At a boozy election night watch party at East Williamsburg’s 99 Scott, politicos, DSA-insiders, and folk heroes of the NYC Left celebrated a “durable movement” on the up and up.
By COLE SINANIAN
EAST WILLIAMSBURG — In case there remained any doubts as to who is in charge of New York City’s progressive movement, the few hundred sweaty young socialists who packed East Williamsburg’s 99 Scott Tuesday night offered an unsubtle reminder:
“DSA! DSA! DSA!” they chanted in unison as an ever-smiling Zohran Mamdani, the NYC Democratic Socialists of America’s current torch-bearer, gazed out over the sea of humans crammed into the venue’s disco ball-dappled event room — a vast concrete space most commonly used for film shoots and private raves.
But tonight, it was the socialists’ turn to party. Coming off of months of canvassing, phone-banking, and organizing for their slate, the DSA-in crowd who made the invite list had reason to celebrate: By the time the venue staff was shuffling the woozy partiers out the doors two hours and likely several cocktails later, the election had been called and eight NYC-DSA members were headed to either Congress or the state Legislature, in a remarkable upset that rocked the Democratic Party’s more moderate faction and sent several cable news pundits spiraling.
At 99 Scott on Tuesday, officially the watch party for Claire Valdez, Mamdani introduced Valdez alongside David Orkin, Diana Moreno, Aber Kawas, and Samantha Kattan — the four candidates running state races in Brooklyn and Queens — and made clear his commitment to using his newfound political clout to build the movement that elected him into something far bigger.
“What you all have shown this evening, whether for state Assembly, state Senate, or Congress,is that a year ago, it was not the end of a political movement,” Mamdani told the cheering crowd. “Every single one of these incredible candidates — they are going to be the partners in transforming the most expensive city in the United States of America into one that working New Yorkers can afford.”
The watch party was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m., but by 9:30, there was already little doubt that the night would end in Mamdani and the DSA’s favor. Valdez — a socialist and union organizer with the United Auto Workers (UAW)— had quickly pulled ahead in the closely watched race for New York’s 7th Congressional District, while Darializa Avila Chevalier of Upper Manhattan’s 13th Congressional District had closed the gap on incumbent Adriano Espaillat in what would become one of the night’s most astonishing upsets.
Local candidates too were making quick work of their opponents. State Assembly hopeful David Orkin was up far enough on the incumbent, close Eric Adams ally Jenifer Rajkumar, that several Orkin fans in the venue’s entry line could be heard shouting “Diva down!” in reference to Rajkumar, who’s known to some in the Assembly as “The Lady in Red” for her wardrobe of bright red dresses.
Inside, risers on the far wall housed a gaggle of press photographers, while TV crews at the front of the room formed a barrier between the crowd and the giant screens broadcasting the election. Popular left-wing Twitch streamer and socialist tastemaker Hasan Piker clutched a cocktail as he darted through the crowd with his cameraman, gesturing excitedly as he spoke into the lens. Not far away, former United States Federal Trade Commission Chair and member of Mamdani’s transition team Lina Khan made her rounds, as did former US Army-soldier-turned WikiLeaks whistleblower-turned Bushwick DJ Chelsea Manning — who once spent seven years in federal prison for one of the largest intelligence leaks in US history. Meanwhile, prominent gun-control activist and former Democratic National Committee Co-Vice Chair David Hogg stood on the sidelines, clad in a Claire Valdez headband, and fellow socialist electeds Emily Gallagher and Kristen Gonzalez could be seen dancing to the bumping music, drinks in-hand.
As Spectrum News called the race for Mamdani-backed Brad Lander, who unseated the incumbent, pro-Israel Levi-Strauss heir Dan Goldman, in New York’s 10th Congressional District, Goldman’s face flashed briefly on-screen and the front half of the room erupted into a chorus of boos and chants of “Fuck AIPAC!” and “Free Palestine!” Goldman had been accused of accepting funds from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a charge that — if leveled by the DSA in a competitive New York City district — is increasingly a political death sentence, enough to render a prominent Democrat unemployed by the end of the next election cycle. Later, as Espaillat’s sunken face appeared onscreen and Spectrum News called the race for Chevalier — who rose to organizing prominence at Columbia University’s Gaza Solidarity encampments in 2024 — the crowd broke into a frenetic cheer of “Dari! Dari!”
Though the right-wing media has devised numerous and creative ways to deride Mamdani for his support for Palestine, it’s precisely this ardent anti-Zionism that helped galvanize his base and forms a core tenet of the broader Democratic Socialist movement. Many of the attendants Tuesday donned Palestinian keffiyehs and shouted pro-Palestinian chants. Members of Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish left-wing and anti-Zionist organization, staged a photoshoot.
“We are a group of ordinary people who believed and built a movement together because we believe another world is possible,” said Kawas, who won her election for State Senate District 12 and will become the first Palestinian-American to serve in the state Senate when she takes office next year, in her victory speech.
“This victory is an extension of the people’s victory of last year’s mayoral victory,” she continued. “And that victory is an extension of decades of work, centuries of marginalized communities who have been discarded in the United States, but have worked every day to rise up and protect themselves and each other.”
Valdez, who once worked a series of shift jobs while trying to make it as an artist in the city, directly addressed the working class people at the core of her politics in her speech, which was by far the lengthiest of the evening.
“Tonight, we haven’t just won an election,” Valdez said. “We’ve declared that this movement is durable. That it is growing, and that it will not stop until working people are no longer asked to just build the table, no longer ask for a seat at the table, but will run the table.”
On the patio outside, Alex Rudnicki, a volunteer with Diana Moreno’s campaign who lives in Astoria, cast the evening’s wins as a people’s victory:
“After so many years of being let down by politicians who, once they get into office they kind of change their tune on certain things, I think now is a chance to keep people accountable,” Rudnicki said. “Now, they’ll start working for us.”
