Akela Lacy
January 14 2026, 6:00 a.m.
Justice Democrats is wading into a high-profile congressional race in New York City, where a competition between the progressive Brooklyn borough president and a socialist first-term State Assembly member is testing competing visions for the future of the electoral left under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The group is endorsing Claire Valdez, a State Assembly member from Queens and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez in New York’s 7th Congressional District. Valdez launched her campaign last week alongside Mamdani and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, two of her highest-profile backers, in a signal that the race could prove divisive among the most influential figures in the Democratic Party’s left flank.
