As next year’s midterm elections approach, New York City is quickly emerging as an epicenter of Democratic conflict, with a growing number of left-wing primary challengers targeting pro-Israel congressional incumbents as well as an expanding roster of candidates vying for an open House seat that is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the country.

In races spanning the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, new challengers are eyeing primaries to take on the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, which now finds itself on defense after Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory elevated a staunch democratic socialist and critic of Israel to executive office.

But even as challengers seek to capitalize on the momentum fueled by Mamdani’s rise, it remains to be seen if the mayor-elect will choose to weigh in on the upcoming primaries as he manages a diverse coalition to help advance his affordability agenda, which he has indicated is his top priority. 

While Mamdani has publicly discouraged one fellow democratic socialist in Brooklyn from a brewing campaign to challenge House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who endorsed Mamdani in the final weeks of the election, “the big unknown is the role that Mamdani is going to play” in the June primary elections, Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist, told Jewish Insider.

It also is unclear whether pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel will engage in the upcoming primaries. A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment. DMFI’s political arm, for its part, is closely monitoring the emerging races and regards the challengers with varying degrees of concern, a person familiar with the group’s internal deliberations told JI.

The activist left, meanwhile, is also confronting its own organizational issues, including the prospect of some split primary fields that threaten to divide the opposing vote, as well as messaging struggles. 

With Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) announcing on Thursday that she will not seek reelection, a crop of candidates is also sure to engage in a spirited competition for her deeply progressive district in Brooklyn and Queens.

Here’s a rundown of the races to watch in New York City as the primary cycle continues to take shape.

NY-10 

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat, is preparing to defend his seat against two rival candidates who have been weighing bids. Brad Lander, the outgoing city comptroller and ally of Mamdani, has told associates that he is planning to challenge the congressman, according to people familiar with the discussions, after he was boxed out of a top job in the mayor-elect’s administration. Mamdani, a staunch critic of Israel, has reportedly urged Lander to run for the seat and promised to support him in a primary. 

Polling has shown that Lander, a Jewish Democrat who has long identified as a “progressive Zionist,” would be a formidable opponent in the left-leaning district — which is heavily Jewish and extends from Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope and Borough Park, a Hasidic enclave. Mamdani performed better in the district than any other in the city, according to data collected by The Center for Urban Research at The CUNY Graduate Center. With 60% of the vote, he nearly doubled his top rival in the race, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a moderate pro-Israel Democrat who ran as an independent after badly losing the June primary.

But Lander could face competition from the far left as a city councilwoman, Alexa Avilés, mulls her own challenge to Goldman, with likely plans to highlight the incumbent’s support for Israel. Avilés was recently endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, setting up a potential clash with Mamdani, who has long been a member. Yuh-Line Niou, a former state lawmaker who narrowly lost to Goldman when he first ran for the seat in 2022, is also mulling a challenge, sources have told JI. 

Among the challenges, DMFI PAC is now taking the Goldman race the “most seriously,” according to the person familiar with its deliberations, particularly if the left manages to coalesce behind one candidate.

NY-15

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), one of the most stalwart allies of the Jewish community in the House, is already facing two left-wing challengers attacking his support for Israel. The most recent entrant, Dalourny Nemorin, is an attorney and DSA member who joined the race last week. Michael Blake, a former assemblyman, is a better-known rival in the Bronx district, due to his past campaign for the seat in 2020. He launched his campaign earlier this month.

While he had once identified as pro-Israel and appeared at a number of  AIPAC events, Blake is now positioning himself as a staunch critic of the Jewish state and is accusing Torres of focusing on “AIPAC and Bibi,” at the expense of local issues. His reversal has raised questions about the authenticity of his positions, and threatens to alienate a sizable Jewish. constituency in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, where Torres remains popular. It is also unclear if Blake’s message “makes sense” to voters, even in a district where Mamdani won a majority of the vote, according to Coffey, pointing to issues like affordability and public safety as more galvanizing. 

“He has a chance — everyone does — but not a great one,” a pro-Israel strategist who could engage in the primaries said of Blake.

NY-06

Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) is another House member facing an insurgent challenger who is criticizing her donations from AIPAC as well as corporate donors. Chuck Park, a former City Council aide and foreign service officer, announced his campaign to unseat Meng on Monday, largely echoing the rhetoric used by other challengers in New York City. 

But he is facing an uphill battle in the Queens district that includes a large Asian American population and that Cuomo won with 50% of the vote, underscoring the community’s moderate politics.

NY-08

In an unusually public display of tension on the left, Mamdani has been actively working to shut down a looming challenge to Jeffries from Chi Ossé, a city councilman who filed paperwork this week to run for the Brooklyn seat and is courting the DSA’s endorsement. Mamdani said on Thursday he does “not believe it’s the right time” for such a fight, but clarified that “was not a sweeping statement” about other races such as Goldman’s, where he is backing Lander. 

Ossé, for his part, has indicated that he does not see a path forward without the DSA’s support. While he has built a large social media following and notched some popular legislative successes, his campaign to unseat a possible future speaker of the House would likely be a long shot, even if pro-Israel leaders have not dismissed it. DMFI, for instance, is monitoring the race and has been in touch with Jeffries’ team, according to the person familiar with its outreach.  

Jeffries, who after a monthslong delay endorsed Mamdani in the general election despite profound disagreements over Israel, remains popular in his Brooklyn district, which includes such historically Black neighborhoods as Bedford-Stuyvesant. Still, Mamdani won the district with 52%, suggesting an appetite for political change that Ossé is now hoping to channel if he ends up officially launching a House campaign. 

NY-13

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) became the latest incumbent in New York City to draw a challenger this week. Darializa Avila Chevalier, an organizer in Harlem with a long history of anti-Israel activism, launched her bid to take on Espaillat on Thursday, with backing from Justice Democrats, the far-left group that is credited with helping Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in her insurgent bid against a powerful House member in 2018. 

Like other rivals, Avila Chevalier, a first-time candidate, is accusing the congressman of taking “money from the very institutions that are making life harder for New Yorkers here,” citing AIPAC as a top example. 

Espaillat, a veteran Democrat, endorsed Cuomo in the primary and then backed Mamdani during the general election. The mayor-elect won the district, which covers Upper Manhattan and a portion of the Bronx, with overwhelming support, claiming 65% of the vote.

NY-12

In the open primary to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in the heart of Manhattan, no fewer than 10 contenders have launched bids, with more likely to  come. The top candidates include three established state and city lawmakers: Assemblymen Micah Lasher and Alex Bores and City Councilman Erik Bottcher. But some wildcards could complicate the dynamic — including an insurgent campaign from a politically untested Kennedy scion, Jack Schlossberg, and a possible bid from George Conway, a former Republican lawyer and critic of President Donald Trump. 

In contrast with Goldman’s district, the heavily Jewish constituency on the Upper East and West Sides leans more moderate and pro-Israel, favoring Cuomo with 50% of the vote in the mayoral election. With progressives now seeking to defeat moderate Democrats, the crowded primary to claim Nadler’s seat is drawing more pro-Israel voices and is shaping up as a prominent exception to prevailing political trends in New York City.