Former Governor David Paterson has issued a stark warning to New York Democrats, cautioning that a socialist wave could leave moderate Democrats sidelined, threatening the party’s very survival.
Paterson, who has also served as the state’s party chairman, delivered this cautionary message in the wake of surprising victories by a slate backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. They achieved sweeping wins in crucial congressional Democratic primary contests and nearly dominated the state legislative seats.
“This is undeniably a wake-up call for the Democratic Party,” Paterson remarked during his appearance on the “Cats Roundtable” program on 77 WABC radio. “We need to heed this message and act swiftly to avert becoming obsolete.”
Paterson highlighted the election of controversial socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who managed to unseat five-term incumbent Representative Adriano Espaillat in the 13th House District, a region that encompasses Harlem, Washington Heights/Inwood, and parts of the Bronx.
This victory, however, was achieved with the votes of only 32,790 Democrats—a fraction of the eligible voters in that district.
“There are 700,000 people who live in that district, which means that she got 5% of the people that live there to vote for her,” Paterson said. “I would suggest that within two years a real organized campaign gets put together and she can take her 5% and go back to wherever she was before she ran the first time.”
Paterson used to represent Harlem as a state senator in a district that overlaps with the congressional district, before he became lieutenant governor and later governor.
He served as chairman of the state Democratic Party in 2014-2015 under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Since becoming a radio analyst, Paterson has not been shy in criticizing his party’s left-leaning policies.
He slammed Democrats in Albany for going too far when approving the controversial soft-on-crime cashless bail law and ripped into former President Joe Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control by failing to police the border.
Current state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said Paterson and other critics are overreacting to last week’s Democratic primary results.
“Everybody is overreacting,” Jacobs said, who called Paterson “a friend.”
He said the DSA won races in very progressive districts in New York City and “that doesn’t speak for the entire Democratic Party.”
Jacobs noted that state Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli easily won his Democratic primary against two progressive rivals by a 2-to-1 margin.
“Why do we ignore that?” he asked.
He also noted Rep. Tom Suozzi staved off a primary challenge in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes part of Queens and Long Island. Suozzi has distanced himself from socialist policies and calls himself a moderate.
“Congressman Tom Suozzi hasn’t suddenly become a socialist,” Jacobs said.