Tuesday's Democratic primaries in New York were good for people who led the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, disappointing for progressive challengers, and a mixed verdict for members of Congress named Maloney.
In the state's highest-profile primary, Rep. Jarrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) — chair of the House Judiciary committee and a top Trump impeachment manager — trounced Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District. Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76 — each serving in Congress since 1993 — were forced to face each other when their Upper Manhattan districts were combined. Nadler also beat Suraj Patel, a 38-year-old lawyer, running on generational change.
In New York's 17th District, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, handily beat back a challenge from state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who was endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.). "Tonight, mainstream won," Maloney said in his victory speech. "Democrats want candidates who get results and bring home the win."
Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor and Levi-Strauss heir who was chief counsel in Trump's first impeachment trial, narrowly won the Democratic nomination in the new 10th District, which covers lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. He prevailed over a field crowded with more progressive rivals, including state lawmaker Yuh-Line Niou, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), and New York City councilwoman Carolina Rivera. (Another Trump impeachment manager, Rep. Val Demings [D-Fla.], won her primary to face Sen. Marco Rubio [R-Fla.] in November.)
In New York's top GOP primary, state Republican Party chair Nick Langworthy won the GOP nomination in the conservative 23rd District, narrowly beating Carl Paladino, "the most famously off-the-cuff politician in New York, gaining notoriety for incidents where he's emailed bestiality porn to professional colleagues and praised Adolf Hitler on the radio," as Politico describes him.
The New York congressional primaries were held so late — and pitted so many incumbents against each other — because "the New York map that Democrats redrew to ruthlessly target vulnerable Republicans got tossed out by the state's highest court as an illegal partisan act," then was redrawn to be more balanced, The Associated Press reports. "In contrast, Florida's Republican-appointed State Supreme Court declined to change the partisan map that [Gov. Ron] DeSantis pushed the Republican-controlled Florida legislature to approve," and "as a result, Florida's incumbent House members generally stayed put Tuesday night."