishment.

Espaillat, who was first elected to the state legislature in 1996, was one of the most influential Democrats in the area even before he was elected to Congress on his third try in 2016. His election to replace retiring Rep. Charlie Rangel, the longtime congressman who had fended him off in the 2012 and 2014 primaries, made him both the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented person to serve in Congress.

Avila Chevalier, who has described herself as “Black and Dominican,” is also set to make history as the first Muslim person to represent New York in Congress.

The two other members of Mamdani’s “team”—as the trio dubbed themselves in an ad that ran during the NBA finals—also had reason to smile on Tuesday night.

Lander, the city’s former comptroller, scored a landslide 66-34 win over Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th District, which includes Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope.

The two-term incumbent, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, far outspent Lander, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor last year. Goldman, though, was unable to effectively counter the challenger’s argument that Democrats should replace their congressman, who had expressed vocal support for Israel’s government and had AIPAC’s endorsement.

Finally, Valdez, a member of the state Assembly, scored a decisive 56-36 victory in the 7th District against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who had the ardent support of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez. Valdez, a member of the DSA, is now on a glide path to replace the 17-term incumbent in a district that covers parts of northern Brooklyn and western Queens.

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Election Recaps

All race calls and estimates of the proportion of the vote that’s been tabulated come from the Associated Press. You can also check out our cheat-sheet that summarizes the outcomes in every key race.

Maryland

MD-Gov (R) (63-34 Harris)

Former Del. Dan Cox will get his rematch against Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, an outcome the incumbent is quite happy with.

Moore, who beat Cox in a 65-32 landslide in 2022, took action in the Republican primary to boost the former delegate over wealthy businessman Ed Hale. While Moore would have been favored against any Republican, Cox, an election conspiracy theorist, has already demonstrated that he’s a weak candidate in this heavily Democratic state.

MD-05 (D) (66-32 Harris)

Del. Adrian Boafo, who had the support of retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer and other prominent Democratic leaders, vanquished nearly two dozen rivals in the primary for Maryland’s 5th District.

Boafo leads his nearest opponent, self-funding healthcare executive Quincy Bareebe, 32-18 with an estimated 68% in. He also benefited from a staggering degree of outside spending. All told, third-party groups dumped in more than $12 million to help Boafo, with more than $5 million apiece coming from AIPAC and a super PAC funded by the crypto industry.

MD-06 (D) (52-46 Harris)

Rep. April McClain Delaney fended off former Rep. David Trone, who poured $25 million of his fortune into a comeback campaign for the House seat he gave up two years ago for an ultimately unsuccessful Senate bid.

McClain Delaney, who self-funded $8 million, leads Trone 44-37 with an estimated 67% reporting.

MD-07 (D) (78-19 Harris)

Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume easily turned back Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway, who presented himself as an agent of generational change (Conway is in his late 30s while Mfume is 77 and is seeking to win a ninth full term). Mfume leads 70-25 with an estimated 69% in.

MD State Senate District 46 (D) (79-17 Harris)

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, whose steadfast opposition prevented Democrats from passing a new congressional map, defeated charter boat operator Bobby LaPin by an underwhelming 57-43 margin in Tuesday’s primary.

LaPin, a first-time candidate best known as the “Sail Local Guy” thanks to his social media presence, was badly outspent by the powerful Ferguson. He received little in the way of high-profile support, though Gov. Wes Moore pointedly declined to endorse the incumbent after clashing over redistricting.

LaPin’s campaign was likewise fueled by anger over Ferguson’s refusal to allow a vote on a new map and may have spurred the lawmaker to shift his views.

Last month, after the race received a flurry of attention, Ferguson said he was finally open to placing an amendment on the November ballot that would allow Democrats to redraw the map without having to worry about possible legal challenges, but only after the conclusion of Maryland’s primaries.

New York

NY-01 (D) (54-44 Trump)

Army National Guard veteran Chris Gallant will take on Republican Rep. Nick LaLota after a GOP effort to meddle in the Democratic primary failed to produce its desired results.

