'Abandonment from establishment politics': Darializa Avila Chevalier confronts the scrutiny against

[0:00] It was a huge primary night in New York last night, but perhaps no race made a bigger splash [0:05] than New York's 13th congressional district. It's an area that covers upper Manhattan [0:10] and parts of the Bronx, where an outsider mounted a challenge against an established [0:15] member of New York's Democratic establishment and won. For the past decade, New York 13 has [0:21] been represented by Adriano Espaiat, a man who's heralded as a trailblazer within his community. [0:27] Before running for office, he broke ground when he challenged black political influence [0:31] in Harlem and the South Bronx. In 2012 and 2014, he challenged the Democratic incumbent in his [0:37] district, Charles Rangel, who had been in Congress since 1971. Espaiat lost both times, but finally [0:44] won in 2016, beating out Rangel's chosen successor after Rangel retired. Espaiat's win was historic. [0:52] He was the first Dominican American and the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected [0:57] to Congress. He was reelected four times, currently serving as the chair of the Congressional Hispanic [1:03] Caucus, and he's considered the dean of New York Latino politics. But more recently, Espaiat has [1:09] been criticized for his support for continued U.S. aid to Israel amid its war in Gaza and for the [1:15] support that he's received from AIPAC and affiliated groups. Last night, Espaiat and fellow New York [1:20] Congressman Dan Goldman became only the third and fourth Democratic incumbents to lose in the [1:26] primary this year. Now, the two others were Texas Democrats who were gerrymandered out of their [1:31] districts. The candidate who unseated Espaiat is Daria Liza Avila-Chevalier. She's a 32-year-old [1:37] Democratic socialist who was recruited to run by Justice Democrats, a group committed to finding [1:43] progressive challengers to unseat Democrats. Avila-Chevalier was one of only three congressional [1:49] candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani in this year's elections. And she was [1:54] his biggest gamble. She didn't have the name recognition or profile of either of the mayor's [2:00] other hand-picked candidates, the former city controller Brad Lander and the New York State [2:05] Assembly member Claire Valdez. On top of that, Avila-Chevalier's internet history threatened to [2:11] bring down her campaign at various points. Old social media posts from a since-deleted account [2:15] came back to light, including ones in which she advocated for abolishing the police. [2:20] Some posts sharply criticized Democratic leaders. She once called Joe Biden, quote, [2:25] a war criminal. And in a 2021 post, she wrote, quote, F Kamala Harris. During a debate last week, [2:31] she apologized to Harris after Espaiat pushed her to do so. And she said that she ultimately voted for [2:37] Harris in 2024. Journalists also uncovered that she attended a controversial rally in Times Square [2:43] on October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas attacked Israel. The rally was described as a gathering to [2:49] show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Others criticized it for condoning the violence [2:54] that Hamas had just committed, pointing to chants like, quote, resistance is justified when people [2:59] are occupied. New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, called it, quote, morally repugnant. Zoran Mamdani, [3:05] who was then an assembly member, stayed away. Brad Lander, who is Jewish, condemned the rally and [3:09] canceled his membership with the Democratic Socialists of America after the group posted [3:14] about it. Avila Chevalier has defended her decision to attend that rally. New York's 13th district is [3:20] solidly Democratic. So barring any other political shockwaves between now and November, she will be [3:26] heading to Congress. Daria Liza Avila Chevalier has shown that she can win. Her victory in particular [3:32] is emblematic of changing tides in the Democratic Party. So now the question is, what will the next [3:38] chapter of her story and the Democrats' story look like? Joining me now is Daria Liza Avila [3:44] Chevalier, Democratic nominee for Congress in New York's 13th district. Congratulations and welcome. [3:50] Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. [3:51] I'm hoping, because you will be a member of Congress, that we will have many opportunities [3:55] to have a conversation, which means the first conversation is going to be a little tough to [3:59] get through because you've now moved from a hot part of the primary, where things are really hot, [4:05] into you're going to be the next member of Congress. And everybody's now looking at you and saying, [4:10] what is that going to look like? Last night, we were on air when you delivered your speech in which [4:15] you said, quote, the corporate landlords and lobbies who powered our opponent's campaign knew that he [4:21] didn't represent us in this district. He didn't fight for us. He represented them and he fought for [4:25] them, end quote. First of all, have you spoken to Adriano Espaillat? Yes, we spoke last night. [4:31] Okay. How'd that go? Because there's a rift in your district at the moment, which often happens [4:35] after a primary. You know, I think it was a brief but, you know, positive conversation where he [4:41] congratulated me and offered support in this transition. And I think New Yorkers deserve [4:46] that kind