Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander pride themselves on the thousands of small donors fueling their congressional runs.
So what happens when a deep-pocketed super PAC promises a multimillion-dollar campaign to support the New York City progressive Democrats’ efforts? Their primary opponents go on the attack.
The candidates have denied knowledge of the PAC’s efforts. Coordinating with an independent campaign is illegal. Instead, they’ve touted their own small-dollar fundraising efforts.
But their opponents sense an opportunity. That includes incumbent Reps. Adriano Espaillat — a Washington Heights mainstay trying to ward off Avila Chevalier’s challenge from his left — and Dan Goldman, the first-term Lower Manhattan lawmaker who trails Lander in the polls.
It also includes Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Councilmember Julie Won, who are running against Valdez to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez. Won and Reynoso issued a joint statement Monday accusing Valdez of breaking a pledge to denounce super PAC spending.
“If you’re going to campaign on rejecting big money and special interests, you can’t actively rely on them to attack candidates who have long progressive records of supporting working families,” Valdez’s opponents said in the statement.
During a candidate forum on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” last week, Espaillat repeatedly accused Avila Chevalier of taking money from “a millionaire from Texas” — a not-so-precise claim that left his opponent scratching her head.
That’s a likely reference to one of American Priorities’ biggest funders: Hussein Mahrouq, a Texas businessman whose company owns Dollar car rental franchises and an Automax car dealership.
Mahrouq has put $400,000 into the PAC, which has already paid $500,000 for ads attacking Espaillat and/or supporting Avila Chevalier. One of those ads features Noor Abdalla, wife of Columbia University student protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil.
Other top donors to American Priorities include Mohammed Waqas Javed and Omer Hasan, who gave $1 million each. Both have connections to the tech industry and funded a pro-Zohran Mamdani PAC in last year’s mayoral race.
Both Valdez and Avila Chevalier said they had no knowledge of the super PAC spending that’s supporting their efforts.
“I want to be very clear that, unlike my opponent, I don't take a dime of corporate PAC money,” Avila Chevalier said during the candidate forum.
“I think it's really important to be very clear about the fact that AI, crypto, AIPAC are spending millions and millions of dollars in midterm elections and have for some time,” she said. “And the way that some people are countering that is by also spending money.”
Espaillat and Goldman have both enjoyed support from independent expenditures. That includes a $1.3 million pro-Espaillat ad campaign from BOLD America, a group that promotes Hispanic Democrats. A pro-Goldman PAC known as New Yorkers Fighting Back has spent more than $300,000, despite Goldman posting a video falsely claiming Lander is the only candidate in the race “taking super PAC dark money.”
Lander, meanwhile, pressured Goldman to sign a pledge denouncing spending by any third parties. Goldman countered with a similar proposal that also would’ve required seven televised debates.
They never struck a deal.
“The People’s Pledge was intended to be binding if both candidates pledged to mitigate the influence of outside spending in the race,” Lander spokesperson Emily Minster said in a statement.
In a statement, Goldman spokesperson Maddy Rosen accused Lander of “welcoming dark money into his campaign” after he spent months “pushing the lie” that Goldman is beholden to special interests.
American Priorities didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Ballot Box
This week we're wondering: Early voting for the 2026 New York primaries begins Saturday. Are you voting early? In person, or by mail? Or do you prefer to wait for Primary Day?
Last week we asked: Which member of the current Knicks team would make the best politician? Why?
“Josh Hart is a populist folk hero and could easily win a Senate election.”
- Nikolas, Queens
“None of the above. We've got enough unqualified people in politics already.”
- Paul-Gabriel, Manhattan
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(7) City agencies can’t agree on how often the B-HEARD mental health response program responds to mental health crisis calls. Here are the conflicting accounts.
