A trio of progressive Democratic congressional candidates swept their respective races in Tuesday’s New York primary elections, and a number of right-wing figures – including Fox News’ own Sean Hannity – were said by critics to be experiencing a full-on “freakout.”
“Incumbent congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY), who was just banned from a New York City coffee shop because of his support for Israel, has now lost his primary to a radical socialist backed by [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani,” Hannity said Tuesday night on Fox News, his voice cracking. “It appears that a pretty scary transformation is now fully underway in the Democratic Party.”
AJ Faleski, a hip-hop artist and news analyst, quipped that Hannity appeared as though he was “literally about to cry” in a social media post on X to his more than 325,000 followers, with several other notable critics making near-identical observations, including writer and activist Maria Figuereo and progressive political commentator Jordan Uhl of The Young Turks fame.
Three Mamdani-backed progressive congressional candidates – Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier – won their respective primary elections Tuesday night, two of them ousting Democratic incumbents who House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “campaigned aggressively” for, but fell short.
Michael A. Cohen, a centrist liberal writer who is of no relation to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, proclaimed after the election that it was a "genuinely scary night for New York City Jews,” a remark presumably referencing Mamdani and his allies’ fierce criticism of Israel.
His comment was scrutinized, however, given the demographics in the districts the progressive candidates achieved overwhelming electoral victories. New York’s 10th Congressional District, for instance, is 24.4% Jewish, giving it the second-largest Jewish population of any congressional district in the country. Lander, who has called Israel an "apartheid" state, won NY-10 by 66% over his pro-Israel opponent Goldman.
“The freakout tonight over the NY primaries reminds me of the meltdown when Mamdani won his primary,” wrote the prominent influencer and writer who uses the pseudonym “GenXGril” in a social media post on X to their more than 102,000 followers.
Sean Hannity is literally about to cry https://t.co/ckRv6wGVU7
— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) June 24, 2026