Closing summary
It was a good night for New York’s democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani – and a sign of his growing influence over the Democratic party – after three congressional candidates endorsed by him won closely watched primaries.
Here are the key moments of the night:
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Micah Lasher has won the Democratic primary for the US House seat in New York’s 12th congressional district, which is being vacated by veteran congressman Jerry Nadler. A self-described “nerd”, Lasher defeated Kennedy grandson Jack Schlossberg and state representative Alex Bores for the coveted nomination.
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Brad Lander, a progressive ally of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, easily won the Democratic primary in New York’s 10th congressional district, defeating the more moderate incumbent Democrat, Dan Goldman.
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Mamdani was at Lander’s victory party in Brooklyn, taking to the stage to celebrate his ally’s primary win. Mamdani and Lander – who “cross-endorsed” each other in the city’s mayoral race in an effort to use the city’s ranked-choice voting system to ensure a progressive victory – embraced on stage before Lander went on to thank the New York City mayor.
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Another Mamdani-backed candidate, Claire Valdez, defeated another progressive, the Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, and is now likely to win the general election in New York district 7 to replace the retiring incumbent, Nydia Velázquez.
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Darializa Chevalier – a third Mamdani-backed candidate – has won the Democratic nomination for New York’s 13th congressional district.
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US army veteran Cait Conley has won the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th congressional district in the lower Hudson Valley. She will face the vulnerable incumbent Republican congressman Mike Lawler in a district narrowly won by Kamala Harris in 2024.
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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.
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South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, is projected to have won the Republican nomination for governor, defeating Trump-backed lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.
We’re now ending our live coverage of the primaries tonight. You can read our full report here:
Key events
Alex Bores congratulated Micah Lasher after his win in the Democratic primary to replace Jerry Nadler.
State representative Bores, who worked in tech before his pivot to politics, had found himself at the unlikely center of a proxy battle for the AI industry’s tussle for regulatory influence – with millions of dollars spent against him during the campaign.
In a statement after the race was called for Lasher, Bores said:
I didn’t get into this race to make a singular point about AI. I decided to run to bring to Washington the same effectiveness and the same commitment to delivering for people – and to standing up for them against powerful interests – that I’ve been proud to bring to Albany.
But some of the richest people on the planet – a handful of oligarchs determined to prevent any check on their power, the very people funding Donald Trump – decided to make an example out of this race. They spent over $10m to do it.
This was an unprecedented fight, and one we did not back down from. Though we’ve come up short tonight, the example set here was not the one the AI oligarchs intended. They set out to make people afraid to stand up to them. Instead, they learned just how ready people are to push back.
Before the race in New York’s coveted 12th congressional district was called, Jack Schlossberg made an early appearance at his watch party in Manhattan.
He told supporters that Democrats needed to put forward more frank, responsive and inspiring candidates “who are willing to speak plainly about the cost of living, about corruption and fearlessly about the constitution”.
“We don’t just need younger candidates. We need different people,” he said, adding, “unless Democrats learn from the signals that are being sent all across the country, we are going to keep on losing.”
Meanwhile, the AP has a report from Micah Lasher’s victory party:
Lasher has spent his career in politics, working for officeholders including the man whose seat he hopes to win in November, Democratic longtime representative Jerry Nadler. Flanked by another former boss, the New York governor Kathy Hochul, and other politicians in New York City’s Democratic establishment, Lasher said in his victory speech that he aimed to ‘revamp and recharge the Democratic party in Washington’.
‘And just as important, show that Democrats in Congress have bold new ideas to improve the lives of struggling Americans and then deliver on them,” said Lasher, who’s well positioned for November’s general election — Democrats make up two-thirds of the district’s registered voters.
The wins by no less than three Mamdani-backed candidates have been hailed as a “political earthquake” by a progressive Democratic grassroots organization.
As progressive candidates celebrated at victory parties across several New York districts, Adam Green, of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, suggested the wins signaled a setback for “corporate interests, billionaires, or corrupt Trump allies like Aipac”.
Green said: “Tonight’s victory by Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier should be a wake-up call for a Democratic establishment that has spent too long underestimating the appeal of economic populism and outsider politics.”
Mamdani appears at Brad Lander victory party in Brooklyn
The Guardian’s Julius Motal is at Brad Lander’s victory party – where Zohran Mamdani took to the stage to celebrate his ally’s primary win over Democratic incumbent Dan Goldman.
Mamdani and Lander – who “cross-endorsed” each other in the city’s mayoral race in an effort to use the city’s ranked-choice voting system to ensure a progressive victory – embraced on stage before Lander went on to thank the New York City mayor.
Here are some of the images Julius has sent from the watch party in Brooklyn:
Mamdani and Lander had jointly campaigned in New York earlier in the day in an effort to get out the vote to unseat Goldman in the district, which includes lower Manhattan and a sizable chunk of Brooklyn.
