CNN commentator Van Jones reacted to the New York City Democratic primary results, describing them as a major defeat for the party establishment and a victory for “new era” Democrats. <\/p>\n
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN: I mean, Van Jones, as you’re looking at this, you can see what the margin is right now with 84% of the vote in terms of where these go. Valdez is someone who is a union organizer, campaigned on affordable housing, talked about abolishing ICE, Medicare for all. When you look at that and how this race has played out, what do you think Democrats not in New York City should be learning from this? VAN JONES, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, New York City matters because the two most exciting left-wing candidates are here, ALC and Mamdani, but also this is the stronghold for the establishment, Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. This is a battle between the establishment and this insurgency, and the roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight. If Mamdani gets a hat trick, three out of three, this is a new era for the Democratic Party, and you can’t write off New York City because this is the place where both, it’s a power center for the establishment and the insurgency, and they’re going head-to-head tonight. And right now, this is no longer a movement, this is a movement and a machine at the same time. And there’s just no way to sugarcoat this. If Mamdani pulls off a hat trick, it is a new era in Democratic Party politics. COLLINS: Well, and if you’re a moderate Democrat who’s on the election, who’s on the ballot this November, Van, I mean, they’re all going to get asked about the positions that we’re hearing from these other fellow Democrats. JONES: Well, look, I think our frontline Democrats will be able to make their case for themselves. I think they’ll be able to do, okay, we got a lot of national security Democrats in other parts of the country, but this is a big deal tonight. And I think that, look, I don’t know what you want me to say here. This is a straight up battle between the establishment and the insurgency, and the establishment is getting its butt kicked tonight in New York City.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n