Republicans had intervened on behalf of Lukas Ventouras, a 25-year-old law school student they presumably believed would be easier to defeat in November, but Gallant prevailed by a 63-37 margin. Still, LaLota will be the favorite in November given this Long Island constituency’s shift to the right in recent years.

NY-06 (D) (54-46 Harris)

Rep. Grace Meng won renomination against former U.S. foreign service officer Chuck Park in a contest that attracted relatively little attention, though her showing wasn’t impressive for a seven-term incumbent. Meng leads 57-43 with an estimated 85% in.

NY-12 (D) (81-17 Harris)

Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who was the choice of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, defeated Assemblyman Alex Bores 39-35 in the all-important Democratic primary for the Manhattan-based 12th District. The AP, which has called the race, estimates 87% is reporting.

A pair of celebrity candidates fared poorly: Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, was a distant third with 11%, while attorney George Conway, a frequent TV presence and the ex-husband of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, took fifth place with just 6%.

NY-15 (D) (74-25 Harris)

Rep. Ritchie Torres had little trouble fending off former Assemblyman Michael Blake, a frequent candidate for higher office who struggled to convince would-be allies that he could defeat the well-funded incumbent. Torres holds a 72-22 advantage with an estimated 89% in.

NY-17 (D) (50-49 Harris)

Former National Security Council official Cait Conley overcame GOP meddling to comfortably win the Democratic nomination to face Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Conley defeated Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson 49-33, after a group linked to Republicans spent $1.5 million to undermine Conley’s chances by seeking to tie her to ICE.

Lawler himself also got in on the act. According to Politico, the congressman sent an anonymous text to Democratic voters in April blasting Conley as a “DC-connected insider.” Anyone who responded “HELP,” however, got back an automatic response reading, “Mike Lawler: For help, reach out to mike@lawlerforcongress.com.”

Lawler’s efforts, though, failed to stop Conley. The two will now face off in what will be a closely watched contest for the 17th District, a competitive constituency in the lower Hudson Valley.

NY-21 (R) (60-39 Trump)

New York’s North Country could be in for a wild ride after wealthy sticker magnate Anthony Constantino rode an endorsement from Donald Trump to defeat the candidate preferred by the local GOP establishment, Assemblyman Robert Smullen, 59-40 in the race to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.

Constantino is in the middle of a long-running feud with the state’s Conservative Party, a small third party that almost always gives its ballot line to Republicans in general elections. That may not happen this time: According to the Watertown Daily Times’ Alex Gault, the Conservatives “specifically asked that Smullen keep their party line no matter what happens with the GOP primary.”

If Smullen follows through, that could lead to a split on the right and create an opening for dairy farmer Blake Gendebien, who handily won the Democratic nomination and has raised more than $5 million for his campaign.

NY State Senate District 13 (D) (58-40 Harris)

Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas decisively ousted state Sen. Jessica Ramos in a race for a Queens-based district that drew outsized attention thanks to Ramos’ inexplicable heel turn in last year’s mayoral primary. Gonzalez-Rojas holds a 48-37 advantage with an estimated 87% reporting.

Despite repeatedly lambasting former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for many years, Ramos endorsed his campaign for mayor while hers was floundering (she finished with just 0.4% of the vote). That bewildering move infuriated her allies and ultimately prompted a huge swath of labor unions and high-profile Democrats to endorse Gonzales-Rojas.

South Carolina

SC-Gov (R) (58-40 Trump)

State Attorney General Alan Wilson demolished Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette 69-31 in Tuesday’s Republican runoff for South Carolina’s open governor’s race, setting up a faceoff against Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in November.

Evette, who founded a payroll company before she was elected on a ticket with Henry McMaster in 2018, received Donald Trump’s blessing late last month, but it wasn’t enough to convince the MAGA faithful that she was one of them. Trump himself recognized that fact when he co-endorsed Wilson just days before the runoff.

Johnson, who would be the state’s first Black governor, will be the decided underdog against Wilson, as Democrats have not won an election for governor since 1998.

SC-01 (D & R) (56-43 Trump)

Retired Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore will take on Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt in the race to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Nancy Mace after winning their respective runoffs on Tuesday night.

For the Democratic nod, Lacore defeated attorney Mac Deford 52-48 after leading 36-29 in the first round of voting two weeks ago. Honeycutt, meanwhile, beat state Rep. Mark Smith 54-46; she led 22-18 in the primary.

