{"id":854683,"date":"2026-06-09T08:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/854683\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:33:28","slug":"reynoso-accuses-valdez-of-being-beholden-to-mamdani-in-ny-07-spat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/854683\/","title":{"rendered":"Reynoso accuses Valdez of being ‘beholden’ to Mamdani in NY-07 spat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso Monday aggressively accused Assemblywoman Claire Valdez of being \u201cbeholden\u201d to Mayor Mamdani<\/a> as their Democratic primary battle heats up for the NY-07 congressional district.<\/p>\n

Reynoso also suggested Mamdani is a powerful \u201cboss\u201d of a \u201cpolitical machine\u201d<\/a> in an unusual attack on Valdez, who is running with the endorsement of the mayor in the deep-blue district where Hizzoner enjoys a nearly 80% approval<\/a> rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is beholden to the powers of the new administration, the same way all political machines are,\u201d Reynoso said of Valdez in a forum on WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer show<\/a>. \u201cVersus me, who, on Day 1, I\u2019m able to stand up and fight and say what\u2019s in my heart and in my conscience without having to wait for bosses to tell me how to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack came as Reynoso lit into Valdez for what he called her slow response to a federal immigration raid on a Brooklyn hospital<\/a>, which he suggested could have been due to her reluctance to criticize the NYPD\u2019s handling of the incident until Mamdani spoke out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am an ally to the Mayor, but that doesn\u2019t mean I will fall in line with everything he does,\u201d Reynoso said later in a statement to the Daily News. \u201cWe can support his agenda without being beholden to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second time in recent weeks that Reynoso has lashed out over the alliance<\/a> between Valdez and Mamdani. Last month, he called the mayor \u201cdisloyal\u201d for snubbing his candidacy and endorsing Valdez, a fellow member of the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n

Some political analysts questioned the wisdom of Reynoso turning the race into a proxy battle over Mamdani in a congressional district where one recent poll says the mayor enjoys a 78% approval rating.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not understand the thinking behind any strategy that casts such a beloved figure in the district as a villain.\u201d said Chris Sosa, a Democratic strategist.<\/p>\n

\"AssemblywomanAssemblywoman Claire Valdez and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. (Barry Williams; Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

For their part, Mamdani and Valdez are happy to spotlight their potent political alliance. The mayor appeared in a campaign ad that aired during the Knicks game last week, which\u00a0 boosted Valdez along with the two other candidates<\/a> he\u2019s endorsed in Democratic congressional primaries: Brad Lander in NY-10 and Darializa Avila Chevalier in NY-13.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Valdez called Mamdani \u201cClaire\u2019s movement partner, ally and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s proud to be running with his support in a district where Zohran won overwhelmingly in last year\u2019s primary,\u201d said Andrew Bard Epstein, the spokesman.<\/p>\n

In NY-07, polls suggest a tight race in the June 23 fight to replace veteran Rep. Velazquez, who is retiring after more than three decades in office and endorsed Reynoso.<\/p>\n

A recent WPIX poll showed Valdez leading by 2% over Reynoso<\/a> with nearly half of voters undecided. A third candidate, Councilwoman Julie Won, lagged far behind.<\/p>\n

The candidates also sparred over campaign fundraising and spending by outside groups<\/a> in the WNYC forum, with Reynoso and Won hitting out at Valdez over super PAC spending on her behalf.<\/p>\n

Valdez responded by boasting that she won the fundraising battle with small donors<\/a>, while accusing Reynoso of taking money from real estate interests.<\/p>\n

In an unrelated development, an umbrella group of Hasidic Jewish sects in Williamsburg endorsed Reynoso. Although a relatively small group in NY-07, Hasidic Jews have an outsized impact because they tend to vote in lockstep for candidates backed by their sects\u2019 rabbis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur diverse coalition keeps growing,\u201d Reynoso tweeted<\/a>. \u201cIncredibly honored to have the support of so many respected Hasidic leaders and families in the district.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso Monday aggressively accused Assemblywoman Claire Valdez of being \u201cbeholden\u201d to Mayor Mamdani as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":854684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,15845,10460,327,10889,405,403,5226,5225,5228,288714,5227,3063,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5301],"class_list":["post-854683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-antonio-reynoso","tag-claire-valdez","tag-congress","tag-democratic","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-ny-07","tag-nyc","tag-primary","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116719231158379269","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}