Daily Kos is excited to congratulate Ritchie Torres, Jamaal Bowman, and Mondaire Jones on their victories in June’s congressional primary elections in New York.
In NY-15, Torres defeated 11 other candidates in a heated race—including Ruben Diaz Sr., notorious for his embrace of homophobic rhetoric and Donald Trump—to secure a resounding victory. Bowman ousted longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in NY-16, who had lost touch with his increasingly diverse district. And in NY-17, Jones held off multiple serious rivals, including turncoat state Sen. David Carlucci, a former member of the infamous IDC.
Torres and Jones are poised to become the first gay Black men to serve in Congress.
Daily Kos endorsed Torres, Bowman, and Jones for these seats and raised more than $141,000 for their campaigns from over 14,000 individual, small-dollar grassroots donations in just a few weeks.
Daily Kos was thrilled to support these progressive candidates in their bids to reshape the New York congressional delegation and bring more voices of color to Washington. These results represent a historic victory that will help usher in a new wave of progressive Black members of Congress. Torres’, Bowman’s, and Jones’ wins show that New Yorkers don’t just want Democrats to represent them in Congress—they want better Democrats.