On Tuesday night, 32-year-old political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat, of New York’s 13th District, in New York’s primary election.
The upset was stunning, especially given that Avila Chevalier was essentially unknown until less than a month ago when Mayor Zohran Mamdani lent his support to her campaign.
Mamdani had previously backed Espaillat, but pivoted in the final stretch.
“She is the daughter of a single mom case worker and she grew up with a commitment to the very people that politics have left behind,” Mamdani said while seated beside Avila Chevalier just three weeks ago on live TV.
The announcement put the young candidate, who works in a law office and led Palestinian protests at Columbia University, on the map.
While Avila Chevalier had mostly flown under the radar until that moment, she certainly won’t anymore. The community organizer and doctoral student with no political experience just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in New York’s history.
Espaillat spent millions trying to defeat her, shining a light on her controversial past tweets—which disparaged Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The candidate has said she “deeply regretted” the tweets.
Supporters of Espaillat also inundated her posts with racist attacks.
Still, the candidate, who has been critical of ICE and Israel, took more than 49% of the vote.
If she wins in November, Avila Chevalier will be the first Dominican American woman elected to Congress. Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in Congress as well as the current chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The congressional district at play covers upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
“I have faith in the future that I know we are stepping into today,” she said during her victory speech on Tuesday. “No longer will we accept the politics that throw scraps at us and act like we should be grateful for them.”
How Avila Chevalier set herself apart
While many are learning her name for the first time, Avila Chevalier earned the endorsement of the New York chapter of Democratic Socialists of America back in January.
Since then, she’s been working to set herself apart from her opponent, showing her commitment to housing as a human right, universal healthcare, and affordability, and establishing herself as a far-leaning leftist, through and through.
“It’s time for our resources to come back to our communities, to end childhood poverty, to invest in housing for all, to make sure we’re fighting for babies, not bombs, and to abolish ICE,” Avila Chevalier previously told PIX11.
The candidate has made clear that she’s fighting for working people. But she has also been unabashedly vocal in her support for the people of Palestine, which, until recently, wasn’t a popular position for candidates to take.
After working as an intern in the occupied region more than a decade ago, which she called a “formative period” in her life, she’s been endlessly drawn to the cause.
“I was essentially living in the heart of the occupation and seeing the way that Palestinians had to navigate all these systems, the impact that it had on children as young as the ones that I was working with,” Avila Chevalier told City & State.
A clean sweep for Mamdani’s picks
Mamdani helped Avila Chevalier celebrate her win last night by calling her a person “of clarity, of conscience and of conviction” in a speech.
And while her win might be the talk of the town today, she wasn’t the only Mamdani-backed candidate to win big last night. In fact, all three of the candidates the Mayor lent his support to were victorious.
Brad Lander, whom the mayor has worked closely with on his campaign, defeated Representative Dan Goldman in the 10th District, while Assemblywoman Claire Valdez overtook Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the 7th.
Given the clean sweep for Mamdani’s picks, it seems that New York might be gearing up for a Democratic Socialist takeover come November. While a lot can change in a few months, after Tuesday’s results, the massive sway of a Mamdani endorsement is crystal clear.
