Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old political newcomer backed late by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, stunned New York politics by defeating five-term Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat in the 13th District primary. The win sets up a November race with high s
Tuesday night. the 13th District’s primary broke in a way New York’s political map rarely does: Darializa Avila Chevalier—32. a doctoral student and community organizer—defeated five-term Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat. leaving a long-serving incumbent with more than an election loss on his record.
The scale of the upset was impossible to miss. Avila Chevalier was still largely unknown until less than a month ago, when Mayor Zohran Mamdani lent his support to her campaign in the final stretch. Mamdani had previously backed Espaillat, then pivoted toward Avila Chevalier.
“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 earlier on live TV.
That endorsement helped put Avila Chevalier on the map quickly—fast enough that voters were being asked to choose between a newcomer with no political experience and a congressman who had spent years building name recognition and fundraising momentum. Espaillat spent millions trying to defeat her, drawing attention to controversial tweets that had disparaged Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Avila Chevalier’s campaign position on the matter was that she “deeply regretted” the tweets.
The race also took on a darker edge online. Supporters of Espaillat inundated her posts with racist attacks.
Yet when votes were counted. Avila Chevalier won with more than 49% of the vote. taking her past the threshold that seemed to belong to incumbency. Her victory speech carried a promise aimed directly at how politics has treated her supporters—she said. “I have faith in the future that I know we are stepping into today. No longer will we accept the politics that throw scraps at us and act like we should be grateful for them.”.
For Avila Chevalier, the political identity voters are now attaching to her is also clear. She has been critical of ICE and Israel, and she has been vocal in support of the people of Palestine—a stance that, as the campaign has framed it, has been less common for candidates than it is now.
Before the primary, her opposition and ambition were already visible in the contours of her platform. She has said that housing should be treated as a human right. that she is pushing for universal healthcare and affordability. and that she aims to make her politics “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 told PIX11.
Her support for Palestine is not just campaign branding, according to her own account. She worked as an intern in the occupied region more than a decade ago. which she described as a “formative period” in her life. She told City & State: “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.”.
Even as Avila Chevalier was still becoming known, she had already taken steps to build political credibility. The New York chapter of Democratic Socialists of America endorsed her back in January.
This primary isn’t only about one district, though. Mamdani’s influence didn’t arrive alone. Last night, all three candidates he supported won. Brad Lander defeated Representative Dan Goldman in the 10th District. Assemblywoman Claire Valdez overtook Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the 7th.
Avila Chevalier’s win now places the spotlight on what the endorsement strategy could mean in November. If she defeats Espaillat in the general election, she would be the first Dominican American woman elected to Congress. Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in Congress and is currently chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The district itself spans upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
A newcomer has already forced a reckoning inside a race that was expected to favor an incumbent built over five terms. And with a clean sweep behind the mayor’s picks. the message of Tuesday’s results is hard to ignore: Mamdani’s late pivot wasn’t just timing—it reshaped who voters believed could actually win.
Darializa Avila Chevalier Adriano Espaillat Zohran Mamdani New York 13th District primary Democratic Socialists of America ICE Palestine housing as a human right universal healthcare Congressional Hispanic Caucus