Some lessons from the triumphant primaries of New York.
A “Dream Team” shirt with images of Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani and Claire Valdez, outside a polling station in New York on June 23.
(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images) This week, New York City once again defied all odds. A year after the historic victory of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the primaries, a new wave of progressive candidates swept the cityshattering long-standing conventions regarding what an elected official should look like or represent.
Aber Kawas, a fellow Bay Ridge, Brooklyn native who I have been proud to mentor, is poised to become the first Palestinian-American elected to the New York State Senate. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who helped organize Columbia University’s encampments to protest the Gaza genocide, is now set to represent the university in Congress. Brad Lander, a Jewish candidate who pledged to co-sponsor The Block the Bombs Act, limiting military aid to Israel, unseated two-term Rep. Dan Goldman. And Claire Valdez, who inspired voters with her appetite for big and bold changes in domestic and foreign policy, will also head to the House of Representatives. And that’s only a partial count; strong progressive candidates won big in the elections each level of government.
Many people were absolutely shocked by the magnitude of these victories. I wasn’t, because I know what it took to get here. I’ve seen a narrative circulating in some online circles alleging that gentrifiers (code for privileged white newcomers) should receive credit for New York City’s primary victories. This narrative erases the many native New Yorkers, communities of color, and working class people who supported these candidates. I have worked with hundreds of these volunteers over the years, and I am one of them.
I have spent the last 25 years in this movement, starting in my early days helping to organize Muslim and Arab communities in New York and co-founder the city’s Muslim Democratic Club. Ten years ago, I founded Power change And MPower Action take this work nationally, registering and mobilizing tens of thousands of voters across the country through our nonpartisan politics My Muslim vote campaign.
The results of this movement are obvious. Muslim Americans, who make up a mosaic of racial and ethnic identities-register to vote increasing numberand many more stand for election as part of a broader multiracial progressive coalition that challenges the status quo. We are driven by a desire to challenge decades of U.S. policies that have disproportionately harmed our communities: ICE raids, travel bans, racial profiling, and support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine and the terrorization of families across the region.
As we dig deeper into the 2026 midterm elections and look toward the 2028 presidential race, these fights will only become more important. Saturday, thousands of us will gather in Washington, DC, to mark America’s 250th birthday by offering a Declaration of Interdependence– a collective vision of the America that we want to build at the dawn of the next 250 years. We know that if we are to bring this declaration to life, we must support values-aligned candidates and mobilize values-aligned voters.
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Based on my experiences activating voters and advising campaigns in New York and across the country, here are the five fundamental questions I believe voters and candidates need to focus on now to make our vision of an interdependent America a reality:
Prioritize people over profits. The United States is the richest country in the world, but millions of Americans cannot afford housing, health care, food or transportation. We need elected officials who will answer to workers rather than billionaires. Voters sent this message loud and clear across the country in the 2025 elections: It’s no coincidence that Mayor Mamdani, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and Katie Wilson, Mayor of Seattlethree politicians with very different backgrounds, won after campaigns promising to tackling the high cost rent, utilities and groceries – and they gave the same instruction to New York on Tuesday. Protect people from tech oligarchs. A handful of tech leaders are reshaping our world with little public oversight. AI is increasingly used to monitor communities, automate wars, displace workers, and consume environmental resources, while ordinary citizens must bear the consequences. We need elected officials who reflect the many Americans concerned about their security and livelihoods. Although he lost at NY-12, Alex Bores got a significant boost to be touted as the candidate who stands up to tech oligarchs, and he encouraged Democrats to take up the issue during his concession speech. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) has been a strong advocate for reducing the power of AI and protecting vulnerable communities from algorithmic discrimination by reintroducing legislation like the AI Civil Rights Act And Eliminating bias in algorithmic systems. Abdul El-Sayed, who would become the first Muslim in the US Senate if elected, is rising quickly in the polls and has called for AI and AI companies to be elected. regulated as a public service. If tech giants are not held accountable, the harm they cause to innocent people across the country and world will increase exponentially. Spend our tax money at home, without waging endless wars. From Gaza has IranAmericans of all parties are tired of seeing their taxes used to fund wars that destroy lives and drive up their daily expenses, all while enriching corporate shareholders. Criticism of the Israeli government and sympathies towards the Palestinians are croissant across party lines, and receiving financial support from AIPAC-aligned organizations became a priority. political responsibility for Democratic candidates. Aber Kawas, who successfully ran on a platform centered on Palestinian liberation, helped launch the Not on the Our Dime bill in 2023, alongside then-MP Zohran Mamdani, legislation that would prevent New York-based charities from using tax-exempt donations to fund Israeli war crimes and illegal settlements. Defend our right to freedom of expression. The Americans are increasingly concerned on efforts to silence political discourse. Retaliation against American students and workers who defend Palestinian rights has been so widespread that the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported record institutional discrimination last year. This was not limited to Muslims but extended to Arab, Jewish, black and Asian students and employees. Voters value candidates who make a clear commitment to protecting political speech without exception. Like El-Sayed articulated so that when we push back against efforts to smear him, we can simultaneously criticize Israel and defend our Jewish brothers and sisters. People born outside the United States are particularly vulnerable as the Trump administration targets immigrants who express political views they disagree with, whether in kidnapping and imprisoning university students or monitoring social media accounts to filter out visa applicants he disagrees with. Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s inaction when ICE snatched Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil from his pregnant wife was an argument for Avila Chevalier pupil throughout his successful campaign to unseat him. We must ensure that free speech protections extend to every person, regardless of faith, national origin, or political beliefs. Otherwise, the drift toward authoritarianism will accelerate rapidly. Let us reject racial and religious profiling. Latino, Black, and Muslim communities live under constant threat of being detained and separated from loved ones based on their race, national origin, or religion. These policies go against the values most Americans share on matters of civil rights and public safety. And they don’t exist in isolation. They are written by the same politicians who openly dehumanize our communities. Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Ogle (R-TN) introduced a bill that would ban immigrants from majority-Muslim countries, then declared on social networks that “Muslims have no place in American society.” These policies and hate speech are two sides of the same coin, and they have deadly consequences, as we saw last month when Amin Abdullah, Nadir Awad and Mansour Kaziha were killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego in a hate-motivated attack. People want candidates who will stand up for fairness and peace on our own streets – people like primary winners Lander and Valdez, who were both stopped at 26 Federal Plaza last year, after refusing to leave until ICE authorized surveillance of his makeshift detention center. We cannot take for granted that the vision we share for America will become a reality. Yesterday’s primaries offer a glimpse of what we can achieve together: shaping the next 250 years through every vote we cast and every policy we fight for. Let’s continue this momentum and build a country that serves us all.
Support The nationJune fundraising campaign With the midterm elections now upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than simply occupy the polls as soft alternatives to the burning crisis that is Donald Trump.
As Trump spends more than $1 billion a day on a destabilizing war against Iran and admits he’s not “thinking about the financial situation of Americans,” millions of people are tra to the country are struggling with rising prices of basic necessities. Democrats must seize this opportunity and promote bold, small “d” populist ideas, not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Ahead,
Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
Linda Sarsour Linda Sarsour is an award-winning racial justice activist and longtime community organizer.
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