--- title: Democrats' Identity Crisis on Display in New York Primary description: In several tangled races, Democrats are working out how much identity should influence who they pick to represent them. canonical: https://time.com/6207606/democrats-identity-maloney-new-york-primary/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-08-22T10:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:38:44.019Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrats' Identity Crisis on Display in New York Primary og:description: In several tangled races, Democrats are working out how much identity should influence who they pick to represent them. og:url: https://time.com/6207606/democrats-identity-maloney-new-york-primary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ad816372d62109/698a34c8db298770d52681c9/GettyImages-1242026437.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler Primary Campaign in New York city og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrats' Identity Crisis on Display in New York Primary twitter:description: In several tangled races, Democrats are working out how much identity should influence who they pick to represent them. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ad816372d62109/698a34c8db298770d52681c9/GettyImages-1242026437.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats' Identity Crisis on Full Display in Chaotic New York Primary ## Video: Liz Cheney Loses Wyoming Republican Primary in Race Defined by Her Criticism of Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Liz Cheney Loses Wyoming Republican Primary in Race Defined by Her Criticism of Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QQTXXrAS.m3u8) (1:56)  _Published 2022-08-17. The election results out of Wyoming Tuesday night confirmed what much of the political universe had anticipated: Rep. Liz Cheney, once a rising star in the GOP, lost her seat in Congress to Harriet Hageman, a primary challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 22, 2022 10:00 AM UTC  Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is running for re-election in a tight Democratic primary, greets a voter during a campaign stop outside a market in New York on June 28, 2022. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is running for re-election in a tight Democratic primary, greets a voter during a campaign stop outside a market in New York on June 28, 2022.Jeenah Moon—The Washington Post via Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 22, 2022 10:00 AM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ It can only be described as a messy free-for-all—the Democratic primary in New York on Tuesday. And the outcome could shed light on where the party is headed in ways the party’s leaders had not anticipated. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Democrats in Albany thought they had devised a clever [redo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/30/redistricting-new-york/) of the map of federal House districts earlier this year, but they got too greedy in trying to contour battlelines that could reliably net them three more reliable liberals in Washington. Judges in April [rejected](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/27/ny-congressional-map-is-illegal-must-be-redrawn-court-says/) the map as too clearly partisan. The [result](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/new-york/): a wildly different map and a delayed primary, one featuring two titans of the House fighting each other for survival, a party insider tasked with protecting the House majority shuffled into a new district, and a first-term lawmaker forced to relocate in order to seek a second term. All the while, millions of outside [dollars](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/nyregion/super-pac-ny-primaries.html) are trying to pick favorites. And, in the process, it’s yet another [reminder](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/16/trailer-new-york-top-house-democrat-relishes-chance-beat-his-partys-left-wing/) that not everyone agrees what it means to be a Democrat these days. Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney are mainstays of the Democratic Establishment. Each chairs a powerful committee in the House, sits inside Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s inner circle, and has deep ties to the New York machine. Yet the redistricting required every 10 years shoved the two into a confrontation that neither especially wanted. And with Suraj Patel, a newcomer to politics, running on a theme of generational change and gaining some traction, it’s possible that both chairs could wind up retired. --- ### More from TIME --- In a way, the three-way clash is emblematic of the Democratic identity crisis. If Nadler prevails, he could be the lone Jewish member of New York’s House delegation. Maloney, who broke gender barriers aplenty, is counting on women to have her back, especially in the wake of the _Dobbs_ [decision](https://time.com/6189476/abortion-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade/) ending a federal right to abortion. And Patel is a clear-eyed representation that the party’s best leaders aren’t necessarily white septuagenarian insiders. Nadler, at least on paper, seems