Bill Maher, the HBO comedian and host of "Real Time with Bill Maher," issued a pointed warning to the Democratic Party on Sunday after three far-left candidates won congressional primaries in New York City, saying the party appears "well on their way" to losing the 2026 midterm elections. Maher delivered the remarks while accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

What Happened in the New York Primaries

The three victors — Darializa Avila Chevalier, New York State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — each won Democratic primaries in New York City congressional districts. All three identify as democratic socialists, a label that places them well to the left of the party's establishment wing. Maher described them as "outright really crazy," singling out the sweep as the kind of development that could cost Democrats a midterm cycle widely seen as competitive.

What the Candidates Stand For

Avila Chevalier has publicly called for the abolition of both police and prisons, and posted on a since-deleted X account criticizing the United States in blunt terms. Valdez has called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, describing the agency as "fascist" and accusing it of "kidnapping" community members. Lander, who resigned from the Democratic Socialists of America in 2023 following the organization's response to the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, has nonetheless advocated for defunding the NYPD and eliminating ICE.

How Other Democrats Are Responding

Maher is not alone in sounding the alarm. Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville said Avila Chevalier should not be seated in Congress under the Democratic Party name, citing her positions as incompatible with mainstream Democratic values. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania used X to describe the winners as "anti-Israel, anti-America, anti-Western Civilization," adding that he considers himself the only Senate Democrat unwilling to excuse what he called "self-identified communists."

The Electoral Backdrop

Maher noted that his earlier optimism about Democratic prospects — expressed roughly two months before Sunday's remarks — had already been complicated by the Supreme Court's April ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which found that congressional districts in Louisiana had been illegally racially gerrymandered. That decision, combined with the socialist primary results, led Maher to revise his read on the party's midterm position. His comments reflect a wider tension inside the Democratic coalition between its moderate and progressive factions heading into November.