A left-wing organizer behind last year’s Columbia University alumni encampment protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza announced a primary challenge to Democratic U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat on Thursday.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, 31, was the organizing lead for upper Manhattan and the Bronx for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, according to her campaign. She also helped organize the Columbia University student encampment protesting Israel’s war in Gaza in 2024 and said that she advocated for the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a fellow Columbia organizer, when he was detained by federal immigration authorities earlier this year.
Avila Chevalier launched her bid for the Upper Manhattan and Bronx Congressional seat held by Espaillat, a four-term incumbent seeking re-election in 2026. She charged that Espaillat does not represent the interests of his constituents, who are struggling to make ends meet. She also criticized him for accepting campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which advocates for a strong partnership between the U.S. and Israel, and the real estate industry.
“Why should we let Adriano Espaillat vote to spend billions on bombs overseas, when we’re struggling to afford rent and groceries right here in New York City?” Avila Chevalier said in her campaign launch video.
In a statement responding to Avila Chevalier’s campaign launch, an Espaillat campaign spokesperson said: “As the first formerly undocumented member of Congress and a neighbor since he was a child, Rep. Espaillat knows firsthand the challenges facing everyday New Yorkers.”
“He has led the fight to make the city more affordable for working families and to stand up for communities too often overlooked,” they continued. “We welcome a full and robust primary and look forward to making the case for his continued leadership in our community and across the country,”
Avila Chevalier is backed by the Justice Democrats, a left-wing organization that helped propel U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s upset victory over former U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley in 2018. She is pitching herself as someone who is “unbought” by “billionaire greed,” and vowed to turn the page on the status quo.
She currently works as an investigator at the Neighborhood Defenders Service of Harlem, according to her campaign.
“Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani showed us what’s possible when we refuse to let the politics of our past dictate the future we can build for all New Yorkers today,” Avila Chevalier said in a statement. “This campaign is about ensuring that our voices are not only heard in City Hall, but in the halls of Congress where they have been ignored for too long.”
While Espaillat is a more moderate Democrat, he backed Mamdani in the general election after supporting former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary.
Since being first elected to Congress in 2016, succeeding long-time Congress Member and Harlem political giant Charlie Rangel, Espaillat has become a key power broker in Upper Manhattan and a swath of the Bronx.
He has mentored and successfully helped elect several Latino officeholders in the areas he represents, including City Council Members Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan), Carmen De La Rosa (D-Manhattan), and Oswald Feliz (D-Bronx), among others.
Those connections, combined with Espaillat’s long-standing incumbency, mean Avila Chevalier is likely to have a difficult time unseating him next year.
Espaillat is the fourth Democratic incumbent Congress member in the city to draw a challenge from the left in the wake of Mamdani’s win. Others include U.S. Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn), and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (Brooklyn).
