Claire Valdez on Taking the Mamdani Coalition to Congress
In New York’s “Commie Corridor,” democratic socialists have built the most advanced electoral beachhead in the country. Claire Valdez’s run for Congress tests whether that power can scale nationwide.
In Claire Valdez’s campaign, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America chapter is testing whether its organizing model can reshape Congress. (Kara McCurdy / Claire Valdez for Congress)
New York City’s “Commie Corridor” has become the beating heart of the country’s resurgent socialist left — the place where tenant organizers, young workers, and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) cadre have turned one of the most expensive cities on Earth into a proving ground for class politics.
Fresh off the shock wave of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory, Assemblymember Claire Valdez is now running to take that fight to Congress in New York’s Seventh District. In this interview, Valdez reflects on the organizing traditions that shaped her, the power New York City DSA has built in western Queens and northern Brooklyn, and what it means to carry a democratic socialist mandate into the federal arena.
This conversation between Daniel Denvir and Claire Valdez was recorded for the Jacobin Radio podcast The Dig. You can listen to the episode here.
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