Click here to read the full article in The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish and David Dayen
Progressivism threw a wrench in New York’s machine politics Tuesday night, as a trio of leftist congressional candidates beat establishment and corporate-backed foes who came with far more money.
Former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s race in the Tenth Congressional District was the first of the group called shortly after polls closed. He took the vote with nearly 66 percent of the vote against incumbent Dan Sachs Goldman, the Levi Strauss heir who poured millions of his own money into keeping his job. This race had become an afterthought for weeks, with Goldman fated to lose after prevailing over a split left wing in 2024.
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Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) was among the groups who sent 200 volunteers across 500 shifts to knock doors for Lander and Eli Northrup, who won his race to represent New York’s 69th Assembly District. On Tuesday, the group had about 75 people canvassing down to the last minute.
Both races were a struggle for power between out-of-step establishment candidates who marched in the Israel Day Parade and “a grassroots Jewish left that has a vision for our community,” said Sophie Ellman-Golan, communications director for JFREJ. She said that while Mamdani likely had a strong influence in some races, so too did the volunteers that were knocking on doors to get the word out about candidates and their policy positions. Building that political power will help defeat fascism, she said, a belief candidates told the Prospect they also shared.
“I think that something that’s amazing about this organizing is how people develop their own leadership. Anyone can show up to a canvas,” Ellman-Golan told the Prospect. “People who get the experience of talking to a voter and hearing their concerns and persuading them one way or another is a feeling of power and knowing you made a difference.”
You don’t always win, but when you do? “People carry that with them for the rest of their lives.”
The organization was also part of the core battalion of volunteers responsible for Mamdani’s win, knocking on 10,000 doors, making 80,000 phone calls, and bringing grassroots organizing to the streets.