There’s something deeply unsettling about watching an American congressional candidate describe her own country as an empire while pledging allegiance to the political vision of a foreign government. Yet that’s exactly what Claire Valdez did this week, and the fallout is turning into a full-blown controversy that raises questions about loyalty, judgment, and what the Democratic Party has become.
Valdez, a democratic socialist running for Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, posted a tweet that should alarm anyone who values the basic premise of American governance. She invoked Mexico’s fight for independence 215 years ago against an empire that “demanded our land and our labor,” then promised to carry that same fight into Congress as New York’s first Mexican-American representative. The problem? She’s running to represent Americans in the United States Congress, not to serve as an extension of Mexico’s political interests.
But it gets worse. Valdez didn’t just post some misguided historical comparison. She openly admitted to meeting with members of Morena, Mexico’s ruling left-wing party, calling them “comrades” who are fighting against “empires and corporations that have always taken from us.” The language here matters. She’s positioning herself not as an advocate for her future constituents but as part of an international socialist movement that views America as the villain in the story.
Immigration attorney Alicia Nieves didn’t waste time calling for a State Department investigation under the Logan Act, a rarely enforced but still valid 1799 law that criminalizes unauthorized private diplomacy. She reached out directly to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, noting that Valdez isn’t even a sitting member of Congress yet appears to be coordinating with foreign officials on matters contrary to current U.S. policy. The irony is rich considering Democrats spent years invoking the Logan Act against President Trump.
Now look, the Logan Act has always been something of a political weapon more than a serious enforcement tool. Only two people have ever been indicted under it, and nobody’s been prosecuted in over two centuries. But the principle behind it remains sound. We can’t have private citizens conducting their own foreign policy, especially when they’re actively running for federal office and describing their own country as an oppressive empire.
The whole episode exposes the fundamental problem with the modern socialist movement in America. These candidates don’t just want to change policy. They want to reimagine America itself, usually by casting it as the perpetual aggressor in global affairs. Valdez’s rhetoric about empires stealing “from us” reveals a worldview where American sovereignty and interests are inherently suspect, where patriotism gets replaced by international solidarity with left-wing movements abroad.
Think about what she’s actually saying. Mexico fought for independence against Spain, not the United States. Yes, the Mexican-American War happened, and territory changed hands, but framing that 19th-century conflict as some ongoing struggle she’ll continue in Congress is absurd. It’s also insulting to the millions of Mexican-Americans who love this country and don’t view their service in government as carrying on a fight against American interests.
The meeting with Morena officials is particularly troubling. Mexico’s ruling party under President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken an increasingly antagonistic stance toward U.S. immigration enforcement and economic policy. Having a congressional candidate coordinate with them while campaigning on abolishing ICE and implementing Medicare-for-all creates a pretty clear picture of where her loyalties lie. And it’s not with the moderate voters in Bushwick and Ridgewood who might expect their representative to actually represent them.
Critics also dug up an interesting detail about Valdez’s father, Larry, who’s apparently connected to a company that helped build a Texas immigration detention center during the Obama administration. The hypocrisy writes itself. She’s out there calling for abolishing ICE and attacking immigration enforcement while her own family profited from the system she now condemns. You can’t make this stuff up.
The broader issue here is what’s happening to the Democratic Party in places like New York City. Democratic socialists like Zohran Mamdani have been actively recruiting and supporting candidates who make Valdez look moderate by comparison. They’re running on platforms that would fundamentally transform American society while simultaneously expressing skepticism about American power and influence abroad. It’s a dangerous combination of domestic radicalism and international grievance politics.
We need representatives who understand that serving in Congress means putting American interests first, full stop. That doesn’t mean ignoring the concerns of immigrant communities or dismissing the historical complexities of U.S.-Mexico relations. It means recognizing that your job is to make life better for the people in your district, not to wage some symbolic war against American “empire” on behalf of foreign political movements.
Valdez owes voters a clear explanation of what exactly she discussed with Morena officials and whether she believes her primary obligation would be to her constituents or to advancing an international socialist agenda. Given her rhetoric so far, I’m not optimistic we’ll get a straight answer. But voters deserve to know who they’re really electing and whose interests will actually get represented if she wins.
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