Gallup research from 2022. <\/a>\n<\/p>\nProgressives argue that they are challenging longtime lawmakers based on their establishment ties rather than any shift in the party’s demographics. They point to progressives recently winning House Democratic primaries for majority-minority districts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as signs of deeper appeal.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe point of being a senior Democrat is you\u2019re supposed to be able to deliver more and impact the agenda,\u201d said Regina Monge, a strategist who led a political action committee that backed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in last year’s race for New York mayor. \u201cPeople are supposed to feel the benefits of their leadership in the district.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior lawmakers are skeptical that much can be extrapolated nationally from last week’s results, where Mamdani successfully pushed a slate of three insurgent candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur path to 218\u201d \u2014 the number of seats necessary for a House majority \u2014 \u201cwasn\u2019t affected by those races that are getting a lot of news,\u201d said Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the highest-ranking Latino in Congress. \u201cThe mayor made some endorsements, and those individuals won, and I presume that they\u2019re going to come and vote with the Democratic caucus when they get here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Generational change clashes with legacy in closely watched primaries<\/p>\n
The new style of challenger often rises from outside the traditional civil rights and organizing structures that characterized some communities for decades.<\/p>\n
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Valdez, who is Latina and Native American, won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, a former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who was born in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
The current caucus leader, Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, lost his primary to Darializa Avila Chevalier, another democratic socialist, in a district that includes parts of Manhattan and the Bronx. Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic; Chevalier\u2019s parents are Dominican immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really looking at a moment in time where people are anxious about the future of our country,” said Katharine Pichardo, who leads Latino Victory.<\/p>\n
Pichardo was a senior adviser to Espaillat’s first successful run for Congress, in 2016. She said Espaillat’s message \u201cneeded to focus more on kitchen table issues\u201d and be \u201cforward looking\u201d if he were to ward off Chevalier.<\/p>\n
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For incumbents to defeat populist and more ideological challengers, she said, they must \u201cgive people a sense of security against the very real anxiety over what\u2019s going on in Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party who now teaches at Columbia University, said insurgent candidates and their voters see institutions as \u201cinherently flawed.\u201d He said party leaders “would do well to turn with the momentum and not against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity for Hakeem to turn around and say, \u2018Look, I\u2019m with you, I\u2019m not going to stand in your way, let’s iron out our differences and make me speaker, get us back to power,'” Smikle said. “That would be the best way to bridge this divide.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Jeffries took a step in that direction by congratulating New York City’s Democratic nominees, including Valdez and Chevalier. He did not mention his ideological disagreements with them or his support for their opponents, instead stressing that they would help “crush far-right extremism.”<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe path is different but the work is the same,” Jeffries said.<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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