Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander speaks during an election night watch party Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy) For center-left Democrats in New York who support Israel, the narrative following Tuesday’s House primary elections has become downright dystopian. All three candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani — two of whom were harshly critical of Israel — won.
From the New York Times to Politico, headlines are proclaiming the ascendancy of the anti-Israel wing of the left. Moderate Democrats have woken up in a new world, wondering, as one emailed me, “Where do we go now?”
To answer that question, we cannot sugarcoat reality. Denying the legitimate electoral threat to the bipartisan consensus on Israel — from both the far left, as shown in these primaries, and the far right — is not a strategy. We need a dispassionate interpretation of this political environment. And for moderate Democratic supporters of Israel, that analysis shows a political landscape that is growing more challenging but is not yet forbidding.
I have four takeaways from these elections.
First, by winning three Democratic primaries in bright blue districts in New York City, the Democratic Socialists of America is having a moment, but it has not yet established a critical mass of supporters. The vast majority of House and Senate Democrats — and their voters — remain closer to the middle on Israel and most issues. That means it is more vital than ever that we mobilize in the support of our preferred moderate, pro-Israel Democratic candidates across the country.
The math is clear: The Democratic Party’s growth depends completely on fielding and supporting moderate, pro-Israel candidates in the 20-30 competitive districts where centrists live and vote — not in New York City, but in its suburbs and exurbs, and in swing districts in Arizona, California, Washington, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Win those elections, Democrats, and you have fortified a fraying center.
Second, Democratic supporters of Israel cannot hope to temper the fever on the left if we ignore and minimize the legitimate concerns many have over policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. One must wonder whether Netanyahu’s decisions have played directly into Hamas’s strategic playbook: attack the Jewish state so savagely, so brutally, that Israel would have no choice but to attack back. Then, as the horrors of the war spiraled, with innocent civilians getting caught in the crossfire, the world would soon forget about Hamas’s brutal murder of over 1,100 people on Oct. 7.
As images of the destruction spread like wildfire on social media, a new generation of Americans would come to view Israel in a negative light. Hamas would lose the battle, even the war, but it would win the hearts and minds of the next crop of policymakers.
It is bitterly, cruelly unfair. But we cannot allow Hamas to win by growing more polarized — by reflexively casting aside any criticism of Israel wielded by the voters we must win.
My favorite mantra in politics is, “You have to meet voters where they are, then bring them along.” A default position that reflexively defends Israel’s actions in Gaza without any concern for civilian losses — that discounts and demeans without leaving any room to consider and even agree on some of their concerns — is based on a Pavlovian purity test that is dangerous and short-sighted.
Third, consider that the results last night only reveal a moment in a handful of specific districts in New York, each with its own dynamics, and not necessarily the future of the Democratic Party. The race in New York’s 10th District (where Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman) was really a contest between two versions of Zionism, one on the left, one in the middle — but both Zionist. The race in New York’s 12th District (where Micah Lasher defeated Alex Bores and Jack Schlossberg) was a proxy on whether to regulate AI companies, whose PACs pumped in $20 million to defeat Bores.
Fourth, we must understand what has ignited a moment where MAGA has taken over the Republican Party and the DSA is trying to do the same to the Democrats. Politics is like a bizarre form of quantum physics: Energy on one side creates equal energy on the opposite side. We are witnessing a reaction on both the left and right to the failures of the system to address the economic anxieties Americans have experienced since 2008.
Young people are distressed that the American Dream is slipping away. The prospects of homeownership, of living at least as well as their parents, are dim. President Trump exploited this frustration, then unleashed radical policies for his own enrichment, and that has now unleashed energy on the left.
Before Trump in 2016, the number of prominent Democratic Socialists in Congress was one: Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Ten years later, there are now other prominent socialists dotting the landscape — from Zohran Mamdani in Gracie Mansion to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House. In the next Congress, there will likely be a few more on Capitol Hill, such as recent primary winners Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez. But this is still a small minority that has largely not appealed to voters outside of blue enclaves.
Centrist Democrats still have an opportunity to make inroads with the progressive left by proposing bold, transformational, and unapologetic policies on home ownership, childcare, retirement savings, wage growth, and entrepreneurship.
I have often found lessons from military history can be instructive for political campaigns. One of my favorite stories occurred almost exactly 163 years ago on a field in Gettysburg. The Confederate Army was poised for victory, and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s orders were to attack the union center. His subordinate, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, disagreed, arguing that the center was too strong, and it made more sense to go around and attack the flanks. Lee was obstinate and ordered a charge led by Virginia Maj. Gen. George Pickett, which has gone down in infamy. The center held, and the Union won the war.
In 2026, the political center in America is strained, but it has not yet snapped. Republicans have failed to hold the center-right. Democrats must find a way to hold the center-left.
Otherwise, if both major parties revert to the extremes and let the center snap, America will become a very different country.
Steve Israel represented New York in the House of Representatives for eight terms and was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Benjamin Netanyahu Bernie Sanders Daniel Goldman Democratic Socialists of America Zohran Mamdani Zohran MamdaniCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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