Goldman, who was first elected in 2022, had been supported by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, as the Democratic party establishment had sought to push back against Mamdani and the party’s left wing.
Darializa Avila Chevalier is the first woman to potentially represent New York’s 13th district in Congress. She thanked voters who put their trust in her and vowed to stand up for neglected communities.
In a statement released after her win, she said:
“I am so thrilled to have the support of my community, and I am so proud that they have put their trust in me to send me to Congress on their behalf. For too long, uptown and the Bronx have been overlooked, let down, and neglected. That ends today. We deserve leadership in Washington that will fight tooth and nail for every single one of us, and I can’t wait to get to work with our community to deliver on that promise.”
Cait Conley has thanked voters and supporters after her Democratic primary win in New York’s 17th district – and vowed to fight to take on Mike Lawler in November.
In a statement, she promised to fight for families, against the soaring cost of living and for fairer prescription prices and healthcare cost. She said:
My entire life, I have stepped up to solve some of the toughest problems facing our country and delivered results when it mattered most. I spent 16 years in the army, deploying six times to combat zones to keep our families safe. I’ve gone from the battlefield to the Situation Room when the stakes were life and death, and I sure as hell am not afraid of a lifelong political hack like Mike Lawler.
… I didn’t serve this country to watch it get sold out by a career politician who would rather protect his party than his constituents. The people of the Hudson Valley deserve better.
They deserve a representative who fights for the veteran trying to get the benefits they earned, the senior trying to afford a prescription, the parent trying to keep up with grocery bills, the immigrant family searching for a brighter future, the small-business owner trying to make payroll, and the young person wondering whether they can afford to build a life here. Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we get back to work and take our country back.”
Darializa Chevalier is latest Mamdani pick to win Democratic New York primary
Darializa Chevalier has won the Democratic nomination for New York’s 13th congressional district.
This makes her the third Mamdani-backed Democrat of the night to win her primary race.
Celebrations were in full flow at her watch party.
Ben McAdams, a former Utah congressman trying to distance himself from his moderate reputation, has won the Democratic primary in a redrawn House district that Democrats are strongly favored to win this fall.
AP called the race for McAdams. Here’s more from their report:
McAdams defeated several candidates to his political left, including a state senator and a former employee of TikTok and Meta who had insisted McAdams is too conservative to represent a deep blue district.
The seat in the Salt Lake City area is among the few anticipated Democratic pickups following a national redistricting fight started by President Donald Trump to try to help Republicans maintain their majority in the U.S. House.
The 1st Congressional District race could be crucial for Democrats, who need to gain only a few House seats in November to take control of the narrowly divided chamber.
McAdams is strongly favored to defeat Republican Riley Owen, an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve who was chosen during the state GOP’s spring convention.
Who’s won key races so far – at a glance
It’s been a good night for progressives in New York primaries so far while results have also come through from primaries and runoffs in Maryland and South Carolina. Here are the key winners at a glance:
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Micah Lasher has won the Democratic primary for the US House seat in New York’s 12th Congressional District, which is being vacated by veteran congressman Jerry Nadler. A self-described “nerd”, Lasher defeated Kennedy grandson Jack Schlossberg and state represenative Alex Bores for the coveted nomination.
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Brad Lander, a progressive ally of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, easily won the Democratic primary in New York’s 10th congressional district, defeating the more moderate incumbent Democrat, Dan Goldman.
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Another Mamdani-backed candidate, Claire Valdez, defeated another progressive, the Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, and is now likely to win the general election in New York district 7 to replace the retiring incumbent, Nydia Velázquez.
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Darializa Chevalier – a third Mamdani-backed candidate – has won the Democratic nomination for New York’s 13th congressional district.
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US army veteran Cait Conley has won the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th congressional district in the lower Hudson Valley. She will face the vulnerable incumbent Republican congressman Mike Lawler in a district narrowly won by Kamala Harris in 2024.
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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.
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South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, is projected to have won the Republican nomination for governor, defeating Trump-backed lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.
Navy admiral fired by Hegseth wins Democratic South Carolina House primary
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.
Lacore, who served 35 years in the navy, was chief of the navy reserve when she was ousted by Hegseth in August. She defeated Mac Deford, a US Coast Guard veteran, for the Democratic nomination for South Carolina’s first congressional district in November’s midterm election.
The seat is currently held by the Republican Nancy Mace, who chose to forgo seeking re-election to focus on her failed challenge for governor.
Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of John F Kennedy, was arguably the most high-profile of those running in the district, but his meme-heavy campaign fell behind Micah Lasher, a New York state representative and self-described nerd who has been endorsed by Nadler.
Micah Lasher wins Democratic nomination for House seat in New York’s 12th district
AP has just called the Democratic primary for the US House seat in New York’s 12th Congressional District for Micah Lasher.
This means Lasher defeated Kennedy grandson Jack Schlossberg and tech target Alex Bores for the nomination in the seat being vacated by veteran congressman Jerry Nadler.