Claire Valdez Wins NYC Primary, Plus Looted Antiquities Deep Dive

Artist and union organizer Claire Valdez won New York's 7th District Democratic primary by a landslide, positioning her to represent the progressive 'Commie Corridor' after November's midterm election. Valdez, endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is part of a slate of Democratic Socialist candidates who won Tuesday. Separately, art crime professor Erin L. Thompson interviews Matthew Campbell, author of 'The Man Who Stole the Gods,' about the violent theft of Cambodia's cultural heritage. Campbell's book traces the entwined histories of the Cambodian genocide and Western collectors' hunger for Khmer Empire sculptures (9th–15th centuries CE). Thompson notes Cambodia's fight to reclaim heritage from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which resisted including ejecting a Cambodian dancer. Other stories: Mayor Mamdani and the Whitney Museum launch a World Cup poster project with artist Rich Tu; Lari Pittman discusses his new work; a guide to 10 art shows in Chicago this summer; obituaries for Frayda Feldman, James Wagner, and Melodee Strong; and the Bennett Prize for women figurative realist painters opens its 2026/2027 cycle.