of transition, one where we're working together to deliver for them. [4:50] You have to do and say things in primaries. And then now you are the actual Democratic Party [4:57] representative. That's not always the same as being a member of the Democratic Socialists of [5:02] America. How do you square that? You know, I think I have run, I'm very proud of the campaign that I've [5:07] run, one where I am presenting the vision that I have for New Yorkers here in this district. [5:12] And that has always been the vision that I have for them, right? I've been very frank and honest [5:17] about what that is. And even when folks disagree with my vision, I am very proud to say I will [5:22] always be honest about my position on things. And even if we don't agree, I will still fight for [5:28] every single person in my district because that is what they deserve. They deserve somebody who's [5:32] going to fight to make sure that they have all of the resources that they need to lead a dignified [5:36] life as New Yorkers. I think you probably, and at some point we'll be done with this conversation, [5:41] but you probably want this conversation to go away. But there are the social media posts. [5:45] You have had derogatory posts about Joe Biden and about Kamala Harris. You did apologize for the [5:55] Kamala Harris one. I guess the Joe Biden one, you did say, you called him a rapist. Is that the kind [6:01] of thing that just because you're sort of a digital native and that you do on the internet? Or did you [6:06] believe that? And do you believe that? [6:08] You know, I have, I think there was a lot of misunderstandings around where my posts, [6:14] why they were deleted. I deleted my account many years back because I was focused on returning to [6:19] organizing and my, my, my studies. I was working on a PhD program. And I think often we are asked [6:27] to, we're asked to really have accountability for folks who have not held political office or have [6:35] political power and don't do the same for folks who are in positions of political power. Now, [6:40] all that to say, I do regret my tweets. And that's something that I think has brought a lot of [6:45] division. And that's something I regret because as an organizer, my goal is always to unify our [6:49] community and deliver for our community. And I think there is this question of why is it that when [6:56] folks who do not have power, political power in this instance, are being held accountable for [7:02] things, we don't also hold accountable folks who do have political power, where the decisions they [7:06] are making in office every single day have an enormous impact on millions of people in our [7:12] country. Right. And I think for folks who feel disempowered, it's important to make sure that [7:18] we're getting to the heart of where that sense of disempowerment is. You actually said that with [7:22] respect to your, your tweet about Kamala Harris, you said that it came from a place of you feeling [7:28] disempowered. Yeah. And I think so much, so many folks in our country feel that they don't have [7:35] representation that is fighting for them. Right. And I, that was part of why I decided to run [7:39] because I've under, I felt that abandonment from, from establishment politics that looks at my [7:44] community as though it is merely statistics and not people who are worth fighting for and not the, [7:50] the policies that will actually better their lives. And too often we, we've seen folks go into [7:56] office and close the door behind them. But what we need is representation that's actually going to [8:00] listen to the community, hear the frustrations and open that door and keep it propped open. [8:05] So that everyone can be part of their democracy. So I want to talk to you because you are part of a [8:09] group of people who want to hold people in power to account. And I want to talk to you about that [8:14] with respect to Adriano Aspayat, money that has come into that campaign, including money from [8:19] AIPAC affiliated groups. But I need to set the context on that first because of this conversation [8:24] about this rally after October 8th. You, you, you have strong beliefs about Israel's targeting of [8:32] civilians in, in Gaza, which completely dwarfed what happened on, on October 7th. That said, [8:40] I think I I'm going to guess that you agree that innocent civilians shouldn't be targeted by anybody, [8:47] regardless of the reason or the, or the grievance. And that, that stands for Israel. And that stands [8:51] for Hamas. Of course, because people have associated you with being supportive of what Hamas did on [8:57] October 7th. No, I have always been very clear that at the core of every one of my values is [9:03] fighting for human dignity and human life. And I, you know, the reason I was there was at that rally [9:10] is because I have been advocating for Palestinian human rights and dignity for most of my adult life. [9:16] And knowing that historically, what we have seen is that whenever there is an incident that happens [9:21] in the region, there is an outsized reaction, one that costs thousands more people their lives. And [9:27] that was what I was there to, to stand against because I, I, it was a pattern that I had seen [9:33] consistently throughout my organizing and throughout my, my experience in the region. I was actually in [9:39] Palestine in 2014 in the West Bank. And I was there at a time where tensions were rising. And I believe [9:46] it was almost either the day after the day I arrived or the day