The June 23 Democratic primary in New York’s 13th Congressional District is shaping up to be the cleanest test of whether the progressive insurgency that produced Mayor Zohran Mamdani can be exported from city hall to Congress.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral candidate and Harlem organizer, is running against Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the 71-year-old chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who has held the seat since 2017. As of polling conducted June 3-9 for Justice Democrats by Data for Progress, Avila Chevalier leads 39-35. The lead is within the margin of error. The primary is in eleven days.
Avila Chevalier organized the 2024 Columbia University Gaza encampments. She launched her campaign wearing a keffiyeh. She is backed by Justice Democrats, the organization that launched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, as well as by DSA-NYC and, most recently, by Mayor Mamdani himself, who appeared with her on MS NOW to deliver his endorsement as his “final congressional endorsement of the season.”
Espaillat has Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader. He has Governor Kathy Hochul. He has the Congressional Progressive Caucus. His campaign said that one endorsement does not make a race.
Espaillat has also accepted AIPAC funding and real estate industry support, which Avila Chevalier’s campaign has used as its central argument against him. The district includes Harlem and parts of the Bronx. It is the district that produced Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Avila Chevalier, at 32, would be one of the youngest members of Congress if she wins.
The Democratic Party’s establishment spent much of the last year insisting Mamdani’s NYC win was an outlier. Avila Chevalier is now leading in New York’s 13th.
When the mayor of America’s largest city is spending his political capital to primary the chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, who exactly is running the insurgency now?
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