Primary Result
What happened in the June 23 primary?
Claire Valdez won the Democratic primary in NY-07. This rundown keeps the pre-primary comparison as background on the open-seat contest to succeed Nydia Velazquez.
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NY-07 Democratic Primary
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NY-07 2026 Democratic Primary: Reynoso vs. Valdez vs. Won vs. Kumar Results and Candidate Comparison
Claire Valdez won the Democratic primary in NY-07. This rundown keeps the pre-primary comparison as background on the open-seat contest to succeed Nydia Velazquez.
The comparison below is retained as post-primary reference material: it summarizes the candidates, positions, endorsements, and issues voters were weighing before the race was decided.
What is the background?
The June 23, 2026, Democratic primary in New York's 7th Congressional District was an open-seat contest to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who has held the seat since 1993 12. Four Democrats were on the ballot: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assembly Member Claire Valdez, NYC Council Member Julie Won, and public defender Vichal Kumar 13.
When was the NY-07 Democratic primary?
What is the background?
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 1.
Why is the seat open?
What is the background?
Incumbent Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who was first elected in 1992, announced in late 2025 that she would not seek re-election after 17 terms in Congress 12.
What neighborhoods make up NY-07?
What is the background?
NY-07 straddles parts of north Brooklyn and western Queens, including Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Red Hook, parts of Sunset Park, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Maspeth, and Ridgewood 49.
Who is on the Democratic primary ballot?
What is the background?
Antonio Reynoso, Claire Valdez, Julie Won, and Vichal Kumar 13.
Why has this race attracted so much attention?
What is the background?
NY-07 is one of the most progressive districts in the country, and the open-seat primary has become a high-profile contest among the established progressive lane (Reynoso, with Velazquez's backing) and the democratic socialist lane (Valdez, with Mayor Mamdani and DSA backing) 179.
Who is Antonio Reynoso?
What is the background?
Antonio Reynoso has served as Brooklyn Borough President since January 2022. He previously represented City Council District 34 (covering parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood) from 2014 to 2021 1011.
What is Reynoso's background?
What is the background?
Reynoso, 42, was born and raised in the Los Sures section of Williamsburg to Dominican immigrant parents. He grew up in Section 8 housing and graduated from Le Moyne College. He began his career as a community organizer with ACORN, organizing childcare workers into the UFCW 1012.
Who is Claire Valdez?
What is the background?
Claire Valdez represents the 37th Assembly District (Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Maspeth, and Ridgewood). She was first elected in 2024, winning the Democratic primary with 58.6% of the vote in a three-way race. She defeated second-place finisher Johanna Carmona by 27 points; incumbent Juan Ardila, then facing sexual-misconduct allegations, finished third with 9.7% 61314.
What is Valdez's background?
What is the background?
Valdez is a union organizer with UAW Local 2110 at Columbia University and a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA). She is a dual citizen of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Nation and the United States 1314.
Who is Julie Won?
What is the background?
Julie Won has represented NYC Council District 26 (Sunnyside, Long Island City, Woodside, and Astoria) since January 2022. She launched her congressional bid on February 2, 2026 1516.
What is Won's background?
What is the background?
Won was born in South Korea and immigrated to Queens at age 8. Before elected office, she worked at IBM advising the federal government on technology modernization, and was a 15-candidate-field primary winner in 2020 with no major endorsements 1516.
Who is Vichal Kumar?
What is the background?
Vichal Kumar is a public defender and civil-rights attorney who launched his campaign in March 2026, describing himself as a 20-year fighter against ICE. He previously served as President of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) 173.
What is Kumar's background?
What is the background?
The son of working-class immigrants, Kumar has spent more than two decades as a public defender and is positioning himself as a political outsider in the race 17.
How is Kumar framing his immigration record?
What is the background?
Kumar has built his campaign around his career as a public defender confronting ICE in immigration courts, saying he has spent 20 years fighting deportation cases 17.
What is Valdez's position on ICE?
What is the background?
Valdez's campaign platform calls for abolishing ICE and ending mass detention 1.
What is Reynoso's record on immigrant protections?
What is the background?