Republicans are favored to hold this seat, but Democrats won a previous version in 2018 and have made heavy ad reservations for the fall.

Utah

UT-01 (D) (60-37 Harris)

Former Rep. Ben McAdams won a dominant victory in the Democratic primary for Utah’s brand-new 1st District, a solidly blue constituency in the Salt Lake City area that’s in use for the first time this year as a result of court-ordered redistricting.

McAdams holds a 60-24 lead over his nearest rival, state Sen. Nate Blouin, with an estimated 80% reporting. Blouin unsuccessfully sought to push the other two candidates in the race to drop out and unite behind him as the strongest progressive option against the more moderate McAdams, but the final results indicate that McAdams would have been in a strong position even in a one-on-one matchup.

UT-02 (R) (63-34 Trump)

Rep. Blake Moore defeated state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee in the redrawn 2nd District in northern Utah, but his relatively soft 58-42 win could invite more trouble for him in a future primary.

Lisonbee argued that Moore, who decided to run in the 2nd after a new court-ordered map made his 1st District unwinnably blue, bore responsibility for the redraw because of his role in the successful 2018 campaign to pass the ballot measure that cracked down on partisan gerrymandering.

Lisonbee also emphasized her ardent opposition to the construction of a controversial 20,000-acre data center project that Moore did not take sides on. Moore, though, enjoyed a big fundraising edge, and he received Donald Trump’s endorsement during the final week of the campaign.

UT-03 (R) (69-28 Trump)

Rep. Celeste Maloy turned back former state Rep. Phil Lyman, a prominent far-right figure, in the new 3rd District in the southern part of the state. Maloy, whose short electoral career almost came to an end multiple times in the old 2nd District, received Trump’s endorsement ahead of her first-ever decisive win in a primary: Maloy leads 67-33 with an estimated 76% in.

UT State Senate District 7 (61-36 Trump)

Attorney Stephanie Hollist defeated Senate President Stuart Adams, one of the most powerful figures in Utah state government, 43-35 in the Republican primary for the 7th Senate District.

Hollist faulted Adams for supporting the same controversial data center proposal that was at issue in several other Utah campaigns. Outside groups also ran ads accusing Adams of having “weakened penalties for child rapists” after his step-granddaughter was charged.

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House

CT-01

Connecticut election officials said Monday that Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune turned in enough signatures to appear on the Aug. 11 Democratic primary ballot for the 1st Congressional District, news that could make it easier for Rep. John Larson to win renomination with just a plurality of the vote.

Larson already faced both former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, who, like the congressman, secured their spots on the ballot by winning at least 15% of the delegates’ vote at last month’s party convention. Fortune, who fell short, responded by seeking to collect signatures from 3,734 registered Democrats, a figure that represents 2% of the district’s Democratic electorate.

With Bronin, Fortune, and Gilchrest all in their 30s or 40s, they could end up competing for a similar group of voters who believe that the 77-year-old Larson is no longer the right person to represent the Hartford area. The incumbent’s allies seem to agree that a larger field is good for him, as they helped Gilchrest earn enough support at the convention after it became clear that Bronin would win the party endorsement.

Larson, for his part, remains focused on portraying Bronin as an unacceptable candidate to replace him.

Last week, the congressman launched his first ad of the race, which opens with a narrator asking, “Who’s behind Luke Bronin? Tech billionaires, crypto bros, AI execs, data centers.” The narrator goes on to say these forces are getting involved because Larson “will make them pay their fair share.”

MI-07

VoteVets, a progressive organization that supports Democratic veterans running for office, said on Tuesday that it would spend $750,000 on a three-week ad campaign to boost former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam in his bid to take on Republican Rep. Tom Barrett.

The group’s new ad leads with the instantly viral clip of Donald Trump saying, “I love the inflation” but pivots to focus on Maasdam’s service under Barack Obama. The president, the narrator says, chose Maasdam “to carry the nuclear launch codes” and called him an “‘extraordinary leader’ with ‘integrity’ and ‘character.’”

