Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney locked horns in New York’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, ensuring that one of the two veteran Democrats will not be a part of the 118th Congress. Nadler eventually bested Maloney in the primary polls on Tuesday.

The contest between the two lawmakers was triggered after New York authorities decided to redraw district lines ahead of the elections. This restructuring put Nadler and Maloney on the ballot, with both lawmakers refusing to contest for some other district.

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Nadler secured about 55.8% of the votes on Tuesday, while Maloney was far behind with 24.1%. The votes were split after Suraj Patel entered the race, projecting himself as the younger alternative who can represent the district in US Congress. He got 19.1% of the votes.

The alliance-turned-rivalry was addressed by Nadler in his victory speech on Tuesday. He said that they had “spent much of our adult lives working together to better both New York and our nation. I speak for everyone in this room tonight when I thank her for her decades of service to our city.”

Friends for many years, the two Democrats lamented having to run against each other. “I didn’t want to run against my good friend, Jerry Nadler,” Maloney said at a recent debate.

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Nadler, 75, was first elected to Congress in 1992. As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, he led both impeachments of Donald Trump. Nadler was buoyed in the last weeks of the campaign by endorsements from The New York Times and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Maloney, 76, also first elected in 1992, is the first woman to chair the House Oversight and Reform Committee. She is known for her longtime advocacy for September 11 first responders seeking compensation for diseases they attribute to contamination from the destruction of the World Trade Center. She wore a firefighter’s jacket on Capitol Hill and at the 2019 Met Gala.