As Borough President, Reynoso has emphasized that every New Yorker, regardless of citizenship status, has rights and protections under the law, and has championed sanctuary-city policies and immigrant-services funding 10.
What is Won's record on immigrant communities?
What is the background?
Won, a Korean immigrant herself, represents the highly multilingual NYC-26 council district and has focused on immigrant-services access and language-justice issues in the City Council 15.
What is Valdez's position on Israel and Gaza?
What is the background?
Valdez's platform supports a free Palestine and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, framed as ending U.S. funding for war 114.
What is Reynoso's position?
What is the background?
Reynoso has aligned with Velazquez's progressive lane on foreign policy, has criticized Israeli actions in Gaza, and has supported Puerto Rican self-determination as part of an anti-colonial foreign-policy framework Velazquez has championed in Congress 94.
What is Won's position?
What is the background?
Won has aligned with the progressive lane on Gaza policy and has called for an end to U.S. military aid that contributes to civilian harm 16.
What is Kumar's position?
What is the background?
Kumar has aligned with the progressive lane in opposing additional U.S. military aid to Israel under current conditions and in calling for a ceasefire-conditioned aid policy 17.
Why is Puerto Rico a campaign issue in NY-07?
What is the background?
Velázquez is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress and has championed Puerto Rico policy throughout her career. Her successor will inherit that portfolio 49.
What is Reynoso's Puerto Rico platform?
What is the background?
Velázquez has publicly endorsed Reynoso's Puerto Rico agenda, citing his alignment with her approach focused on debt restructuring, recovery from Hurricane Maria, and self-determination 4.
What is Valdez's Puerto Rico platform?
What is the background?
Valdez's foreign-policy platform supports Puerto Rican self-determination, calls for full cancellation of Puerto Rico's debt, and seeks to address environmental damage from decades of U.S. military activity on bases in Puerto Rico 4.
What is Won's Puerto Rico position?
What is the background?
Won's campaign has said she supports Puerto Rican self-determination, with a focus on disaster preparedness and federal recovery funding 4.
What is Reynoso's housing record?
What is the background?
As City Councilmember, Reynoso opposed the de Blasio administration's larger Bushwick rezoning and proposed a smaller plan capped at 2,000 below-market-rate units. As Borough President, he launched the Divine Dwellings initiative to help faith-based organizations develop affordable housing on their land 1012.
What is Valdez's housing platform?
What is the background?
Valdez supports rent regulation, tenant protections, and social housing investment, and has campaigned on rent stabilization expansion at the state level 1314.
What is Won's housing platform?
What is the background?
Won's Lifetime of Care platform includes social housing and tenant protections as a core pillar 16.
What did Won do on housing in the City Council?
What is the background?
Won has voted for affordable-housing zoning packages, supported tenant-protection bills, and emphasized constituent services in housing-court cases 1516.
Does each candidate support Medicare for All?
What is the background?
Reynoso, Valdez, Won, and Kumar each support Medicare for All in their stated platforms 1131617.
What is Won's Lifetime of Care platform?
What is the background?
Won has campaigned on universal paid maternity leave, free childcare, universal healthcare, expansion of Social Security, and social housing under a framework she calls Lifetime of Care 16.
What is Reynoso's maternal-health record?
What is the background?
As Borough President, Reynoso launched a maternal-health agenda to address racial disparities in maternal outcomes, supporting public-hospital birthing centers, midwife-led care, and pre- and post-natal services 1012.
What is Valdez's labor background?
What is the background?
Valdez was a union organizer with UAW Local 2110, which represents support staff and clerical workers at Columbia University. She served on her unit's bargaining committee and was elected Unit Chair in 2022 1314.
Has the UAW endorsed in the race?
What is the background?
Yes. The United Auto Workers endorsed Valdez 16.
What is Reynoso's labor record?
What is the background?
Reynoso began his career as a labor organizer with ACORN, organizing childcare providers into the UFCW. As Borough President, he has supported building trades, healthcare, and service-sector unions 1012.
Have major unions endorsed in the race?
What is the background?
Reynoso has been endorsed by SEIU 32BJ, CWA Local 1180, the New York State Nurses Association, and other unions tied to his 2025 Borough President race; he has continued to build labor support in the congressional race 18. Valdez has UAW backing 16.
