Darializa Avila-Chevalier, a 32-year-old PhD student backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's political machine, ran a campaign ad with a specific promise: "I'm Darializa Avila-Chevalier and I will defend New York by abolishing ICE." Claire Valdez, another Mamdani-backed candidate, pledged to "stand up against bad landlords and greedy corporations." Brad Lander, the former city Comptroller, promised to be "one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up loud for Palestinian human rights."
All three won their congressional primaries. ABC, CBS, and NBC covered the results like a feel-good populist uprising.
Aside from the radical takeover of the Democratic Party by left-wing activists is the fact that the media didn't want to tell people it happened. Across all three major networks the radical policy positions that defined these 3 campaigns were systematically scrubbed from the reporting. What viewers got instead was a vague narrative about grassroots energy and a charismatic young mayor reshaping politics.
ABC's David Muir led with the story on World News Tonight, with correspondent Jay O'Brien framing the results around Mamdani's quote: "We are showing there is a new path for politics in our city and in our country." The specific policies on that path — abolishing federal immigration enforcement, defunding the police, the BDS movement against Israel — went unmentioned.
Two of the three Mamdani-backed winners defeated sitting members of Congress. Lander crushed Congressman Dan Goldman — the man who managed the first Trump impeachment trial — by 30 points. Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, also went down. These weren't close races. They were demolitions carried out by candidates running to the hard left of incumbents who were already solidly progressive.
CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and correspondent Ed O'Keefe covered the results. NBC Nightly News anchor Hallie Jackson had correspondent Sam Brock on the story. All three networks managed to discuss a slate of Democratic Socialists winning congressional primaries without mentioning what Democratic Socialists actually believe.
Lander's campaign ad ran during the New York Knicks' championship run — prime advertising real estate — with the tagline: "I'm Brad Lander and I'll block billionaires from buying our elections." His 30-point victory over Goldman, a wealthy congressman, suggests the message landed. But his pledge on Palestinian rights and his alignment with the movement that turned Columbia University into a protest encampment received notably less airtime than his populist branding.
The networks aren't wrong that the results matter. A mayor-backed slate sweeping congressional primaries in the largest city in the country is genuinely significant. The question is what it signifies. When candidates campaign explicitly on abolishing ICE, and the networks describe their victories as a "new path" without specifying where that path leads, they're not reporting — they're curating.
President Trump referenced the results in the context of 2028 prospects. Attorney General Alan Wilson won a separate South Carolina gubernatorial runoff on the same night, but the New York races dominated broadcast coverage — which makes the editorial choices about what to include and exclude even more conspicuous.
Avila-Chevalier said she'd abolish ICE. Valdez said she'd fight corporations. Lander said he'd champion Palestinian rights from Congress. The voters heard all of it and voted accordingly. The broadcast audience heard about a "new path" and a "sweep" and some vague references to grassroots energy.
Same election. Two completely different stories — depending on whether anyone trusted you with the details.
