Espaillat is 71, the first Dominican-American elected to Congress, and had the backing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. It was not enough. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old community organizer and democratic socialist, narrowly defeated the five-term Democrat in New York’s 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, according to an Associated Press race call cited by WNYC.
The district covers Upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx. It has never been represented by a Republican, and Fox News reports that Avila Chevalier is all but guaranteed to win in November.
A sweep for Mamdani’s picks
The night amounted to the first major test of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s political movement. He endorsed in three competitive House primaries, and all three of his candidates won. WNYC called it a major blow for establishment Democrats.
In the 10th District, former City Comptroller Brad Lander decisively unseated two-term Rep. Dan Goldman, who Jeffries had also endorsed. In the 7th, state Rep. Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist, won the open seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez. Mamdani had backed her over Antonio Reynoso, the candidate supported by Velazquez and the Working Families Party. All three districts lean heavily Democratic.
Scrutiny of old posts
Avila Chevalier’s past statements drew heavy attention during the race. Fox News reported that she studied at Columbia, where she belonged to Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group that later posted “Death to America” on its social media. The network also cited now-deleted posts from 2018 to 2022 on private property, police and borders. In a 2021 repost, she said abolishing borders, prisons and police is “possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward.” Fox quoted a post reading “This country is a f—–g disgrace,” and reported that she wrote about wiping her hand on an American flag for lack of a napkin.
Fox also reported that in a recent debate with Espaillat she said no one in the country illegally should be deported, including people who had served time for violent crimes.
Mamdani, who first endorsed her in May, kept his support when asked about the posts. “I had not seen those tweets and what I’ve heard from her and what I know a lot of others in the district that have heard from her is that her views have evolved,” he said. He pointed to her record of freeing New Yorkers unjustly detained by ICE and called her “an incredible champion for that district and for the city as a whole.”
Avila Chevalier had positioned herself to the left of progressives such as former Vice President Kamala Harris, Fox reported.
Sources
- Mamdani-backed socialist with history of anti-American rhetoric wins vicious Dem primary race
- Mamdani's political gamble pays off as his endorsed candidates sweep their primaries | WNYC
