Claire Valdez, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 7th Congressional District, was the projected winner in her congressional race against Republican challenger Melvin Rivera, a community activist, on Tuesday evening in the race to fill the seat of outgoing Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.
Velázquez, who has held the seat since 2013 and has been a member of Congress since 1993, is retiring.
The district’s strong Democratic lean made Valdez the favorite, and her victory marks another noteworthy win for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the 2026 midterms.
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In the June primary, New York’s 7th District was seen as a proxy for the direction of the party.
During that race, Valdez faced off against a crowded field of other congressional hopefuls. Among them was Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president.
While Valdez enjoyed the backing of the DSA and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, Reynoso received support from more established Democrats, including Velázquez.
“It’s very nice to get to New York for a few years and to have opinions about other elected officials without knowing the history and the struggle and who was there fighting corrupt government,” Velázquez told The New York Times ahead of the primary.
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“Now, all of the sudden, people want to come in and decide who is the best candidate with total disregard to the history, the background.”
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries didn’t endorse in the race but acknowledged the divide at play in the race, noting the DSA’s break with many other New York Democratic figures, including Letitia James, the state’s attorney general.
“Nydia Velázquez and a coalition of very progressive Democrats, including Tish James … along with the Working Families Party and many of the unions … are on one side of that race, with DSA on the other,” Jeffries told reporters in June.
Valdez based her primary platform on promises to abolish ICE and implement a Green New Deal-style approach to climate change. She also supports universal rent control and Medicare for All.
Her platform attracted the backing of the DSA in January.
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“With this endorsement, Valdez’s campaign will be powered by the same volunteer army that propelled Mayor Zohran Mamdani to victory in 2025… Valdez is the only candidate running in NY-7 who has committed to not taking money from the real estate industry,” the group stated in a press release.
Democratic strategist Mally Smith told Fox News Digital, “It is not surprising she won given how blue that district is.”
“We are a big tent party and that means there are going to be some folks on the far left who win. But for us to win in competitive red or swing states we should nominate candidates like Roy Cooper and James Talarico,” Smith added.
Valdez isn’t the only DSA-backed candidate in New York to prompt considerations about the future of the Democratic Party. In a very similar primary race, Darializa Avila Chevalier, another DSA candidate, beat out incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., a high-ranking Democrat and the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The wins have captured national attention and drawn criticism from some Democrats who have criticized the DSA’s growth in the party.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has not shied away from confrontations, has been one of the few Democrats to express alarm about the kind of candidates carrying the party’s banner.
“I mean, you look at some of the things that people have said. Abolish prison, abolish the border, abolish ICE, I mean these crazy people — I have colleagues in my caucus that refuse to even call this out,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital earlier this year.