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An ultra-progressive candidate pulled off a shock victory in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th District — and people there say it was down to one thing: Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s blessing.
Democratic Socialists of America member Darializa Avila Chevalier’s victory is proof a tiny minority of ultra-progressive primary voters can shake up an entire district, leaving many residents feeling left behind.
Chevalier, a 32-year-old doctoral student, beat nine-year incumbent and longtime politician Adriano Espaillat, with the votes of only 7% of active Democratic voters in the district, after Mamdani switched his backing from Espaillat to her.
Until then the incumbent, a moderate Democrat and former undocumented immigrant popular with the majority black and Hispanic population of NY-13, was seen as a dead cert to win.
“There’s just very little known about her,” Nancy, a professional investor and Washington Heights native, said. “She didn’t have much of a track record or any real roots in the neighborhood, so who knows?”
Nancy, who didn’t want her last name used, said she thought Mamdani’s endorsement is behind the surprise result — and his blessing inspired gentrifiers to show up to the polls en masse, displacing old-timers.
“There are a lot of new people who’ve moved in, and the populations that [Espaillat] served and he mostly speaks to, don’t necessarily make it to the polls, so it’s like a disproportionate representation really,” she claimed.
Early analyses show young, college-educated, high-income black and white voters pushed Chevalier, who has never held office before, over the edge — leaving many in the district baffled, especially by her ultra-progressive policies.
Yvette Thomas, a 69-year-old born and raised in Harlem who voted for Espaillat, was shocked. Chevalier dominated with white voters, gaining 61% compared to Espaillat’s 39%.
“He did a lot for seniors. He did a lot for the community…. He has been in the seat for a long time, and there’s something about wisdom. There’s something about experience, for me,” Thomas said
Chevalier, daughter of Dominican immigrants, grew up in Miami and came to the city 14 years ago to attend Columbia University.
Described in her Justice Democrats online profile as an “a working-class Afro-Latina organizer,” her policies appear more a product of her Ivy League education than immersion in the daily life of NY-13.
She opposes all forms of deportation, detention, and imprisonment, and has called for the abolishment of ICE, universal basic income, a cancellation of student loans, and Medicare for All, including gender affirming care.
Though she’s not unilaterally opposed to them, Thomas believes many of Chevalier’s policies “will never happen.” She explained, “I think sometimes people do come into office with a lot of illusions about what they could do, but once you step into that seat, there’s blockages all over.”
She also said Chevalier’s anti-American statements struck a nerve in the community. She was forced to walk back nasty, since deleted, posts on X, including “F—k Kamala Harris” and “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”
“When she was first called on it, she changed her tune. For me, when someone shows you who they are, believe it the first time,” Thomas added.
Yunuén Tinoco, a 46-year-old medical receptionist, said she felt Chevalier was “not being honest and fair to the people” by backtracking on her statements. “I don’t think that’s someone that you should vote for,” she said of the political newcomer.
Roxanne Gregg, a Harlem resident of 15 years, felt the same. “You can take away what you said, but you don’t take away the feelings behind that,” she said.
The 59-year-old didn’t vote this week because she didn’t feel fully represented by either candidate. She was more opposed to Chevalier, saying she had been lifted up more by Mamdani than by the local community.
“The people Mamdani endorsed, I was not for them,” she said. “His endorsement was a negative for me.”
I asked New Yorkers in the 13th District about some of Chevalier’s most controversial policies — abolishing ICE, stopping aid to Israel, Medicare for All — and found their reactions mixed.
That’s except for two policies championed by the sociology student that seemed more based in theory than the demands of her district: a 32-hour workweek for regular pay, and Universal Basic Income.
“Personally, I like going to work,” Gregg said.
These anti-work policies also struck a nerve with Roberto Boyd, a 40-year-old business owner and technician from Harlem. “Some people like their jobs, some people want to work more hours,” he said of a four-day workweek. “It would impact [my business] in a negative way.”
Though he didn’t vote, Boyd expressed the concerns of many about Mamdani and DSA policies and what they will do to the city’s already crippling taxes. “Whenever [politicians] spend money, they’ll give money to the people, but they always take it out of taxes, they always take from the people,” he said.
My time in NY-13 also made a generational divide quite clear. Older residents were especially shocked to see Espaillat unseated, such as Norbert, a 75-year-old sitting on a bench outside a Jewish community center in Washington Heights.
He voted for Espaillat, whom he considered “a very strong supporter of the neighborhood, especially of Jewish residents,” noting he finds Chevalier’s views on Israel offensive.
Chevalier, who once lived in the West Bank to teach English to Palestinian toddlers, has called for the US to stop sending weapons to Israel. She also stood in front ofthe entrance to Hamilton Hall at her alma mater, Columbia University, when pro-Palestine student protesters took over the administrative building.
“Israel is our only ally… [When] Israel is in danger, the whole world is in danger,” Norbert told The Post.
Frank Rodman of Washington Heights fears Chevalier’s victory is indicative of where the Democratic Party is heading.
“I’m a staunch liberal Democrat, maybe even a socialist democrat, but it makes me nervous,” he said. “It concerns me that we don’t want to go too far to the left.”
If there’s anything I learned from a few days in the district, it’s that a small number of highly-motivated partisan voters — under the orders of a socialist mayor — can change the course of an entire election, leaving normal, everyday New Yorkers disenfranchised.
Tuesday’s results are the product of NY-13’s ideological gentrification in Mamdani’s New York.
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