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Understand today's elections

MS NOW DAILY

Understand today's elections

Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2026

 

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Jeffries and Mamdani are on a New York collision course

By Hunter Woodall and Will McDuffie

Jeffries and Mamdani are on a New York collision course

By Hunter Woodall and Will McDuffie

Hakeem Jeffries and Zohran Mamdani

The divide over the Democratic Party’s future runs through two New York City primaries on Tuesday — and the widening gap between the man who wants to be House speaker and the mayor who wants to rewrite his party’s playbook.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is backing the party’s incumbents, including Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th district and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat in the 13th. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, less than a year removed from a victory that changed Democratic politics, is trying to beat them. He supports Brad Lander in the 10th and Darializa Avila Chevalier in the 13th.

The races are high-profile tests for both Jeffries and Mamdani, even as their names don’t appear on the ballot.

 

And while neither race is expected to be competitive in the November general election, they are weathervanes for what kind of Democratic Party will be in Washington for the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency.


This is a preview of an article by  Hunter Woodall and Will McDuffie. Read the full article here and follow real-time coverage of today’s key races in our live blog on MS NOW starting at 5 p.m. ET. 


Respond directly to Hunter Woodall and Will McDuffie’s article by submitting a letter to the editor through this form. Read our submission guidelines here. 

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