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New York Assembly member Claire Valdez’s Fourth of July social media post featuring a pro-Palestinian message sparked backlash over the weekend, with commentators across the political spectrum blasting her priorities.
Valdez, a socialist poised to represent a deep-blue New York City congressional district in Congress, made the comments Saturday as Americans nationwide celebrated the country’s 250th birthday.
The Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate’s post did not appear to praise any aspect of the United States or pay tribute to the country’s founding.
Valdez wrote that she would continue to “fight for liberation from Palestine to Puerto Rico, for a Green New Deal, for the world we deserve,” on the social media platform X.
NYPD officers arrest New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán 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)
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“Actually, the Fourth of July isn’t about Palestine,” commentator Stephen Miller griped at Valdez in response.
“Modern Democratic Party: The Fourth of July is a fight to free Palestine,” Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings observed.
“These people have no idea what the Declaration is for no[r] any understanding of the purpose of our government,” journalist Brianna Lyman wrote.
Valdez won a Democratic primary election in June for an open House seat spanning Brooklyn and Queens, with the backing of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Given the progressive bastion’s heavily Democratic tilt, the House hopeful is expected to face little competition in November’s general election.
She is one of several socialists who trounced establishment-aligned Democrats in the Empire State’s primaries, marking a major victory for the far-left wing of the party.
Valdez and the other Democratic nominees — former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and activist Darializa Avila Chevalier — have called for ending military aid to Israel, enacting Green New Deal-style legislation and Medicare for All, which would create a government-run single-payer system.
The trio is likely to push Democrats to support tax hikes on the highest earners if elected to Congress and have frequently argued that the wealthy and big corporations are responsible for the country’s problems.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and congressional candidate Claire Valdez embrace during a primary night watch party at 99 Scott Studio on June 23, 2026, in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“Freedom is only possible when we have the conditions for the good life — healthcare, housing, education, and dignity on the job,” Valdez also wrote on social media Saturday. “But the system is rigged and our planet poisoned by billionaires, bosses, and war profiteers.”
Commentators hammered Valdez for focusing on what she viewed as the country’s flaws on Independence Day, while blasting her socialist policies.
“The commitment some people have to being absolutely insufferable and miserable is almost admirable,” former Biden White House press office Chief of Staff Yemisi Egbewole wrote on social media. “It’s the Fourth of July. Eat a hot dog. Watch fireworks. Call your family. Love the country that gave you the freedom to post this nonsense.
“Claire Valdez won her district’s rich precincts and high-education ones 64 to 27. She lost low-income areas by 32 points and Black ones by 50 points,” NewsNation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon observed. “This anti-America claptrap is trust fund socialism — vanity morals of the elite that operate as a smokescreen for their privilege.”
Valdez’s post echoed Mamdani’s Fourth of July message, in which he sharply criticized the wealthiest Americans — and the capitalism that made their affluence possible — while railing against various chapters of American history.
“We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one where children go to sleep hungry while the world’s first trillionaire hungers for more,” Mamdani said in his remarks, referencing SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk without naming him.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers a speech to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States of America at City Hall in New York City on July 3, 2026. (Anna Connors/Pool via Reuters)
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“We see monopolies that dominate every industry, and oligarchs who buy elections,” Mamdani continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to Valdez’s campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
