Former New York Governor David Paterson went on 77 WABC's "Cats Roundtable" this week and said something that should terrify every Democratic strategist who still has a functioning survival instinct. He warned that the Democrat Party as we know it could become "extinct" if it doesn't confront the socialist takeover of its primaries.
Paterson isn't some Fox News contributor looking for airtime. He's a former governor of New York and served as the state Democratic Party chairman from 2014 to 2015. This is a man who spent decades building the machine that's now eating itself. When the guy who used to run the party tells you the party is dying, that's not commentary. That's a diagnosis.
The occasion for Paterson's alarm was a single primary night that should have sent shockwaves through Democratic headquarters. Three congressional races, all won by candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. Three. In one night.
In NY-13, which covers Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, including Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood, Democratic Socialists of America member Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term incumbent Representative Adriano Espaillat. Espaillat had held that seat since 2017 — eight years of incumbency wiped out by a DSA-backed challenger. When the Associated Press called the race, Avila Chevalier was leading with 49.4% with more than 86% of the expected vote counted.
That wasn't an isolated fluke. In NY-10, incumbent Representative Dan Goldman — a man best known for his leading role in Trump's first impeachment proceedings — lost his primary. In NY-7, Claire Valdez won the open Democratic nomination. All three victories were Mamdani-backed, all three were DSA-aligned, and all three happened on the same night.
The Democratic establishment's response was precisely as useful as you'd expect. Current New York State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs told reporters that critics were "overreacting," arguing the DSA wins occurred only in "very progressive districts" and didn't represent the broader party.
That's a fascinating argument, strategically speaking. "Don't worry, we're only losing our safest seats to socialists" is not the reassurance Jacobs seems to think it is. Those "very progressive districts" are the foundation of the Democratic coalition in New York. When the foundation starts cracking, you don't dismiss it as a cosmetic issue. You call an engineer.
Paterson clearly sees what Jacobs doesn't — or won't. The socialist wing isn't nibbling at the edges. They walked into Democratic primaries, beat the establishment, and came out with real congressional seats. Not city council. Not state assembly. Congress.
The pattern isn't new, but the scale is. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated Joe Crowley in 2018, the party treated it as a one-off. When the Squad expanded, they called it a media phenomenon. Now the DSA is knocking off incumbents in bunches, and the official party line is still "overreacting."
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo tried to hold the center in New York. He's gone. The moderates who were supposed to be the bulwark against the progressive wing keep losing to candidates who openly call themselves socialists. At some point, the trend line isn't a trend line anymore. It's a trajectory.
Paterson's warning carries the weight of someone who ran the party apparatus and watched it from the inside. He knows how primaries work. He knows what happens when the base moves faster than the leadership. And he's telling anyone who'll listen that the direction is extinction.
Jacobs says the party is fine. Paterson says the party is dying. One of them ran three winning congressional campaigns on a Tuesday night. The other is still explaining why those don't count.
