Assemblymember Diana Moreno, Congressional nominee Claire Valdez, state Senate nominee Aber Kawas, Assembly nominee David Orkin, and Assembly nominee Samantha Kattan (left to right) take the stage at a watch party on Tuesday. | Nick Garber/New York Focus
Socialist candidates racked up victories in New York’s primary elections for the state legislature on Tuesday, with the Democratic Socialists of America poised to pick up at least six seats despite an enormous wave of outside spending.
Super PACs had spent $9.6 million on primaries for state Assembly and Senate as of Monday, according to a New York Focus analysis — nearly five times the amount spent through the same period in 2024. Much of the spending was focused on defeating candidates endorsed by local DSA chapters, which fielded their biggest-ever slate of candidates for state office in an effort to build on last year’s election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor…