Mamdani-endorsed state assembly member Claire Valdez secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday after defeating a crowded field in the primary for New York’s 7th Congressional District.

The democratic socialist, who had been leading in the polls, defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, City Council Member Julie Won and civil rights attorney Vichal Kumar to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.

Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, announced she would not seek re-election in November after more than three decades in office.

In an endorsement posted on her campaign website, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised Valdez for supporting him during his mayoral campaign and sharing his progressive vision.

HASAN PIKER CELEBRATES AMERICA BEING ‘CLOSER THAN EVER’ TO SOCIALISM AS HE BACKS NYC CANDIDATES

«Claire Valdez stood with me on day one because she understands how change is won — by building power, raising expectations and delivering for working people,» Mamdani said. «She comes from the labor movement and knows how to turn struggle into real gains on housing, health care and workers’ rights. That’s the kind of partner I need in Congress, and why I’m proud to endorse her.»

Velázquez, who also supported Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, publicly slammed the mayor in January after he endorsed Valdez over Reynoso.

«Honeymoons are short, and people need to pay attention to the work at hand,» she told The New York Times.

MAMDANI’S PRIMARY WIN EXPOSES DEMOCRAT DIVIDE AS TOP LEADERS WITHHOLD ENDORSEMENTS

NYPD officers arrest New York City Council member Tiffany Caban and New York Assembly member Claire Valdez (right) along with protesters after they refused to leave the lobby of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office in Manhattan on Aug. 1, 2025. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service)

«Primaries sometimes can be a distraction from the work that you need to do,» Velázquez said, adding that the mayor’s involvement «opens up fights» with the people he governs.

Valdez, a vocal critic of Israel, has called to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), expand universal healthcare, raise taxes on the wealthy, boost affordable housing and strengthen unions.

«It’s a district that doesn’t just want strongly worded letters but a real economic vision to win the working class away from Trumpism,» according to her campaign website.

«That’s what Claire will deliver.»

SOCIALISTS CHEER ‘SHOCKWAVE’ PRIMARY NIGHT AS DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN, ADVANCE ACROSS THE MAP

Rep. Nydia Velázquez holds a «Musk Steals» protest sign with fellow Democrats as President Donald Trump speaks during a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Pool/AFP)

Controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and the Justice Democrats, the progressive group that helped launch Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s insurgent House campaign in 2018, have also thrown their support behind Valdez in the race to represent the district, which spans progressive strongholds across Brooklyn and Queens.

At a Brooklyn rally this month for candidates endorsed by the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Piker called Valdez and activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is seeking to oust five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., in New York’s 13th Congressional District, «giants» of the socialist movement.

«For the longest time, I thought we were so far away from socialism, and we might still be far away from socialism, but we do have an opportunity right here, right now, more than ever before,» Piker said at the rally.

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Piker added that this could be one of many victories for the socialist movement.

«By the end of these midterms, Zohran will seem unremarkable because, by then, we will have elected so many brilliant fighters into legislative offices throughout New York City and the state,» Piker said.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack contributed to this report.

“El bloqueo ha sido derrotado”. El presidente Rodrigo Paz anunció este martes el fin de los cortes de rutas que desestabilizaron su gobierno y causaron un grave desabastecimiento de alimentos, medicinas y combustibles durante más de un mes y medio en La Paz y otras zonas de Bolivia.

Los nueve departamentos del país amanecieron este martes sin ningún punto de bloqueo por motivos sociales, anunció la Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras (ABC).

Pero el alerta se mantiene. El mandatario, que asumió hace siete meses después de 20 años de gobiernos del izquierdista Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), ratificó la vigencia del estado de excepción aprobado el sábado por el Congreso y que autoriza a su gobierno a sacar a los militares a la calle para reprimir cualquier protesta y piquete.

Las autoridades aseguraron que las carreteras quedaron completamente despejadas este martes, lo que augura el fin del desabastecimiento generalizado de productos de primera necesidad.

Los manifestantes, en su mayoría campesinos indígenas, trabajadores y mineros motorizados por la Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), exigían la renuncia del mandatario.

“Rodrigo Paz resistió la presión y la convulsión se desgastó al punto que el estado de excepción llevó a la disolución pacífica de los bloqueos sin que se produjera un solo disparo”, dijo a TN el analista Ricardo Calla, exministro de Asuntos Indígenas y Pueblos Originarios durante el primer gobierno de Evo Morales, uno de los promotores de las protestas.

El expresidente izquierdista anunció el lunes “un cuarto intermedio” en las protestas que sus seguidores mantuvieron en la zona del Trópico de Cochabamba, su bastión, tras 53 días de conflicto.

“Por ahora, un cuarto intermedio. No es rendirnos, pero la gran ventaja que tenemos las seis federaciones (organización sindical y agraria de productores de hoja de coca) es que nunca nos vendemos”, dijo Morales, citado por la agencia Fides.

La decisión de levantar los cortes, según advirtieron analistas, se sustentó en la presión ejercida por el gobierno después de declarar el estado de excepción que abrió las puertas a una intervención militar contra los manifestantes.

¿El fin del conflicto?

El presidente centroderechista está convencido de que la crisis fue superada.

“Nos vamos a organizar para construir, no para destruir, porque creo que el bloqueo ha sido derrotado, no puede retornar al país. Nosotros estamos como siempre con el diálogo como línea principal», dijo Paz citado por la prensa local.

El desbloqueo de las carreteras ocurrió en forma paulatina desde el sábado, en respuesta a la declaratoria del estado de excepción en el país. Pero a pesar de que las rutas están libres, el gobierno decidió mantener vigente la medida.

«Este estado de excepción continúa porque tenemos muchas cosas que ordenar. Bolivia se tiene que ordenar porque no se puede volver a repetir lo que ocurrió estos últimos 50 días. Y este estado de excepción es el instrumento legal que nos permite ordenar el país”, afirmó Paz.

Leé también: Violencia, déficit fiscal y crisis sanitaria: los desafíos que enfrentará el próximo presidente de Colombia

Para Calla, la oposición no alcanzó su objetivo de desestabilizar al presidente.

“Fue puesto bajo presión por los dirigentes de los bloqueos para dictar un estado de excepción que manchara de sangre su gobierno. Esos dirigentes pretendieron sacrificar a algunos de los pobladores movilizados para atizar la convulsión y manchar políticamente al gobierno”, dijo el analista.

La Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) finalmente pactó con el gobierno y abandonó las protestas. Evo Morales impulsaba el último reducto rebelde, que abandonó las rutas el lunes.

“Ahora Paz debe asumir la difícil tarea de que Bolivia supere su gravísima crisis económica, agravada por el bloqueo de 53 días. Será una ardua tarea. A cambio, los dirigentes de la convulsión fueron políticamente arrollados por el desenlace. El liderazgo local de Evo Morales en el Chapare ha de entrar en crisis. La era post Evo ya es un hecho consolidado ahora”, opinó Calla.

Pero la difícil situación social, agravada por el conflicto, sigue siendo un caldo de cultivo para nuevas protestas.

En su reducto del Chapare, el “evismo” advirtió que las protestas se retomarán cuando concluya el indefinido “cuarto intermedio” y denunció que el movimiento fracasó por la “traición” de la COB y del dirigente de la Federación de Campesinos de la Paz Tupac Katari, Vicente Salazar.

President Donald Trump scored a major legislative win after Congress cleared a sweeping housing bill aimed at expanding the nation’s supply of homes and lowering costs.

House lawmakers voted 358-32 in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote Tuesday to approve the Senate-passed measure with opposition coming solely from Republicans. Every Democrat present voted for the package.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, one of the most significant housing bills approved by Congress in decades, largely incorporates Trump’s proposal to ban large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes — a measure designed to help individual buyers compete with private equity firms.

It would also streamline federal environmental reviews for housing, loosen regulations around the construction of factory-built homes, and incentivize local governments to reform their zoning laws to allow for more homebuilding, among its more than 45 provisions.

ONE IN THREE ADULTS UNDER 35 LIVES WITH PARENTS AS HOUSING COSTS SOAR, DATA SHOWS

Other sections would allocate federal grants to municipalities with a track record of constructing new homes and create a pilot program to help communities redevelop vacant properties. 

«The package focuses on a simple idea of building more homes, which means lower costs and more expanded opportunities for all Americans,» Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., said Tuesday.

The president is expected to promptly sign the measure into law as soon as Wednesday.

Tuesday’s vote comes as home prices have surged in recent years, with the median nationwide price tag topping $400,000 and the median asking rent climbing above $1,760, representing an increase of 34.4% and 17.9%, respectively, since 2019, according to analysis from Realtor.com.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., brought the measure to the floor under a fast-track procedure known as suspension of the rules that required a two-thirds majority to secure passage. 

In the end, more Democrats supported the legislation than Republicans.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol on June 10, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

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Some of the more than two dozen conservatives voted against the housing bill in protest of the SAVE America Act not being attached to the package. That legislation — mandating voter identification requirements, cracking down on mail-in voting and barring men from women’s sports, among other provisions — has failed to clear the Senate’s legislative filibuster and has not received a vote in the House.

«The Senate cannot keep obstructing President Trump’s agenda while ignoring election integrity,» Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on social media. «I call on my fellow colleagues to stand firm and honor their pledge.»

The group of conservatives has also advocated for the SAVE America Act to be paired with the reauthorization of a critical surveillance authority, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, though that is unlikely to materialize amid intraparty disagreement.

Some Republicans also opposed the Trump-backed measure, citing the inclusion of provisions offered by progressive Democrats.

«The Housing bill is full of big government garbage & spending,» Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on social media.

The housing bill’s package comes after the House and Senate exhausted months ironing out disagreements about how to implement restrictions on private equity investors and a temporary ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) — an unrelated proposal sought by GOP privacy hawks.

Newly built homes line a residential development in a fast-grow ing Sun Belt market. (Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images)

Both chambers ultimately agreed to a provision that would restrict large investors owning more than 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional ones, while creating exceptions for the construction of rental properties. However, investors that exceed the new threshold would not be required to sell existing holdings. 

Critics have argued that large investors are not the source of supply constraints, with those firms owning less than 1% of the nation’s housing stock, according to Parcl Labs. 

Their ownership of single-family rental properties is slightly higher, ranging from 1% to 3%, with the presence of large investors highly concentrated in certain rental markets, including Jacksonville, Fla., (22%) and Phoenix (13%), according to a March Government Accountability Office report.

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The housing bill’s passage comes as Republicans are facing electoral headwinds from voters who are souring on the current state of the economy and cost of living. But the soon-to-be law could give Republicans a concrete example taken to address housing affordability — a key issue for voters heading into November’s midterm elections.

Just 31% of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a Fox News poll released last week. That was a 2-point improvement after the measure hit an all-time low of 29% in May.