What is Reynoso's record on policing?
What is the background?
On the City Council, Reynoso was the lead sponsor of one of the two bills that made up the Right to Know Act, the consent-to-search measure (Intro 541-C), which requires NYPD officers to inform people of their right to refuse consent searches. Bronx Council Member Ritchie Torres led the companion bill (Intro 182-D) requiring officer identification 1011.
Did Reynoso vote to close Rikers?
What is the background?
Yes. Reynoso voted in 2019 to support closing Rikers Island and replacing it with borough-based jails 10.
What is Valdez's position on policing?
What is the background?
Valdez supports reducing police budgets, ending broken-windows enforcement, and reinvesting in mental-health and social services 13.
Has Mayor Mamdani endorsed in the race?
What is the background?
Yes. Mamdani endorsed Valdez 17.
Has Rep. Velazquez endorsed?
What is the background?
Yes. Velázquez endorsed Reynoso 147.
Has Sen. Sanders endorsed?
What is the background?
Yes. Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Valdez 37.
Who else has endorsed Reynoso?
What is the background?
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, NYC Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (whose district borders Won's), and a coalition of progressive City Council members. The Working Families Party endorsed Reynoso in the congressional race 41618.
Who else has endorsed Valdez?
What is the background?
NYC-DSA, UAW, and other DSA-aligned electeds in NY-DSA-endorsed seats 116.
Who has endorsed Won?
What is the background?
Won has been endorsed by State Sen. John Liu and a slate of Asian American lawmakers from across New York and around the country 315.
Who has endorsed Kumar?
What is the background?
Kumar is running as a political outsider and has not consolidated major institutional endorsements as of May 2026 317.
What does the prediction market show?
What is the background?
Polymarket implied odds in mid-May 2026 had Valdez at roughly 62% and Reynoso at roughly 35%, with Won and Kumar trailing well behind 3.
How is the race being framed in coverage?
What is the background?
The City & State framing is that the race tests the emerging strength of NYC-DSA against the more institutional left in the city. The two front-runners (Reynoso and Valdez) come from overlapping progressive worlds but represent different organizing infrastructures 7.
Has there been public friction between candidates?
What is the background?
Yes. In a May 12, 2026, interview, Reynoso publicly characterized Mamdani's endorsement of Valdez as disloyal, given that Reynoso had supported Mamdani's mayoral campaign 3.
What is the "Commie Corridor"?
What is the background?
Commie Corridor is a nickname used in NYC political coverage for the cluster of overlapping left-leaning districts spanning north Brooklyn and western Queens, which has produced several DSA-backed officials 414.
Sources
Source 1
Ballotpedia News, "Four candidates are running in June 23 Democratic primary for New York's 7th Congressional District," May 13, 2026
Source 2
THE CITY, "Who's Running in the 2026 Congressional Primaries in NYC," November 25, 2025
Source 3
Polymarket, "NY-07 Democratic Primary Winner Predictions & Odds 2026," accessed May 2026
Source 4
AM New York, "NY-7: Velazquez backs Reynoso's Puerto Rico agenda in race for her House seat," May 2026
Source 6
Greenpointers, "Assemblymember Claire Valdez Launches Campaign for New York's 7th Congressional District," January 8, 2026
Source 7
City & State New York, "A test of Mamdani's endorsement power in the race to represent NY-7," April 2026
Source 9
THE CITY, "Puerto Rico Takes Center Stage in Reynoso-Valdez House Showdown," May 18, 2026
Source 10
Wikipedia, "Antonio Reynoso."
Source 11
Ballotpedia, "Antonio Reynoso."
Source 12
Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Source 13
New York State Assembly, "Claire Valdez, Assembly District 37."
Source 14
NYC Democratic Socialists of America, "Our Endorsed Candidates."
Source 15
Wikipedia, "Julie Won."
Source 16
QNS, "CM Julie Won officially launches congressional campaign for NY-7," March 2026
Source 17
Greenpointers, "Vichal Kumar Launches Campaign for New York's 7th Congressional District," March 6, 2026
Source 18
Brooklyn Paper, "NYC Primaries: Meet the candidates running for Brooklyn Borough President," June 13, 2025