Maasdam faces two rivals for the Democratic nod in Michigan’s swingy 7th District: climate activist William Lawrence and diplomat Bridget Brink, a former ambassador to Ukraine.

MI-13

State Rep. Donavan McKinney’s hopes of unseating Rep. Shri Thanedar in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th District just grew more complicated after a rival who got booted from the ballot said she still plans to run as a write-in.

Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters initially said she’d appeal a ruling by election officials last month that she failed to submit enough signatures to qualify for the primary, but she recently changed course by announcing a write-in campaign.

Waters had reported bringing in no money for her bid, but her name recognition—she lost to Thanedar 55-34 in the 2024 primary—could make it harder for McKinney to unseat the incumbent.

McKinney, though, has already raised more than $1 million and just launched his opening ad of the race, which includes a very pointed attack on the congressman.

The spot opens by spotlighting McKinney’s endorsements (including from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib) and his accomplishments in office (”Donavan McKinney secures $600 million to replace lead pipes in Michigan,” says a voiceover).

Narrating himself, McKinney then goes after his opponent.

“People like Shri Thanedar are the problem,” he says. “He’s not like us.”

Narrators then say Thanedar “voted to thank ICE” and is “taking corporate PAC checks and lying about it. Notably, though, Thanedar is Indian American, while McKinney, like nearly half of the district’s residents, is Black.

After Thanedar first won this safely Democratic constituency in 2022 by defeating several Black candidates in the primary, Detroit was left without a Black representative in Congress for the first time since the early 1950s. (Tlaib, the city’s other House member, is Palestinian American.)

Local Black leaders have sought to consolidate around McKinney to avoid another split field—a problem Waters herself experienced two years ago, when she and another Black candidate, Shakira Hawkins, divided the anti-incumbent vote.

Adding to the difficulty for McKinney is Thanedar’s personal wealth. The congressman, who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical services industry, has spent heavily on his own campaigns and reported having $5 million on hand at the end of March.

McKinney, however, is getting some help from National Nurses United, the country’s largest nurses union, which recently poured in $400,000 on digital ads to boost his campaign.

Mayors & County Leaders

Charlotte, NC Mayor

The Charlotte City Council on Monday chose Robert Harrington, the president of the North Carolina Bar Association, to replace Mayor Vi Lyles, a fellow Democrat whose resignation will take effect on June 30.

Harrington, who has not previously held office, told city councilors that he will not seek a full two-year term in 2027. That decision would in turn set off the first open race to lead North Carolina’s largest city since 2013.

Poll Pile

• LA-Sen (R): JMC Analytics and Polling for John Fleming:

  • John Fleming: 45, Julia Letlow: 40.

  • May: 45-44 Letlow.

• NC-Sen: YouGov for Catawba College:

  • Roy Cooper (D): 48, Michael Whatley (R): 34.

  • March: 48-34 Cooper.

• TX-Sen: University of Texas/YouGov:

  • Ken Paxton (R): 43, James Talarico (D): 42, Ted Brown (L): 3.

  • April: 42-34 Talarico.

• TX-Gov: UT/YouGov:

  • Greg Abbott (R-inc): 47, Gina Hinojosa (D): 40, Pax Dixon (L): 1.

  • April: 44-38 Abbott.

• FL-19 (R): Victory Insights:

  • Jim Schwartzel: 13, Jim Oberweis: 12, Madison Cawthorn: 5, Catalina Lauf: 5, other candidates 4% or less, undecided: 54.

  • The pollster says this survey was “[n]ot commissioned by any candidate or political committee.”

• OH-07: GBAO for Brian Poindexter:

  • Max Miller (R-inc): 44, Brian Poindexter (D): 43.

• TX-AG: UT/YouGov:

  • Mayes Middleton (R): 41, Nathan Johnson (D): 36, Tom Oxford (L): 2.

• NC Supreme Court: YouGov:

  • Anita Earls (D-inc): 40, Sarah Stevens (R): 35.

• TX-LG: UT/YouGov:

  • Dan Patrick (R-inc): 43, Vikki Goodwin (D): 36, Anthony Cristo (L): 2, Kevin McCormick (G): 1.

  • April: 35-31 Patrick.