to have the [advantage](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3607030-nadler-widens-lead-over-maloney-in-new-york-house-race-poll/). Both The New York _Times_ and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer [threw](https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2022/08/15/schumer-endorses-nadler-over-maloney) their weight behind him. The limited polling shows him ahead. But Maloney is a fighter and is pulling out all the stops to make the case for continued [service](https://gothamist.com/news/maloney-floods-nyc-district-with-taxpayer-funded-mailers-ahead-of-primary-raising-ethical-questions). Both are keenly aware that the last time a member of Democratic leadership faced a young upstart—Joe Crowley vs. a bartender named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018—he lost in a [stunning](https://time.com/5322905/joe-crowley-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/) upset. It’s a similar open question for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the [chairman](https://time.com/5916434/democrats-dccc-leadership-fight/) of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He is quarterbacking Democrats’ official incumbent-retention program this cycle, despite ending up as among the more vulnerable seats in the new map. Rather than seek another term in his current district, he opted for a safer district—a smart move that spared the DCCC chief from having to justify party dollars to save his hide. But, in the process, he crowded in on Rep. Mondaire Jones’ turf in the Hudson Valley. Jones, in turn, relocated to a new district that’s less familiar to him. He’s now fighting through a nine-way [primary](https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/inside-city-hall/2022/07/27/rep--mondaire-jones-makes-his-case-in-primary-in-new-district) in Lower Manhattan and Brookyln, one that could cut short Jones’ rise as an openly gay Black man who was elected on the same night as another New York colleague who simultaneously shattered that barrier. (The race also features some unexpected [meddling](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/08/donald-trump-jerry-nadler-feud-nyc-congress-endorsements.html) from Donald Trump.) And despite all those musical chairs, Sean Patrick Maloney still may lose to state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, an [unapologetic](https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/rep-sean-patrick-maloney-accused-of-fundraising-switcheroo/) progressive who is running in the style of Ocasio-Cortez, herself an incumbent slayer. Biaggi has enjoyed the backing of outside cash [promoting](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-election-2022-ny-17-alessendra-biaggi-lawmakers-child-bearing-age-abortion-20220819-z5xpq47v25fcvbxxd6ua7gzlzq-story.html) her as a change [agent](https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/alessandra-biaggi-accused-of-ageism-for-tweet-on-women-past-child-bearing-age/) of a younger generation, [including](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook/2022/05/20/aoc-brings-more-heat-on-maloney-00034024) from AOC’s loyalists, while Sean Patrick Maloney’s advantage is a deep well of political knowledge dating to his days as a Bill Clinton adviser. In these primary races and others in New York, Democrats are working out—or trying desperately to avoid working out—the extent [identity](https://time.com/4951191/divided-democratic-party-debates-its-future/) should influence who they pick to represent them. It’s a debate that they have not figured out how to settle in a post-Obama political landscape. But the specter of a second term with Donald Trump [winnowed](https://time.com/5907674/joe-biden-wins-2020-election/) the field pretty efficiently after Joe Biden’s [win](https://time.com/5793107/joe-biden-wins-south-carolina/) in South Carolina, all but handing him the nomination as the most viable Trump thwacker. The quick coalescing around Biden spared the party a protracted fight over identity at the height of a pandemic-tinged nominating season. But it only kicked this debate to a later date. And, as is increasingly proximate, the talents of Nancy Pelosi won’t be marshaling the Democrats in the House for too much longer. A party that so far has shown amazing discipline could fracture into competing sects in the absence of such an effective disciplinarian. Which is why the primaries in New York may offer some revealing clues as to how the modern Democratic Party will shape itself—and how the losing players will make peace with the results. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6207606/democrats-identity-maloney-new-york-primary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6207606/democrats-identity-maloney-new-york-primary/"},"headline":"Democrats' Identity Crisis on Full Display in Chaotic New York Primary","datePublished":"2022-08-22T10:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:38:44.019Z","description":"In several tangled races, Democrats are working out how much identity should influence who they pick to represent them.","url":"https://time.com/6207606/democrats-identity-maloney-new-york-primary/","keywords":["The D.C. 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