after I got back to the United States [9:51] that Israel began bombing Gaza and over 1400 or maybe 1800 folks, people were killed in Palestine [9:59] and Gaza at that time. And I remember being home and scrolling through the faces and names of the [10:06] people who had been killed and feeling completely powerless to do anything about it. People who look so [10:11] much like the people I had just left in the West Bank. And knowing that day that that that we were in a [10:17] situation where something similar or bigger would come to pass. That was what I was there to stand [10:24] against. It wasn't as central an issue in your campaign as it was in the Brad Lander, Dan Goldman [10:30] campaign. But the the the APEC and APEC affiliated money that came in against you was was bigger. I mean, it was a lot [10:37] of money. And you've been very critical of Adriana Aspayat's relationship with with Israel and and [10:44] continued acceptance of funding inoffensive weapons. Tell me how that played out. [10:51] You know, I have from the very beginning been very critical of the fact that he has taken over six [10:57] hundred and seventy thousand dollars to to his camp directly from to his campaigns from AIPAC. He has taken [11:04] over one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars from ice contractors, over two hundred and fifty [11:08] thousand dollars from from real estate developers that are pricing people out of our city. To me, [11:12] at the heart of this is the the way that money is a form of accountability and to whom that [11:19] accountability is to. So the fact that he was taking money from these institutions, from these [11:24] right wing lobbies, which is what APEC is, is a right wing lobby that backs Republicans and Donald Trump [11:29] and then also then backs Democrats who purport to be progressive while voting time and time again in [11:36] the interests of institutions like APEC. And so I was highly critical of that because I see the impact [11:42] of that on my community every single day when you have someone who's taking money from the real estate [11:48] developers that are pricing us out. And it's no wonder then that in a district that is the second [11:54] poorest congressional district in the state and by some measures the country, that it is so deeply [11:58] unaffordable for folks when the rent rises to the average of four thousand dollars for a two bedroom [12:03] in Harlem or Washington Heights. And so, you know, I think the fact that so much money was poured in [12:08] not only directly into his campaign, but also in outside spending where we saw over seven million dollars [12:14] and I we won't know how much of that was APEC for for a number of days. A lot of that funding came in [12:22] after June 10th. Exactly. Nobody has to report it for until the next cycle. Donald Trump talked about [12:28] communists being elected last night. There were three of you in the congressional races and there [12:32] were five people who Zoran Mamdani supported in state races. All eight of you won. How do you avoid [12:39] becoming the ad for Republicans? You know, we've watched Zoran Mamdani and we've managed it very well. [12:45] We've watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has managed it very well. She's become a sort of a very policy [12:50] centered person. I don't think she's changed any of her views. How how do you navigate this road? [12:57] Because now you are a you are a member of the Democratic delegation. You will be a member of [13:01] the Democratic delegation and you're going to appear in all sorts of people's ads, all sorts of [13:05] Republicans ads to say this is what you're going to get if you vote for the Democrats, a communist. [13:10] You know, I think that is that framing is one that I've been very proud to be able to say I don't [13:18] respond to, one in which I have been very intentional to say I won't be reactive. We are presenting a [13:24] vision of what we're fighting for. And I think for far too long, we have had politics that is reactive [13:30] to what Republicans are doing. What we need is Democrats who are actually going to present a [13:35] positive vision, one that that sets the tone for what we should be talking about, which is the issue [13:40] of affordability, which is the issue of how our budgets are moral documents. If we say that we want [13:46] to invest in working people in this in this country, then we need to do that. And our budgets [13:49] need to reflect that. If we say that we value immigration and immigration justice, we need to [13:55] make sure that that is also reflective in our policy. And so I'm very proud of a campaign that [14:00] we that we built that centers those ideals that centers those values and that vision for what we need [14:06] as a community. And that's how I'll continue to to move forward in Congress. And I think [14:12] that for far too long, this reactive conversation of what we should be afraid of has prevented us [14:19] from being able to have a politics of hope and a politics of life that Democrats can actually [14:24] identify with. When the majority of the Democratic base has been seeking for the Democratic Party to [14:29] actually fight for them, that should be the language that we should be leading with. [14:33] Thank you for joining us tonight. Again, congratulations. [14:35] And we hope you will continue to have these conversations with us. [14:38] Thanks for having me. [14:39] Terry Elisa Avila-Chevalier is the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York's 13th District.